Abstract
Today,
EFL teachers need to use new approaches that develop content, culture, technology,
and lifelong skills. In this regard, the Partnership for 21st century skills
(2007) argued for the explicit integration of learning and innovation skills,
information, media and digital literacy skills and life and career skills. To
them, classrooms should provide students with practices focused on acquiring
and developing, among other things, critical thinking, collaboration, self-direction
and cross-cultural skills. Consequently, EFL classrooms need to be filled with
meaningful and intellectually stimulating activities that allow students to
understand complex perspectives, use multiple media and technologies, and work
creatively with others.
Key words: English
language teaching, English as a foreign language, 21st century
skills, ICT, new literacies.
Introduction
Today’s
English foreign language (EFL) learners have varied backgrounds, a multiplicity
of achievement levels, and diverse learning styles. These characteristics
impact their ability to learn and use a foreign language (Ananiadou &
Claro, 2009). At the same time, these learners are not simply interested in
achieving a high command of the different language skills needed in social
situations, they are also concerned with the acquisition of the formal academic
skills demanded in university.
On the other hand, our world is increasingly globalized and digitized, which,
according to Varis (2007), has consequences and demands in people’s educational
and working life. In this regard, Lotherington and Jenson (2011) stated globalization
and digitization have reshaped the communication landscape, affecting how and
with whom we communicate, and deeply altering the terrain of language and
literacy education. Consequently, the EFL classroom needs to move away from
traditional methods focused on language mastering in order to start
incorporating new approaches aimed at exploring and developing content,
culture, technology, and lifelong skills.
It goes without saying that today’s EFL
classroom should be different from that of the mid-to-late twentieth century. Shoffner,
De Oliveira and Angus (2010) maintained that today’s English classroom requires
an extended understanding and enactment of literacy. Rather than an all-inclusive
single literacy, English teachers must accept the changing and flexible nature
of literacies that address areas as diverse as technology, multimedia,
relationships and culture. These areas, in turn, require the English classroom
to be a space capable of addressing the increasingly multiplicity and
integration of different modes of meaning-making, where the textual relates to
the visual, the audio, the spatial, and the behavioral. One possible way to
answer to the new interests and demands of our learners and our society is the
explicit work with what experts have called the 21st century skills.
21st
Century Skills
According
to Ledward and Hirata (2011), the 21st century skills are a blend of content
knowledge, specific skills, expertise, and literacies necessary to succeed in
work and life. These skills, clarified Ledward and Hirata, are more than
technological literacy and include proficiency in critical thinking, problem
solving, communication, and team work. Ultimately, these skills allow people to
thrive the new economy since they help people: a) access, synthesize, and
communicate information; b) work collaboratively across differences to solve
complex problems; and c) create new knowledge through the innovative use of
multiple technologies.
The Partnership for 21st
Century Skills (P21) (2007b) maintained that while today’s schools show the
influence of industrial and information age models, the 21st century
modern school must bring together rigorous content and real world relevance, by
focusing on cognitive skills as well as those in affective and aesthetic
domains. To help schools achieve such challenging goals, the P21 (2007a)
created a framework for 21st century learning, which consists of
core subjects (English, Reading, Language Arts, World Languages, Arts,
Mathematics, Economics, Science, Geography, History, and Government and Civics)
and interdisciplinary themes (global awareness, financial, economic, business,
entrepreneurial literacy, civil literacy, health literacy, and environmental
literacy). These subjects and themes center on three core skills: life and career
skills, learning and innovation skills, and information, media, and technology
skills. See figure below.
.....
Figure 1. 21st Century Skills
Framework. This figure illustrates the main components of the 21st
century framework as proposed by P21.
Each
of the three core skills addresses particular areas people need to acquire and
develop. Life and career, for instance, describe the ability to be flexible,
adaptable, self-directed, socially aware, accountable and responsible. For its
part, learning and innovation include the ability to be creative and
innovative, critical, problem-solving, communicative and collaborative.
Finally, information, media and technology consists of the ability to access
and use information, to create and analyze media products, and to apply
technology effectively (Trilling & Fadel, 2009). Once studied and
incorporated into curriculum, instruction, and assessment, these skills can help
schools and teachers integrate learning goals in traditional subject knowledge
areas, interdisciplinary and contemporary thematic expertise, and essential
skills needed in the 21st century. See table below.
Table 1. 21st
century skills
.....
In order
to structure the analysis of 21st century skills, several conceptual
models have been created. In 2003, the North Central Regional Educational
Laboratory and the Metiri Group provided a framework to define what students
need to thrive in today’s digital age. This model identified four general
skills through 4 dimensions: digital-age literacy, inventive thinking,
effective communication and high productivity. The first dimension involves
being able to use digital technology and communications tools to create,
manage, and evaluate information in order to function in a knowledge society. Inventive
thinking has to do with people’s cognitive abilities to apply information
technologies in complex and sustained situations and to understand the
consequence of doing so. The third dimension includes the ability to clearly
communicate with others either orally or in writing using a wide range of media
and technology. Finally, high productivity covers abilities to prioritize, plan
and manage for relevant and high quality products and results. See figure
below.
In
2010, Cisco Systems, Intel Corporation, and Microsoft Corporation sponsored the
initiative “Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills (ATC21S)”.
This initiative created a model that defines ten universally accepted 21st
century skills into 4 broad categories of competencies. These competencies and
skills are as follows:
Table 2. Overall conceptual 21st century
skills model according to ATC21S
.....
Undoubtedly, the 21st century has brought about changes in the way people learn, communicate, and live. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills are examples of how certain organizations and research projects are trying to reach common models, standards, and terminologies in 21st century skills around the world. But, how has the 21st century impacted the EFL classroom? Is the discourse about 21st century skills being considered and implemented in English foreign language teaching? Are ideas such as technological expertise, global awareness, and life and career skills being discussed and studied in the EFL classroom? See section below.
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