Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on New Trends in Teaching and Education
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Teaching English as a Lingua Franca at Tertiary Education Studies of Economics and Tourism: Overcoming Challenges and Inhibitions, Embracing a Holistic Perspective of Self
Dr. Zoi Antonopoulou
ABSTRACT:
The presentation will discuss the implications of teaching English as a tool of intercultural communication– lingua franca, to students of Tourism and Economics at tertiary education and how it affects their perception of themselves in today’s world. Traditional language teaching echoed ideas of hierarchy between competent and non-competent speakers, and perceived failure early on often inhibited the individual from communication decades after the first encounter with the language. Using English as a lingua franca prioritizes communication and participation, using mistakes as a learning opportunity and fostering critical awareness and self-reflection. This process of ‘de-colonizing’ language teaching will be viewed through the prism of two adult education theories, Paolo Freire’s critical pedagogy and Jack Mezirow’s transformative learning theory which perceive adult education as a social act, emphasizing on its potential to empower and bring about change. Past traumatic experiences and structural constraints can and should be active agents of change, rather than a predicament.
keywords: Higher Education, English as a lingua franca, Tourism, Economics, Freire, Mezirow, critical pedagogy, transformative learning