Hello.
My name is Annafa Naini, and here I’m going to explain this article titled Current
Research in ELT
So ELT research has been evolving throughout time. The changes of focus, issues, challenges,
and key paradigms have been aligned with trends and development in the academic science and
the developmental trends. There are eight major trends in the current ELT research studies, and
those are:
1. Changing perspectives on English teaching and learning. In the last decades, views on ELT
and its research have been changing and developing. Issues of bilingualism, multilingualism, and
native speakerism is one of major trends. English has been evolving and acquired in different
parts of the world, developed through its own cultures and contexts. Nowadays, more and more
research and discussions have focused on the issues of “World Englishes” and English as a
Lingua Franca (ELF) rather than simply referring to any English spoken outside of English
speaking countries as EFL.
2. Changes in goals of English teaching and learning. Today’s ELT research trends have been
changing also from mainly on linguistic and language focus to fostering a sense of social
responsibility in students in the global world. There’s a strong urge towards acquisition and
application of soft skills – called the 21st century skills – has been strongly encouraged. Abilities
to communicate, collaborate, be creative, and critical in world issues added with innovation skills
and character values are undeniably important to take more prominent roles in the global context.
3. Changes in approaches to teaching. The 21st century is referred as the “Post-methods Era” by
many scholars which focuses on teaching is on eclecticism. It involves the use of a variety of
language learning activities, each of which may have very different characteristics and may be
motivated by different underlying assumptions.
4. Changes in teaching content, curriculum design, and assessment. As the world becomes more
dynamic, English teaching is also adapting its purposes. This field is recognizing the growing
importance of content and disciplinary knowledge. This increased focus on Content and
Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), English Medium Instruction (EMI), and English for
Specific Purposes (ESP) has meant that more and more programs require English teachers to use
cross curricular, cross-disciplinary content in teaching and to teach both the content and English.
Today, standards, accountability, and assessment have become a major focus of the educational
reform in many countries in the world.
5. Expanding the dimension of communicative competence. A large focus of recent research and
publications has been expansion of the framework of communicative competence. Some scholars
have introduced a new way of looking at second language acquisition (SLA) as “multi-
competence” focus on the importance of intercultural communicative competence. The
implication here is that when teaching intercultural communicative competence, teachers need to
attend to both local and international cultures. The goal is to produce effective language users
competent to use English as an international language, not just learners who mimic the “inner-
circle” countries’ languages and cultures.
6. Changing views of an effective English educator. With the changing views of communicative
competence and the awareness of intercultural competence, perceptions of what constitutes an
effective English teacher are also changing. Today, more people recognize that the effectiveness
of English teachers should be determined by their linguistic, instructional, and intercultural
competence rather than simply by their linguistic identity.
7. Rapid development and integration of information technology in ELT. The recent rapid
development of technologies have opened seamless possibilities for teachers to teach English and
access information. Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Blended Learning, e-books, and many
more, have changed how we prepare our lessons and instruct our students. Now, with ready-
made materials at the touch of a keyboard button, it is a lot easier to bring real-life issues to the
classroom and have a meaningful discussion. Students may know more than their teachers about
how to use technology, and yet they need proper guidance from the teachers on how to select,
analyze, and utilize the right information to achieve their learning goals.
8. Changing roles and increasing responsibilities of teachers. The constant development of trends
and practices in the ELT context has also evolved the role of today’s teacher. In the 21st-century
classroom, teachers have multiple roles and responsibilities as facilitators of student learning and
creators of a productive classroom environment in which students can develop the skills they will
need for the 21st-century workforce. Professional development activities become more
accessible to help teachers with new ways of teaching and assessing learning. These are essential
to prepare teachers to be reflective practitioners while empowering them to prepare students to
be effective users of English and responsible global citizens.
So in general, ELT research has been evolving throughout time due to dynamic changes in the
area. Some prominent changes include purposes of learning, more centered focus on students,
soft skills and character, and technological development. They are major practices of research
and ELT benefits a lot from the ever changing topics.
That’s all from my presentation, thank you very much.