English Language Teachers in the New Millennium: Complexities and Challenges

In the 21s Century, English language teachers find themselves facing a myriad of challenges. Global shifts in the usage of the English language, inter alia, have called many aspects of TESOL into question, and these shifts have been the subject of considerable debate during the past few years (Sharifian, 2009). What emerges from much of the discussion, is that there seems to be a good deal of uncertainty as to what precisely these shifts mean and how they relate to the language teacher’s expertise, praxis (Edge, 2006; Matsuda, 2006; Llurda, 2005), as well as professional identity (Varghese, 2001; Morgan, 2004).

This paper will identify, describe and critically evaluate in light of recent conceptual debates among scholars the key assumptions behind these emerging shifts in the glocal TESOL context. Specifically, it will consider issues such as the different kinds of skills and knowledge (e.g. intercultural and pedagogical competence) needed to meet the changing nature of the English language, non-native speaker teachers’ (NNSTs) challenges of negotiating current neoliberal marketplace demands, and various pedagogical implications related to appropriating language teaching materials, instructional and assessment methods, while navigating the maize of the postmethods era.