“Global Issues: What, Why and How?” by Christopher Etchells.

Global Issues Keynote speech at the British Council / IATEFL Special Interest Group (SIG) Symposium, Gdansk, Poland, 18 - 20 September, 1998

What are global issues? According to the founders of the Global Issues SIG global issues include peace, justice and equality, human rights and social responsibility, racism and sexism, the environment, world development and international understanding.

That’s a rather lofty list and it begs the question as to whether we in English Language Teaching have the right or even the ability to incorporate global issues into our work. So I’d like to look at some of the opinions for and against and also look at some ways in which global issues can be included in ELT.

Why include global issues in our teaching?

1. We are able to choose content

As English Language teachers we are in the privileged position of being able to choose the content of our lessons. Alan Maley says:

“ELT has been bedevilled with three perennial problems: the gulf between classroom activities and real life; the separation of ELT from the mainstream of educational ideas; the lack of content as its subject matter. By making Global Issues a central core of EFL, these problems would be to some extent resolved.” - Maley, A (1992)

2. Students are interested in global issues.

Eg. Female students are interested in equal rights for women; young men enlisted into armies might have something to say about peace; out-of-class environmental project work is interesting and appropriate for young learners; young adults are interested in learning about drugs, etc. Leaving aside the question of how we deal with controversial issues, the fact remains that students are interested in them.

3. Teachers are interested in global issues.

English Language teachers have the benefit of being knowledgeable about two or more cultures. Sometimes they have been immersed in several different cultures during their careers. This often gives them a wider perspective than their students and they seek to pass this on. Often they are raised in the Humanities and consider the job of an ‘educator’ to be wider than the technical aspects of just teaching a language. We may differ as to whether they have the right to communicate this wider perspective to their students, but there is among many undoubtedly a want to do so.

4. Professionalism

Nor, in my view, should teachers be ashamed of this. ELT aspires to being a ‘profession’. As Kip Cates, another of the prime movers of Global Education in ELT pointed out in the first Global Issues SIG newsletter, the idea that the professions have a moral responsibility to society in the practice of their specialised skills goes back to the Hippocratic Oath of doctors in ancient Greece. We have Physicians for Social Responsibility, the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize winner “International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War”; a quick search on the Internet the other day also brought up “Behaviourists for Social Responsibility”, “Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility”, “Artists for Social Responsibility” - and so on. As Kip says, “If we truly aspire to be a ‘profession’ in the real sense of the word, then we must consider this aspect of social responsibility.” – Cates, K. (1995)

5. Cross-cultural considerations

Cross-cultural considerations provide another reason for integrating global issues into our work. Through improved global communications the world is becoming ever smaller. As a result, cross-cultural communications are increasingly important in language teaching. Cross-cultural communication leads on to ideas of inter-dependence, the ways in which the lives of people throughout the world are connected and a sense of responsibility for other people and for the environment. Issues that are common across cultures are global issues.

For these reasons, then, global issues are increasingly chosen as subject matter in English Language Teaching. There are some, however, who have misgivings:

1. Risk of indoctrination

What do you think of this statement?

“What are we doing for the Earth? What are we doing to save it? What are the issues? And what on earth does this have to do with you as an ESL teacher? It has everything to do with you as an ESL teacher. Global, peace and environmental issues intrinsically affect every human being on the earth. These issues provide content for your content-based humanized teaching of the ’90s. We teachers have a mission, a mission of helping everyone in this world communicate with each other to prevent the global disaster ahead. The 90’s are in your hands.” (H. Douglas Brown 1990)

My feeling is that while I welcome the enthusiasm underlying this statement, the tone is rather too messianic. Besides, there is the risk of looking foolish when the threat to mankind fashionable at the time turns out to be less clear-cut than at first thought. Eg. oil and mineral depletion. It seems to me that the answer to facile input on global issues is greater in-depth examination of the issues.

Set against the previous statement, this one by Amy Yamashiro:

“Teachers committed to the goals of global education must be wary of falling into the trap of indoctrinating students to accept the teacher’s beliefs and values unquestioningly. When teaching a global-issues-based course, I point out to students that while I may hold one view on a certain issue, there may be many views within a single country or culture and that they must carefully consider all viewpoints before making a decision or taking action. As an educator in a cross-cultural setting, I would rather my students disagree with my point of view from a position of deep reflection rather than risk indoctrination of my values through a superficial teaching of my beliefs because I think that my view is “right.” - Yamashiro, A.D (1996)

That seems to me to be a more balanced approach and one which might form a model for the teaching of global issues in English into the next decade.

2. Not our job

Another objection to the teaching of global issues is that it’s not our job: we’re trained to teach English, not world problems. To this I would say that it’s not our job, either, to teach Coca-Cola, or Nike trainers, or the latest pop or fashion icon. In fact, to do so, to ignore world issues, to provide so-called ‘neutral’ content, is in my opinion a political stance: consumerism is OK; ‘Don’t worry, Be happy’. Well, ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ is OK in the right place at the right time, but if we ignore global issues and what can be done to solve them, are we not implying that language study is irrelevant to the world and the controversial problems facing it?

3. Controversy

A related objection to teaching global issues is the feeling that we should avoid controversy in our English Language Teaching. However I and many others feel that controversy is useful in prompting discussion and debate not only in ELT but in many different subject areas. In any case, the aim in teaching about controversial issues is not to produce controversy in our classrooms but to understand controversy. Kip Cates gives the following example:

“In taking up abortion or the Arab-Israeli problem, for example, the aim of a global education lesson would not be to inflame passions or to put forth one view of the issue, but rather to seek to understand the problem, the roots of the conflict, the history of the issue, the views of the various parties, the possibilities for resolving the problem, and the actions we as language teachers and students can take to help bring about a just and peaceful resolution.

A global education approach to language teaching similarly stresses that controversy in itself need not be inimical to language learning, but that controversial issues can provide an opportunity for both the acquisition of language and the acquisition of knowledge, thinking and action skills which can help young people better understand and cope with the important social issues which face our world.” – Cates, K (1997)

Let’s move on, now, to the question of how we can incorporate global issues into English Language Teaching.

1. Text books

A growing number of EFL textbooks already exist to help teachers interested in global issues. A few examples:

“Impact Issues” by Day and Yamanaka (1998) Longman Japan. A 95-page EFL discussion text, sub-titled “30 Key Issues to Help You Express Yourself in English”, introduces current social and global issues in an Asian context.

“The Green World”, “Mind and Body”, “Youth Culture” and other books in the Phoenix ‘Dossiers’ series, in conjunction with the excellent “101 Ways to Use Dossiers” provide an abundance of useful source material.

“Focus on the Environment” (Prentice Hall Regents, 1993) Susan Stempleski - excellent reading, writing and discussion tasks based around twelve authentic USA news reports on environmental issues.

“Greening – an environmental reader” (Prentice Hall Regents, 1995) Brenda Bushell – 150-page reading, writing and discussion text.

“The Global Classroom” (Volumes 1 & 2) (Addison-Wesley-Longman, 1995) M. de Cou-Landberg – two resource books designed as ESL teachers’ guides to thematic multicultural classwork. Volume 1 includes units on World Climates, World Plants, World Animals, International Foods; Volume 2 includes units on World Clothing, World Transportation, Houses Round the World and Multicultural Celebrations.

Global Issues are also finding their way into the mainstream of EFL texts: the new CUP “Cambridge English for Schools” by Littlejohn and Hicks is a good example.

That said, I have to agree with Craig Wallace that low level EFL books tend to “Exhibit an obsession with Western interests, such as diet / fitness, careers in the entertainment world and Western pop music / media” while advanced EFL textbooks “expect the average EFL student to have a degree of original intellectual thought and a range of opinions beyond the average native speaker.” Wallace, C. (1996)

Clearly there is still room for progress.

2. Using SIG newsletters

Both the IATEFL Global Issues SIG Newsletter and the newsletter of the Global Issues SIG of the Japan Association for Language Teaching contain many teaching ideas, lesson plans, and so on. They’re indispensable for teachers interested in incorporating global issues into their work.

3. Within the framework of Global Education

While Global Issues provide the content for our language teaching, Global Education also emphasises the skills and attitudes needed to live effectively in a world possessing limited natural resources and characterised by ethnic diversity, cultural pluralism, and increasing interdependence. According to Stempleski a global education approach to EFL involves four goals: Knowledge and Awareness, The Values of Concern, The Skills of Critical Thinking, and Action. This is fleshed out well in an article in the latest edition of the GISIG Newsletter describing the Global Citizenship Study Programme undertaken by students in Finland’s UNESCO schools:

“The objective of the Global Citizenship Study Programme is to fulfil educational goals of the UN, UNESCO and Finland’s UN Association by adding discussion to issues about peace, development, human rights, culture, environment, economy and refugees. Its main objective is to encourage development towards a mature adult life and to reinforce self-directed, critical learning. It activates many different methods of research. It emphasises evaluation and assessment of one’s own work as well as interaction skills and learning to use electronic research methods and tele-communications.” Penttila, T (1998)

The article goes on to describe various social-emotional, cognitive and functional goals of this kind of study and provides a description of the work structure – a structure which can be easily harnessed for English Language Teaching. I think the Global Education framework is particularly important to ELT as it moves away from the idea of global issues as ‘facts presented by the teacher’ (with the possible charge of indoctrination) to a process of exploration and discovery by the student. The teacher becomes ‘the guide on the side’, not ‘the sage on the stage’. This accords with modern ELT practice, where the aim is to develop positive and forward-looking English Language students able to work independently and continue acquiring the language even after the teacher has departed.

4. Using the Internet

The Internet provides another means of incorporating global issues into English Language Teaching, both by making cross-cultural communication easy and cheap and by providing a superb reference resource. For example, students at The English Country School recently took part in a debate on the motion ‘A woman’s place is in the home.’ Using the Internet they quickly found and printed out a list of 100 famous women in history that they were able to use to support their argument. Teachers interested in global issues will find an extensive list of Internet resources at the Global Issues SIG’s web site (http://www.countryschool.com/gisig.htm) together with descriptions of forthcoming events and a section which puts like-minded ELT professionals around the world in contact with each other on global issues.

5. Minimal resources

It’s useful to remember that not everyone has access to modern technology and another strand of global issues in ELT deals with the subject of teaching using minimal resources. Eleanor Watts points out for example that in India in 1993, 167 million children were enrolled in schools, most of who started English at the age of 11. Very few schools have any teaching aid except textbooks and a blackboard. Within this situation, making effective use of the blackboard and using the local environment as a resource become essential.

6. Teaching English through projects and activities in the natural environment

This is another strand that I believe is particularly appropriate for younger learners. As well as practising the four skills in an authentic way it also advances general educational development such as learner autonomy and co-operation and particular study skills such as classification and reference skills. It also encourages sensitivity towards – and appreciation of – the natural world, which may last the students well into the future. That’s why we make it an important part of what we do at The English Country School.

7. Peace and Environmental Education

Other ELT practitioners are incorporating ideas from the fields of peace and environmental education into their classroom approach. Jim Wingate’s book “How to be a Peace-full Teacher” (sic) describes many practical techniques for encouraging sharing, listening, trust and co-operation in the language classroom. Another commentator writes: “Students empowered to create a peaceful, tolerant, and sustainable environment in the community of their classroom are naturally better prepared to create the same environment in the world itself.” - Gregory Anderson (1996)

8. Start with the students

However we choose to incorporate Global Issues into ELT, we should do so sensitively, with student and institutional agreement. We should start with the students and what they know. I can’t put it better than Brenda Dyer and Brenda Bushell, writing in another issue of The Language Teacher:

“We believe the best way to achieve a global perspective in the foreign language classroom is through a learner-centred syllabus informed by the students’ needs, their present understanding of global issues, and a clarification of their own values. Values-oriented education seems best implemented by learner-centred pedagogy that encourages students to take responsibility for their learning, to learn co-operatively in pairs and small groups, and to make connections between the classroom lesson and their own lives. Students should be encouraged to use English to clarify and express their values, to think and speak critically about world issues, and to judge and synthesize other perspectives.” Dyer & Bushell (1996)

9. Remain positive

Finally, we should remain positive in our teaching of global issues. It’s our job as educators to ensure that students develop a positive attitude towards language learning and there are many effective techniques and activities for doing this. Similarly, global education has a range of techniques designed to encourage curiosity and enthusiasm in the students: using movies to teach about global issues (there’s an association dedicated just to this), using songs, video, role plays - including an elaborate and well-established ‘Model United Nations’ – debates, and simulations designed to teach cross-cultural awareness.

In conclusion, we should be teaching global issues – it’s already happening –it fits with communicative and content-based methodology and with the growing interest in cross-cultural awareness being fuelled by advances in global communications.

 Students want to learn about global issues, teachers want to teach about global issues The Global Issues SIG can help to support these teachers, provide examples of best practice, keep people in contact with one another and through conferences, seminars and symposia like this retain the importance of human contact in an increasingly wired world.

Christopher Etchells, The English Country School, 18 Riverside, Winchcombe, GL54 5JP, England. Email: etchells@countryschool.com

References (alphabetical)

Anderson, G.G (1996) “Global Issues in the University ESL Classroom” The Language Teacher Online 20.11, November 1996.

Brown, H.D (1990) “On track to Century 21” Plenary talk at TESOL ’90, San Francisco, USA.

Cates, K. (1995) “Introduction: Integrating Global Education into English Language Teaching” IATEFL GISIG Newsletter, Issue 1, July 1995

Cates, K. (1997) “Frequently Asked Questions About Global Issues” The Language Teacher Online 21.4, April 1997

Dyer, B. & Bushell, B (1996) “World Issues or a Global Perspective?” Language Teacher Online, 20.11 November 1996

Maley, A (1994) “Is it time for an IATEFL Global Issues SIG?” IATEFL Newsletter Vol. 15/5 JALT

Penttila, T (1998) “Global Citizenship Maturity Test” IATEFL Global Issues SIG Newsletter, Aug. 1998, pp. 13-14

Stempleski, S (1993) “Linking the Classroom to the World: the Environment and EFL” English Teaching Forum, 31 (4).

Wallace, C (1997) “IELTS: Global Implications of Curriculum and Materials Design” ELT Journal, Vol. 51, Issue 4, October 97 pp. 370-373

Yamashiro, A.D (1996) “Integrating Global Issues into High School EFL”, The Language Teacher 20.11 November 1996