TEACHING OF ENGLISH WITH A PURPOSE
The emergence of English for Specific Purposes has provided learners with their specific needs in using the language in a context they are actually engaged in. This is also tantamount to saying that the active involvement of students and their engagement toward the various activities in an English class must be relevant to their endeavours at present and in the future. English must be highlighted as a course and as a tool for learners to be functionally active and productive in the society.
One of the most demanding tasks of a teacher is to boost students’ attention and to elicit students’ participation in every task plotted for daily instruction. The task of motivating students to actively engage themselves in each of the numerous classroom activities purposively bridges and resolves the gap existing between learning and instruction. All teachers discern the value of distinctive motivational activities in rooting students’ interest toward the lessons being introduced to them.
Yet, in an active English class, motivation roots from a curriculum agreed between the teacher and the learners. Thus, English becomes a subject that highlights a negotiated curriculum where students’ participation is maximized. Participation is not only viewed in the context of crafting the curriculum, but also on the context of students’ active involvement in the class activities. As they are part of the design, the curriculum becomes personalized and tailored to their specific needs and interest.
In an article written by Weimer (2011), she mentioned that participation is one of those workhorse instructional strategies—easy to use, straightforward, expected, and often quite successful at accomplishing a number of learning goals. She even listed the benefits a teacher may acquire through eliciting students’ participation. Aside from the reason that participation adds interest and engages students (Weimer, 2011), students’ opinion of what they want to learn and how they want to learn English may create a feeling of ownership on the part of these people who will receive the instruction.
Teaching English with a specific purpose may give a leeway for the instructors to view English on the perspective of their learners. It is eventually expected that after an English class, learners will have a strong core and competence in order to cope up with the 21st century challenges in their field. More than knowing the rule, the structure or the form, language learners must also learn how the meanings vary depending on the context they are in.
On one hand, effective teaching strategies may be achieved through teacher’s comprehensive research on the teaching trends and continuous study of the students’ needs and interests. Moreover, research on the innovative tools may also identify appropriate and most convincing system of instruction. Good study habits, on the other hand, may be realized through the constant support of homes, development of listening skills of students and more exposure to relevant classroom activities.
English teachers are tasked to craft meaningfully their lesson plans, syllabi and instructional tools in their respective classes. Meaning can only be achieved if teachers always relate English into reality, viewing how it functions and how it mobilizes the society where the learners are. This makes the teaching of English serves its purpose.