Given that the English language has recently been branded as the first
emerging global lingua franca (a language used widely beyond the
population of its native speakers), it is virtually impossible nowadays
not to know a few basic English phrases. With over a billion people
speaking it, a working knowledge of the English language is an essential
requirement in many professions, with English being the prominent
language in communications, tourism, science, business, aviation,
entertainment and diplomacy. Half of all the world’s business deals are
conducted in English, two thirds of scientific papers are written in
English, and over 70% of all post is written and addressed in English.
Although the French, Spanish and Arabic languages may disagree profusely
as a matter of cultural pride, it is unsurprising that English is
destined to become the unofficial international language in future
times. According to recent figures, there are now more English speaking
people in China than there are in America.
Linggo, Marso 18, 2012
I. The Isles of My Portfolio in English 121 (Writing in the Discipline)
III. Writing in the Discipline as a Platform in Education for Sustainable Development
Since experts were coming from different
academic backgrounds, this platform provided a space to step beyond their daily
research horizon and debate subject related fields in formal and informal
discussions.
“Education for Sustainable
Development”(ESD) is a vision of education that seeks to empower people to
assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future. Central to
ESD is the concept of culture as an essential underlying theme. Recognizing
that there is no “single route” to sustainable development and that perception
of, and ideas for sustainability are different, participants need to work
together to negotiate the process of achieving sustainability.
IV. Reflection in English 121
Active participation of learners in the self-evaluation of their
learning and the development of reflective thinking are the key features
of alternative assessment. Alternative assessment is often defined as
any type of assessment in which learners create a response to an
assignment. The success of alternative assessment in language teaching
is predetermined by students performance which demonstrates what
learners can do with language in contemporary communicative classrooms.
This research aimed at investigating influence of students
assessment of utility of various assignments for their linguistic
development in English for Specific Purposes. The study employed a
survey on the usefulness of different assignments and learners' written
reflections on the perceptions of benefits to language mastery. Learners
assignments included various contributions to portfolios such as
essays, summaries of professional texts, outlines of oral presentations,
creative computer tasks, tests as well as students written
self-assessment notes, their reflections on various classroom
activities.
V. Integration of Education for Sustainable Development to English 121
Central here is the sense that the development of effective and
imaginative English teaching is not merely a series of skills in
transferring the teacher’s subject knowledge to pupils. Rather, the best
English classrooms are fully interactive places which build on both
teachers’ and pupils’ knowledge, experience and reflections on and
through language: a fully educative process, in other words. As for all
forms of education, preparation for teaching – and, for that matter,
subsequent continuing professional development – depends significantly
on being a part of a wider community of teachers and learners. It is, or
should be, a fully social process, and the fuller the better. In fact
it may be more apt to speak of diverse models of English as a school
subject, rather than a discrete and clearly identified entity. The
subject is continually re-shaping itself – perhaps more than any other
curricular subject – with the consequence that notions of subject
knowledge change, sometimes dramatically, with each new wave of entrants
into the profession.
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