We are getting ready for the 42nd International MEXTESOL Conference in Cancun from Nov. 5-8, 2015, as well as the TESOL Symposium on Nov. 4, 2015. This year’s conference title is “Building the Future Together Today: English Language Teaching and Learning Breakthroughs”. The MEXTESOL Journal will have a stand at the conference and we will also have a panel discussion “Writing and Publishing in Academic Journals: Whys and Hows” on Friday, Nov. 6th from 11 to 12:20. This is of interest for teachers who have published and those who are interested in writing and publishing an article. We hope to see you in Cancun.
For this third issue of 2015, we have six contributions from Mexico, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. The first article, “Perceptions of Native and Non-native English Teachers by Taiwanese University EFL Students” is by Aaron David Mermelstein of Ming Chuan University in Taiwan. This refereed article provides the results of a quantitative study of EFL university students’ perceptions concerning non-native and native speaker teachers. While there has been a discussion of this topic for many years, this article is of interest to all of us who teach EFL and ESL.
César Augusto Borromeo García (Universidad Veracruzana) explores the use of LyricsTraining with students in a BA program in English in Mexico and the students’ views of this website in relation to listening and vocabulary learning. This refereed article, “The Use of the LyricsTraining Website to Improve Listening Comprehension”, provides a wealth of information on how this website can be used and is of interest to those teachers who want to provide more listening practice for their students or those who would like to use more technology in their classes.
The next article, “Reculturing Teachers as Just the Tip of the Iceberg”, discusses the importance of “reculturing” in order to bring about true changes in the classroom. The author, Nicholas Bremner (University of Leeds), has experience working in Mexico and these experiences allowed him to understand problems we may have in moving from a teacher-centered towards a learner-centered focus in Mexican classrooms.
Noé Garcia (Universidad Tecnológica de Tamaulipas Norte) presents resources and techniques for improving teaching practice in his non-refereed article, “Reflective Teaching in ELT”. The article explores the importance of teacher reflection in classroom activities and the author also provides the readers with an example of how he put to practice his own reflection in order to help his students improve their pronunciation.
Many people will remember Alejandro G. Martinez from Cambridge University Press who was a valuable member of our MEXTESOL community for years. This issue’s vintage article, “What is Beyond the Communicative Approach to Language Teaching?”, is one of Alejandro’s contributions to the MEXTESOL Journal in 1999. Revisiting this article is worthwhile for all of us to remember Alejandro and how this article’s topic is still relevant after sixteen years.
Josefina C. Santana presents the first part of a series of articles on Gamification. This refers to the incorporation of game elements into non-game situations. Gamification is rapidly becoming a trend in conferences, as well as academic journals. In this first article, the author discusses the what, why, and how of gamification in educational and business contexts. We are sure you will enjoy reading this first part and will want to read more about this topic in the future.
To conclude, we hope you enjoy reading these articles for this third issue for 2015. While you read any one of these articles, think of what you could write as an EFL/ESL professional. Take the challenge and please consider contributing an article for the MEXTESOL Journal. We are a bilingual journal, so you can write in Spanish or English. If you have any questions, please feel free to stop by the MEXTESOL Journal stand at the conference in Cancun.
English is the dominant global language used for international communication, business, science, and education. It is the largest second language (L2) and foreign language (FL) learned throughout the world. Therefore, there are more L2 and FL speakers of English than native speakers of English. Globally the number of non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) has surpassed the number of native English speaking teachers (NESTs). The debate about whether NETSs are better suited for these positions has continued for years. This quantitative study involved 1,237 Asian EFL university students and investigated their perceptions and attitudes towards NESTs and NNESTs based on six specific areas: the correct use of English in the classroom, the ability to help and/or assist students’ language learning, teaching methodologies and pedagogy, the understanding of L2 learner’s difficulties and their empathy towards learners, general perceptions towards their English teachers, and perceptions regarding their own comfort level in the ESL/EFL classroom. The results indicate that the participants hold higher perceptions of NESTs than NNESTs in all six of the areas that were measured, with the exception of the teacher’s ability to empathize and understand the learners’ difficulties, which indicated no significant difference.
Keywords: EFL, native English speaking teachers, non-native English speaking teacher
This paper explores the implementation of Information and Communications Technologies, specifically audio and video, in combination with listening in English. The main objective was to know if students from the Universidad Veracruzana would accept the use of LyricsTraining, a website which combines audio and video from YouTube with songs’ lyrics as a game, to improve their listening during their English courses. The website allows users to play with the lyrics of a song by listening to the song and typing its lyrics. Action research was used as the methodology with twenty participants, English students studying a BA in English Language. They were asked to use the website along with instructions and to provide feedback on their experiences with using the technological tool. The implementation, a questionnaire and feedback were provided online. Their overall comments showed a positive experience when using this tool, and some suggestions were made to improve the website. Moreover, results showed that this tool helps to improve their listening comprehension. Most students remembered words from the song, which shows how technology may influence the learning of a language in a positive manner.
Keywords: : listening comprehension, technology, multimedia, English learning, education
Mexico has followed global trends in emphasising the need for its citizens to learn English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Unfortunately, the percentage of students who reach desired levels of English in the public education system is currently far from satisfactory. One way in which the Mexican government has tried to address such poor results has been to encourage new teaching approaches. There are certain similarities and differences between these approaches, but arguably the majority of them fall into the general bracket of “student-centred learning”. However, despite several of these approaches being introduced over the last few decades, many Mexican EFL classrooms remain largely teacher-centred. When both beliefs and behaviours are required to change as part of an educational reform, a process called “reculturing” is said to be necessary. This paper suggests that Mexican educational leaders should consider how this reculturing process might be better supported for those teachers who currently believe in more teacher-centred approaches. However, it also strongly emphasises that some form of reculturing must also take place for all the other participants who have a stake in this educational change. These people might include students, parents, teachers of other subjects, school leaders, teacher trainers, educational leaders, designers of high-stakes examinations, employers, and admissions personnel at local and foreign universities.
This paper is aimed at presenting what reflection is and how it influences teachers to have a better impact in their daily practice. The main concern is that most teachers in our region have not studied a degree in our area or in pedagogy (Clemente, 2009); however, they are currently teaching, and in some way the lack of pedagogical preparation affects their practice or class management. As an alternative to these teachers, reflective teaching is presented as a retrospective tool or resource to look for options to improve what is being done and taught in the language classroom. Nonetheless, the act of reflecting on teaching does not mean that it brings changes to the teachers’ classroom lessons or practice itself, unless both act in consequence. Rodgers’ interpretation of Dewey’s (1916/1944) work is presented to provide a better insight on how reflection has played an important role in teaching and learning in the past decades. Both Rodgers’ and Dewey’s definitions are presented and discussed to confirm my own view of reflection ’in’ action. A brief report of one of my latest research projects (“How can I improve the fossilized pronunciation of the words “live” and “answer”?) is also presented to link theory with practice. To conclude, reflection is helpful when it is planned ahead. Assessment of experience and beliefs are shown as part of the values that help teachers to grow professionally by gaining experience from reflection-in-action. Time constraints also play the role of a barrier when implementing reflection into classroom settings because the teacher needs to design a tool to gather data for a later analysis to gather insights to improve his/her teaching.
This vintage article by Alejandro G. Martínez was published by the MEXTESOL Journal in 1999. Re-reading it, I was struck by how timely it still is now. The issues discussed by the author sixteen years ago are still being discussed today, and it seems that we have not moved “beyond the communicative approach”. The author gives an overview of several methods which were becoming trends in those days, and it is interesting to note that most of them are still around today.
Alejandro G. Martínez, the author, sadly passed away a few years ago. Many of you may recall him as a frequent speaker at national and international conventions. His presentations were not only thought-provoking, but Alejandro’s dry sense of humor made them thoroughly enjoyable as well. I hope you enjoy his article and reflecting on it as well as Alejandro’s professional contributions.
Josefina C. Santana, Associate Editor
MEXTESOL Journal, vol. 39, núm. 3, junio-agosto 2015, es una Publicación cuadrimestral editada por la Asociación Mexicana de Maestros de Inglés, MEXTESOL, A.C., Versalles 15, Int. 301, Col. Juárez, Delegación Cuauhtémoc, C.P. 06600 Mexico, D.F., Mexico, Tel. (55) 55 66 87 49, journal@mextesol.org.mx. Editor responsable: M. Martha Lengeling. Reserva de Derechos al uso Exclusivo No. 04-2015-092112295900-203, ISSN: 2395-9908, ambos otorgados por el Instituto Nacional de Derecho del Autor. Responsable de la última actualización de este número: Asociación Mexicana de Maestros de Inglés, MEXTESOL, A.C. JoAnn Miller, Versalles 15, Int. 301, Col. Juárez, Delegación Cuauhtémoc, C.P. 06600 Mexico, D.F., Mexico. Fecha de última modificación: 31/08/2015. Las opiniones expresadas por los autores no necesariamente reflejan la postura del editor de la publicación. Se autoriza la reproducción total o parcial de los textos aquí publicados siempre y cuando se cite la fuente completa y la dirección electrónica de la publicación.
