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There are those who argue that only one out of every four users of English in the world is a native speaker of the language (Crystal 2003). If that is true, we can no longer think that a certain variety of English is better than others, or rank varieties from better to worse or vice versa. This is not because the fact of having nonnative speakers makes all varieties equally good or bad, but because it makes English a language that links cultures; it brings so many varieties and accents to the scenario, and starts serving as a link between cultures for whose English is just a way to communicate among them: A Lingua Franca.  This term brings some new lights but also some new misconceptions to the teaching of English as a Foreign or Second Language.

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Nowadays, teachers and learners struggle trying to decide where to go to learn English or which the best variety they should adopt is, they keep seeing English as American, British or Australian. The truth is that those varieties are still important and cannot be ignored, but there is a new variety that comes to share a place with the traditional Englishes: English as an International Language (EIL) or Lingua Franca (ELF)(Seidlhofer 2005). The answer can be that any variety is equally good and that, with time, English will become a language mostly influenced by people who were not born in any English speaking country.

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Linguists started to collect information to find out more about ELF, to find out that the changes may be due, in some cases, to the difficulties nonnative speakers face. Their findings reveal some overgeneralization in grammar and some other pronunciation changes that tend to be common to a large number of nonnatives.  The misconception comes when it is argued that the language has already changed and, therefore, teachers should start omitting teaching certain features: […] the features of English which tend to be crucial for international intelligibility and therefore need to be taught for production and reception are being distinguished from the (‘non-native’) features that tend not to cause misunderstandings and thus do not need to constitute a focus for production teaching for those learners who intend to use English mainly in international settings(Seidlhofer 2005). Care and attention need to be paid to a phenomenon that is unquestionably molding and changing the way the language is used, and special focus is needed when it comes to decide what to teach, or which standard to use. The different uses of English in some regions of America, Britain, Australia, or any other English speaking country has not modified the standard academic English that is taught internationally, and great efforts are being put on International examinations that help us keep those standards for mutual understanding and move towards an accepted corpora.

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To conclude, we can wrap up the following: although ELF cannot be denied, and teachers need to be aware of it as an important phenomenon; the fact of acknowledging it does not necessarily implies a change in the way we teach and should not be considered the standard to teach or learn. Learners should gain the ability to interact in any setting: American, Australian, or International; the globalization of English makes it necessary to broad our capacity to recognize and accept the different variations of the language instead of raising one as the sole valid one to a given setting.

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Crystal, D. 2003. English as a Global Language (Second edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Seidlhofer, B. 2005. ELT Journal Volume 59/4 October 2005; doi:10.1093/elt/cci064. Oxford University Press

January, 2009

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There are plenty of tests to measure people’s language proficiency. Among others, TOEFL, FCE and IELTS are intended to rate language proficiency. But there are many other tests to assess language proficiency in a given context; one of the most famous is BULATS (which stands for Business Language Test); and there are also others which focus on Law, Finance, and Medicine. English Language Teachers could not be out of this trend, CELTA and DELTA are pretty well known, while TKT is not that famous. The TKT was designed as a test for professional English Language Teachers and also for those who teach English but do not have any official certificate which entitles them to do so. This paper is going to be focused on both (professional and non-certified teachers) but especially on how relevant and applicable this test could be to measure and standardize the teaching of English in a non native speaking setting. To do so, we will analyze the official course book for the TKT to figure out in a clearer way who it was designed for, what it is, its sections and, above all, its strengths and weaknesses.

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The final purpose is to get to a clear conclusion by describing the TKT in as much detail as possible to give the reader a complete picture of the test. After describing it, and we will attempt to assess the test value for teachers of English in nonnative settings. Such attempt will be focused on finding relevant helps for the current situation in our context and possible drawbacks for our teachers. Lets then begin with a clear description because to assess the test it is necessary to know what it is.

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The Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT) is a test developed by Cambridge ESOL examinations for teachers of English to speakers of other languages and is intended to test teachers’ knowledge related to language use and background, and the current theories related to language teaching and language learning. According to Clare Harrison, the test was created due to multiple requests from government ministries and schools around the world and, as an answer to that request, three different modules were established as part of it: Language and background to learning and teaching, lesson planning and use of resources for language teaching, and managing the teaching and learning process.

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Although the three modules can be taken separately, there is a sense of connection and, in a way; all of them are addressed to complement each other to test the knowledge of applicants about English Language Teaching and Learning. Among others, the first module covers grammar, lexis, writing, speaking, learners’ motivation, the role of error, learner needs, and assessment types and tasks. The second module intends to test aspects such as selecting aims, choosing assessment activities and additional materials for a lesson or a sequence of lessons. In the last part candidates have to demonstrate knowledge on areas like categorizing learners’ mistakes, teacher’s roles, and giving feedback, among others. Finally, knowing the type of questions asked, it is a must to broadly understand what the text is about. Each module contains a range of tasks with a total of 80 objective-format questions and aims to cover universal aspects of what a successful teacher of English needs to know with multiple choice, matching, and the odd-one out questions as shown in the following examples.

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Multiple Choice Questions

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Mark the correct letter (A, B, or C) on your answer sheet.

21 Can you say that again please?
A showing interest

B asking for repetition

C greeting

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Matching Questions
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For questions 1-5, match the descriptions of the teacher’s roles with the roles listed A-F. There is no extra option which you do not need to use.

Roles
A an informer
B a monitor
C a diagnostician
D an involver
E a planner
F a manager
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Description of the teacher’s roles
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1 Before the lesson, she is ……….. when she thinks about and prepares what she is going to teach.
2 She is ……….. when she presents new language to learners.
3 She is ……….. when she organises group work or pair work activities.
4 She is ……….. when she goes around the class and helps learners when they working on activities.
5 She is ……….. when she encourages all the learners to take part in the activities.

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Odd-one out

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Mark the option which is NOT appropriate (A, B, or C) on your answer sheet.

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51 Pairwork is helpful for?
A checking accuracy
B practising fluency
C encouraging shy learners

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To sum up, TKT is intended to test the candidates’ knowledge about the teaching of English within three different modules that can be taken separately or not. But how relevant could this test be for our teachers of English in a nonnative setting?

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As it was stated at the beginning of this paper, there are plenty of international tests which are not only seen as a tool to measure language proficiency in any given context, but also to get a certificate which is valid worldwide and which opens many possibilities for people who hold them because qualifications are a form of currency in this globalized world. Then another question arises: why are international qualifications needed? Because English is a Lingua Franca and standards are necessary for mutual understanding and for keeping an agreed form of language for mutual comprehension. Subsequently, when learners are asked to demonstrate a certain level and are subject of rigorous testing, a unified criterion for teaching becomes a must.

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In this moment the international standard of TKT comes to bridge that gap in non English Speaking countries and gives a range of possibilities to consolidate and validate programs and syllabuses as well as methodological approaches. We say a range of approaches and methodologies because it does not impose any approach but proposes a selection of methodological theories teachers must know and can combine to lead successful learning processes. Then, why should or should not an institution adopt TKT as a tool to test teachers? One of the most remarkable reasons to adopt the test is to have neutral way of standardizing teaching techniques. On the other hand, some people might argue that TKT does not reflect the specific needs of a specific environment and this makes the test irrelevant to test techniques and styles when teaching English to a given group of learners.

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We can focus on the negative views of the test, those who disagree about having an international test to measure our teaching performance. Nowadays teaching performance is measured by visiting teachers at their classrooms and giving them a grade according to what the visitor considers is good, average or outstanding. When visited, teachers can be affected by a wide range of feelings that may interfere with teaching and observation results. Even though observation is necessary, it has become a feared methodology and has created a huge amount of negative reactions including changing classes when the observer is there, lack of professional confidence when teachers feel a conditioned reliance on them, and a sense of rivalry between the teacher and the observer, among others. Having a test to measure teachers’ pedagogical knowledge releases a lot of pressure of the visits and then they can gain confidence as professionals, leaving this tool as a scenario in which observer and observed can discuss professional matters and improvement possibilities; it will allow the institution to take advantage of the great professional resource it has because if people feel they are trusted and heard, they will feel motivated to contribute and be honest with themselves. In conclusion, having a test such as TKT will help us improve the usefulness of class visits by increasing teachers’ confidence and changing visits perception.

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There are also some people who say that TKT does not fit in nonnative teaching environments. First of all it is to be said that to discover if the test works for our setting we have to use it first, we cannot reject the tool without trying it because it would be professionally bias. The test was specifically created for teachers of English to speakers of other languages consulting various teacher training institutions worldwide in order to gain reactions to the proposal to develop a new test for teachers . Then, if we are teachers of English to speakers of Spanish, Turkish, or Korean and the test was created consulting worldwide, why not give ourselves a chance to know it and take advantage of the job that qualified professionals made for us?

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Finally and to bring this argumentation to an end, TKT is a well prepared test for ESL/EFL teachers which evaluates language, teaching approaches, and learning process management that can help us improve our classes by giving a chance to class observation to become a space for professional growth, it also works as an international certificate teachers can use to teach worldwide, and it helps to standardize the teaching processes where learners are also going to be tested under international standards. This may be taken as a proposal to help institutions improve and take advantage of the professional qualities teachers have; it is not a judgment of the practices but a suggestion to improve and move on towards better teaching and mutual understanding.

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Bibliography

1. SPRATT, Mary; PULVERNESS, Alan; WILLIAMS. “The TKT Course”, Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, England, 2005.
   
2. HARRISON, Clare. “The TKT – Teaching Knowledge Test” at Humanising Language Teaching – http://hltmag.co.uk/mar06/mart05.htm – March, 2006

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The Hard Task of Thinking
The following concerns a question in a physics degree exam at the
University of Copenhagen:
“Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer.”
One student replied:
“You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, and then lower the barometer
from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of
the barometer will equal the height of the building.”
This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed
immediately. The student appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably
correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case.
The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable
knowledge of physics. To resolve the problem it was decided to call the student in and
allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer that showed at least a minimal
familiarity with the basic principles of physics.
For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. The arbiter
reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several
extremely relevant answers, but couldn’t make up his mind which to use. On being
advised to hurry up the student replied as follows:
“Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the
edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can
then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g x t squared. But bad luck on the
barometer.”
“Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end
and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper’s
shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the
height of the skyscraper.”
“But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to
the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of
the skyscraper. The height is worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring
force T =2 pi sqr root (l /g).”
“Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it
and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up.”
“If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you could use the
barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground,
and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building.”
“But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply
scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor’s door and
say to him ‘If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me
the height of this skyscraper’.”
The student was Niels Bohr, the only Dane to win the Nobel Prize for physics.

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