Decentring ELT: teacher associations as agents of change

Darío Luis Banegas; Deborah Bullock; Richard Kiely; Kuchah Kuchah; Amol Padwad; Richard Smith; Martin Wedell

doi:10.1093/elt/ccab090

Decentring ELT: teacher associations as agents of change

Darío Luis Banegas, Deborah Bullock, Richard Kiely, Kuchah Kuchah, Amol Padwad, Richard Smith^*, Martin Wedell

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

In 2018, the A.S. Hornby Educational Trust launched its ‘Decentring ELT’ initiative, with the aim of identifying, publicizing, and supporting ways in which English language educators in low- and middle-income countries work locally and collaboratively to develop activities that respond to their particular circumstances. This article aims to explore the notion of ‘decentring’ in ELT by means of a provisional characterization and by presenting examples of activities carried out by ELT teacher associations in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia which involve: localization/devolution; encouragement of success-sharing; support for teacher research; investigation of members’ needs and/or capabilities; and/or attempts to bring about wider change. On the basis of feedback received so far on our provisional characterization of decentring, we end by highlighting some ways in which this notion, and outside support for it, may need to be not only extended but also problematized and critiqued.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	69-76
Number of pages	8
Journal	ELT Journal
Volume	76
Issue number	1
Early online date	31 Dec 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccab090
Publication status	Published - Jan 2022

Keywords

decentring
teacher association
context-based approach
local agency
capacity-building

Access to Document

10.1093/elt/ccab090

Cite this

@article{08d730c0e547429e8c45180a6ad29df7,

title = "Decentring ELT: teacher associations as agents of change",

abstract = "In 2018, the A.S. Hornby Educational Trust launched its {\textquoteleft}Decentring ELT{\textquoteright} initiative, with the aim of identifying, publicizing, and supporting ways in which English language educators in low- and middle-income countries work locally and collaboratively to develop activities that respond to their particular circumstances. This article aims to explore the notion of {\textquoteleft}decentring{\textquoteright} in ELT by means of a provisional characterization and by presenting examples of activities carried out by ELT teacher associations in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia which involve: localization/devolution; encouragement of success-sharing; support for teacher research; investigation of members{\textquoteright} needs and/or capabilities; and/or attempts to bring about wider change. On the basis of feedback received so far on our provisional characterization of decentring, we end by highlighting some ways in which this notion, and outside support for it, may need to be not only extended but also problematized and critiqued.",

keywords = "decentring, teacher association, context-based approach, local agency, capacity-building",

author = "Banegas, {Dar{\'i}o Luis} and Deborah Bullock and Richard Kiely and Kuchah Kuchah and Amol Padwad and Richard Smith and Martin Wedell",

year = "2022",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1093/elt/ccab090",

language = "English",

volume = "76",

pages = "69--76",

journal = "ELT Journal",

issn = "0951-0893",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Decentring ELT

T2 - teacher associations as agents of change

AU - Banegas, Darío Luis

AU - Bullock, Deborah

AU - Kiely, Richard

AU - Kuchah, Kuchah

AU - Padwad, Amol

AU - Smith, Richard

AU - Wedell, Martin

PY - 2022/1

Y1 - 2022/1

N2 - In 2018, the A.S. Hornby Educational Trust launched its ‘Decentring ELT’ initiative, with the aim of identifying, publicizing, and supporting ways in which English language educators in low- and middle-income countries work locally and collaboratively to develop activities that respond to their particular circumstances. This article aims to explore the notion of ‘decentring’ in ELT by means of a provisional characterization and by presenting examples of activities carried out by ELT teacher associations in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia which involve: localization/devolution; encouragement of success-sharing; support for teacher research; investigation of members’ needs and/or capabilities; and/or attempts to bring about wider change. On the basis of feedback received so far on our provisional characterization of decentring, we end by highlighting some ways in which this notion, and outside support for it, may need to be not only extended but also problematized and critiqued.

AB - In 2018, the A.S. Hornby Educational Trust launched its ‘Decentring ELT’ initiative, with the aim of identifying, publicizing, and supporting ways in which English language educators in low- and middle-income countries work locally and collaboratively to develop activities that respond to their particular circumstances. This article aims to explore the notion of ‘decentring’ in ELT by means of a provisional characterization and by presenting examples of activities carried out by ELT teacher associations in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia which involve: localization/devolution; encouragement of success-sharing; support for teacher research; investigation of members’ needs and/or capabilities; and/or attempts to bring about wider change. On the basis of feedback received so far on our provisional characterization of decentring, we end by highlighting some ways in which this notion, and outside support for it, may need to be not only extended but also problematized and critiqued.

KW - decentring

KW - teacher association

KW - context-based approach

KW - local agency

KW - capacity-building

U2 - 10.1093/elt/ccab090

DO - 10.1093/elt/ccab090

M3 - Article

SN - 0951-0893

VL - 76

SP - 69

EP - 76

JO - ELT Journal

JF - ELT Journal

IS - 1

ER -

Decentring ELT: teacher associations as agents of change

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this