Conflicting Forms of English Teaching – between the ‘Yankees’ and ‘Limeys’ (derogatory terms) responsible for the American and British versions of the English language. Out of this competition arose terminologies that sometimes leave us bewildered, not knowing which to apply in a given context. Take ‘pants’, for instance.
Over the years, linguists have proposed numerous theories on foreign or second language and learning approaches. Previously, Structuralist Approach (SA) played a noteworthy role where linguists concentrated further on language competence. In language development, linguists nowadays have focused more on the learners themselves or independent learner-centeredness. At this juncture, learning development has been commonly known as the Naturalist Approach (NA) since the early 1970s (Krashen & Terrell, 1983). Hence, the combinations of SA and NA in teaching methods today are designed to facilitate the demand of learners’ needs.
Conflict Resolution for English Language Learners was developed based on the United States Institute of Peace’s work on education in zones of conflict throughout the world. The guide draws on the experiences and needs of educators who struggle to deal with the conflicts in their countries. The purpose of the guide is to provide educators with a series of conflict resolution
exercises to increase students’ capacity to manage intergroup conflict. The specific focus of the guide is on improving interpersonal skills that will enable individuals to address intergroup conflict effectively and nonviolently. However, as the guide points out, these skills can be used more generally to address conflict on an even greater scale.
Taken together, these exercises will:
• Explore issues of conflict from the perspective of students’ lives.
• Increase students’ understanding of the “other.”
• Increase students’ understanding of the strategies they can use to manage
identity-based conflicts.
• Develop students’ conflict management and problem-solving skills.
• Develop students’ communication skills.
• Provide educators with the instructional materials necessary to bring conflict
resolution education into the classroom.
The guide is divided into five sections: trust building, defining conflict, prejudice awareness and reduction, communication, and conflict management. Each section focuses on one segment of conflict resolution. The concepts in the sections build on one another and work well when used in order. However, the guide is designed to be flexible, allowing educators to use activities as they see fit.
You can read the entire article on SciElo.
After reading “Conflicting Forms of English Teaching” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.