Globalization and English Language Teaching in Ukraine

TEACHING ISSUES The TESOL Quarterly publishes brief commentaries on aspects of English language teaching For this issue, we asked two teacher educators the following question about globalization and English language teaching: Edited by DWIGHT ATKINSON Purdue University Globalization and English Language Teaching in Ukraine TETYANA SMOTROVA Zaporizhzhia Institute of Economics and Information Technology Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pennsylvania, United States & ‘‘Breadbasket of Europe,’’ ‘‘Cradle of Slavic nations,’’ ‘‘Little Russia,’’ ‘‘the Ukraine’’—the country now known as Ukraine was established in the 10th century as one of the most powerful states in Europe Because of its strategic position and rich natural resources, its people suffered centuries of oppression, ending when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 (Bilotserkivsky, 2007) It was then that Ukraine stepped onto the bumpy road of ‘‘quadruple transition of state and nation building, democratization and marketization’’ (Kuzio, 2000, p 143) Hampered by Soviet legacies of totalitarianism and pervasive corruption, Ukraine suffered more than a decade of economic decline, which was especially punishing for the poor In spite of a subsequent economic breakthrough (followed by the current global crisis), the postcolonial era has come at a cost: The population of Ukraine is dramatically decreasing, falling from 52 million in 1992 to 46 million in 2009 (State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, 2009) Paradoxically, Ukraine’s independence coincided with the fourth great wave of Ukrainian emigration—zarobitchans’ka (earning a living)—which continues apace Over the past five years, 90,000 college-educated Ukrainians have left in search of better jobs and higher standards of living (Kozlovets’, 2008, p 16), with the United States being their main destination (Prybytkova, 2009) A second major reason for English’s growing practical 728 TESOL QUARTERLY Vol 43, No 4, December 2009 Tesol Quarterly tesol_teaching issues.3d 31/12/09 18:23:56 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) importance is the need for skilled English users among businesses trying to develop global partnerships Approximately 90% of Ukrainian secondary school students believe that knowing a foreign language is crucial for career success (Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, 2006, p 32) The enthusiasm of ordinary Ukrainians for English coincides with the government’s ambitions for integration with the European Union on the one hand and strategic and economic partnership with the United States on the other In the sphere of university education, the Bologna Agreement, signed in 1997, aims at instituting a common degree system throughout Europe, including introduction of the credit system; educational quality control; expansion of students’ and teachers’ mobility; and provision of graduates’ employment These measures are intended not only for ‘‘building a common educational space’’ but ultimately for ‘‘raising competitiveness of European education’’ on a global scale (Kremen’, 2004, pp & 11; author’s translation) EFL IN UKRAINE Primary and Secondary Education The phenomena described so far have caused dramatic changes in EFL instruction at all levels Aiming to introduce European language standards throughout the educational system, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MESU) has undertaken various initiatives based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2000) One is the new national Syllabi for Secondary Schools and Specialized Language Schools: Foreign Languages, 2–12th Grades, approved in 2004 Created in collaboration with the British Council; American Councils; the Press, Education, and Culture Section of the U.S Embassy; and the Peace Corps, it marks official recognition of the move toward communicative approaches sparked by globalization Addressing Ukraine’s need to broaden its international relationships and integrate with Europe, the syllabus proclaims, Ukraine’s integration into the European and global community makes foreign language an important means of intercultural communication The main purpose of teaching a foreign language in secondary school is developing communicative competence formed by communicative skills based on language knowledge and use (Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, 2004, p 3; author’s translation) The syllabus further emphasizes the importance of ‘‘sociocultural and sociolinguistic knowledge and skills that facilitate entering the new society and promote socialization in the new community’’ (p 3) TEACHING ISSUES 729 Tesol Quarterly tesol_teaching issues.3d 31/12/09 18:23:56 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) However, the process of implementing communicative language teaching in primary and secondary schools has been anything but smooth Just as the wider society has undergone radical transition, foreign language education has been changing continuously since 1992 Apart from the new syllabus mentioned earlier, major changes have included the provision of foreign language instruction (functionally equivalent to ESL because 84% of students opt for English by secondary school[Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, 2006]) from primary Grade in most schools As the new syllabus was phased in, teachers had to teach using different syllabi for different age groups of students: an older one based on grammar-translation principles, with students as passive recipients of linguistic information; and the new one based on communicative principles, with students as active and creative learners Given that most primary and secondary English teachers were trained in grammar translation and have not travelled abroad, implementing the new syllabus has proved difficult One outcome is that repetition and memorization are still widely used in EFL teaching At the same time, some teachers have reportedly been able to integrate grammar-translation’s form focus with communicative elements, yielding an approach which better matches most teachers’ strengths (Tarnopolsky, 1996) Implementing foreign language instruction from Grade has drastically increased the demand for EFL teachers, just as the developing market economy has started to lure the most skillful and talented teachers and would-be teachers away However, an emergent private education sector, offering higher salaries and better working conditions, has partly stemmed the outflow of talent from the teaching ranks It has also encouraged new and innovative approaches to education Other problems in the public education sector include large class sizes, relatively few hours of instruction, low student motivation owing to overly formal teaching methods and lack of elective courses, and lowquality textbooks for most of the 91% of students who attend nonspecialized secondary schools As a result, despite 6–10 years of EFL instruction, graduating seniors often remain beginners At my home institution, for example, roughly 50% of entering nonlanguage majors usually test-in as beginners, and another 25% as pre-intermediate Higher Education The shortcomings of Ukrainian primary and secondary EFL instruction carry over to the tertiary level, posing particular difficulties for nonlanguage majors Tertiary-level instruction is usually oriented toward English for specific purposes (ESP), focusing on discipline-specific 730 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol_teaching issues.3d 31/12/09 18:23:56 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) material that assumes advanced grammatical and lexical knowledge As a result, students end up struggling, leading to no essential improvement in their language skills (Shpirko, 2009) This problem is being addressed in different ways by different institutions, with private colleges leading the way Thus, my home institution administers placement tests to all entering freshmen, thereby sorting them according to proficiency level and motivation Beginninglevel students receive English for general purposes instruction as a foundation for later ESP courses Students are also ‘‘streamed’’ according to motivation: Highly motivated students receive twice as much instruction as less motivated ones As stipulated by the Bologna Agreement, students also receive regular independent-study assignments—a real challenge for Ukrainian high-school graduates because of their lockstep secondary education THE ROLE OF OUTSIDE ENTITIES IN UKRAINIAN EFL Outside entities currently play a crucial role in EFL education in Ukraine at all levels Prominent among these is the Peace Corps It is widely believed that Peace Corps volunteers serving as EFL teachers succeed where many Ukrainian teachers not by emphasizing communication strategies and trial-and-error learning versus the traditional focus on rote production of accurate language Peace Corps teachers are also thought to make EFL more enjoyable, and to possess the sociocultural competence the current syllabus requires Their very presence in the classroom appears to raise student confidence and motivation Peace Corps volunteers also act as independent arbiters and monitors in an educational system rife with corruption For example, they sit on juries at student language competitions In April 2006, MESU invited the Peace Corps to conduct research on the quality of foreign language education in Ukrainian secondary schools (Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, 2006) The British Council provides in-service teacher-training workshops and seminars for EFL teachers in Ukraine, bringing in British specialists and training local specialists, who then share what they have learned throughout the country The British Council is also collaborating with MESU in preparing new textbooks and teaching materials FUTURE DIRECTIONS On the positive side, Ukraine has favorable conditions for developing EFL education, including generally increased learner motivation owing TEACHING ISSUES 731 Tesol Quarterly tesol_teaching issues.3d 31/12/09 18:23:56 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) to socioeconomic change and growing contact with English-speaking countries, increased exposure to English outside the classroom, and strong government support The following improvements are necessary to take full advantage of these conditions: N Better pay for TESOL professionals, thereby increasing the desirability of such work, and extra financial incentives for especially successful teachers N Opportunities for TESOL professionals to travel abroad for educational purposes N Sufficient school financing to support the integration of advanced technology in the classroom N Smaller class sizes and more opportunities for individualized instruction N A more efficient and less corrupt system of in-service teacher training and career promotion, probably involving outside entities such as the Peace Corps and British Council At the same time, efforts must be made to broaden the scope of foreign language education in Ukraine, encouraging bureaucrats, educators, and the populace at large to see English as one (important) world language among many rather than the only lingua franca Such efforts could lead to the recognition that ‘‘a plurilingual and pluricultural competence encompassing the full range of the languages available to’’ individuals (Council of Europe, 2000, p 168) is preferable to an exclusive competence in English Language needs generated by global processes of economic, social, and cultural integration would be mirrored in these integrative foreign language teaching processes, helping individuals face the challenges of a truly globalized world ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Camilla Khromova, Alexey Neshcheret, Larisa Liutaya, and Tetyana Yakhontova for providing valuable insights and information THE AUTHOR Tetyana Smotrova taught EFL at Zaporizhzhia Institute of Economics and Information Technology for six years She is now a first-year PhD student in applied linguistics at Penn State University in the United States REFERENCES Bilotserkivsky, V Y (2007) Istoriya Ukrayiny [History of Ukraine] Kyiv, Ukraine: Tsentr Uchbovoyi Literatury 732 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol_teaching issues.3d 31/12/09 18:23:57 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) Council of Europe (2000) Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment Retrieved August 8, 2009, from http://www.coe.int/t/ dg4/linguistic/CADRE_EN.asp Kozlovets’, M A (2008) Global’na migratsiya i polityka identychnosti ta gromadianstva [Global migration and the politics of identity and citizenship] Ukryins’ka Polonistyka, 5, 3–22 Kremen’, V G (2004) Bolons’ky protses: Zblyzhennia, a ne unificatsiya [Bologna process: drawing together rather than unifying] In Osnovni zasady rozvytku vyshchoyi osvity Ukrayiny v contexti bolons’kogo protsesu Documenty i materially 2003– 2004 [Basic guidelines for developing higher education in Ukraine in the context of Bologna process Documents and materials 2003–2004] Retrieved June 12, 2009 from http://www.tnpu.edu.ua/php1/include/resurs/kms/14/ukrainian.pdf Kuzio, T (2000) The national factor in Ukraine’s quadruple transition Contemporary Politics, 6, 143–164 Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (2004) Programy dlia zagal’noosvitnih navchal’nyh zakladiv ta spetsializovanyh shkil z poglyblenym vyvchenniam inozemnyh mov: Inozemni movy, 2–12 klasy [Syllabi for secondary schools and specialized language schools: Foreign languages, 2–12th Grades] Irpin’, Ukraine: Perun Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (2006) Pro navchal’no-metodychne zabezpechennia komunikatyvnogo pidhodu vyvchennia inozemnyh mov u zagal’noosvitnih navchal’nyh zakladah [On provisions for implementing communicative approach in learning foreign languages in primary and secondary schools] Inozemni Movy v Navchal’nyh Zakladah, 4, 22–32 Prybytkova, I (2009) Hronika migratsiynyh podiy v Ukrayini i pislia rozpadu SRSR [The chronicle of migration in Ukraine before and after the USSR breakdown] Sotsiologiya: Teoriya, Metody, Marketing, 1, 41–77 Shpirko, P F (2009) Suchasni ta innovatsiyni pidhody vykladannia angliys’koyi movy dlia studentiv inzhenernyh facultetiv [Innovative approaches to teaching English to engineering college students] Retrieved June 15, 2009 from http://lc.kpi.ua/ node/83 State Statistics Committee of Ukraine (2009) Demographic situation Population 1990– 2009 Retrieved June 12, 2009 from http://www.ukrstat.gov.ua/ Tarnopolsky, O (1996) EFL teaching in the Ukraine: State regulated or commercial? TESOL Quarterly, 30, 616–622 Global Donors and English Language Teaching in Kiribati INDIKA LIYANAGE Griffith University Brisbane, Queensland, Australia & The processes of globalization are ubiquitous and hegemonic in developing countries, bringing their economic, social, and educational policies in line with capitalist agendas (Phillipson, 2001) The Pacific Island nations, of which Kiribati (pronounced keer-ah-bhass) is one, are no exception Under pressure from external sources such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, and TEACHING ISSUES 733 Tesol Quarterly tesol_teaching issues.3d 31/12/09 18:23:57 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003)