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Title
The Essential Roles of the EFL Teacher:
A Keynote Speech
Presenter
Professor Dr. Z. N. PATIL: The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad (India)
Abstract
The present keynote is divided into three main sections. The first part talks about the negative (negatively perceived?) image or role of the EFL teacher as a person who unwittingly uses texts and tests not suited for the purpose of language learning..
This view maintains that the EFL teacher does not install confidence in the student, because s/he monotonously doles out trivial and irrelevant information about the foreign language concerned using drab and uninteresting textbooks.
Further, this position looks at tests and examinations as instruments aimed at exposing what the learners do not know rather than highlighting what they have learnt.
After having discussed the negative image of the EFL teacher in a purely teacher centered role, (implying his authoritarian attitude and approach as well as his traditional method of “dictating” notes in the EFL classroom for the EFL learner to memorize and reproduce onto the answer script), the speech proceeds to elaborate on the various positive academic and humanizing roles the EFL teacher can play: scholar, grammarian, thesaurus, accent neutralizer; centripetal force, model, mother, sympathizer/empathizer, a banyan tree supporting tender creeping plants, dream shaper, nurturer of creativity, and sanitizer of detrimental attitudes towards the target language.
Keywords: language model, empathizer, nurturer, dream shaper, sanitizer
Profile
Z. N. PATIL did his Masters in English, M. Phil. in English language teaching and stylistics, and Ph. D. in literary sociolinguistics from Pune University. In addition, he did a Post Graduate Certificate in the Teaching of English from the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad (India), and a Diploma and Masters in TESOL from Edinburgh (the U.K.).
He is a Professor of English in the Department of Training, Development and Education, School of English Language Education of The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, India. Besides teaching English for specific and practical purposes, he organizes consultancy workshops for government and private firms in India. He has held important positions such as Chief Coordinator of International Training Programmes financed by the Ministry of External Affairs, National Coordinator of the English Language Teaching Institutes Support Scheme financed by the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development, and Chairperson of the Centre for Training and Development of the English and Foreign Languages University.
Professor PATIL has a long experience of teaching English abroad. He was nominated as English Language Teaching Specialist by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India to Vietnam where he taught English to pre-service diplomats and in-service seaport officers from 1999 to 2002. Later, he served as Senior English Language Advisor in Japan from 2003 to 2006. He has taught in universities in India, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, and Britain.
He has delivered several keynote speeches at international and national conferences in India, Japan, and South Korea. He has been invited to deliver keynote speeches at international conferences on English language teaching to be held in Pusan, South Korea, and Manila, the Philippines on 10-11 April 2009 and 11-13 July 2009 respectively.
His major publications include Style in Indian English Fiction: A study in politeness strategies (New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1994), Spoken English for Vietnamese Learners (Hanoi: The World Publishers, 2002) and Indian English Fiction: A stylistic approach (New Delhi: Prestige Books, 2008). He is currently working on two books on communication skills and one on teaching methods. He has published several articles on various aspects of English language teaching, stylistics, sociolinguistics, translation, second language pedagogy, and postcolonial pedagogy in national and international journals.
He is associated with several international journals as Distinguished/Senior Advisor: the online “Asian EFL Journal” (Distinguished Advisor), “Asian ESP Journal” (Senior Advisor), “The Linguistics Journal” (Senior Advisor), “TESOL Law Journal” (Region Advisor), “Journal of English as an International Language” (Senior Advisor), “Iranian EFL Journal” (Advisor), “Chinese EFL Journal” (Senior Advisor), “The North Korean EFL Journal” (One of the Publishers), The Philippine ESL Journal (International TESOL Advisor), “African EFL Journal” (Senior Advisor), “South Asian Journal of Postcolonial English Language Pedagogy” (Senior Advisor and Senior Associate Editor), “Iranian Journal of Language Studies” (Region Advisor/Editor), “Journal of Educational Technology” (Member of Editorial Team), and “Journal of Research Practice”(Editorial Advisor). He is President of the Board of Directors of ‘International TESOL Accrediting Authority’ and education consultant to Time Taylor International Organization.
contact asian_efl_journal@yahoo.com
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