In the footsteps of Apostles: the role of English teachers in the age of EIL

Abstract

The myth of “The Tower of Babel” (The Old Testament) represents multilingualism as a cursed state of affairs brought about by God’s wrath, whereas in Chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles (The New Testament) multilingualism is depicted as God’s gift. At the threshold of the new millennium, we are living in a delicate equilibrium between two forces in motion: on the one hand, the world is observed to be heading back to the pre-Babelic state of unilingualism with English sounding everywhere you go, while on the other hand, English as an international language (EIL) is
increasingly getting diversified into varieties. Does the world need a
common medium of communication? Or does it prefer to speak in
different tongues? It is as if the Old Testament depiction of multilingualism as a state of condemnation and the New Testament representation of it as a blissful state were currently juxtaposed in conflict. Living on such a borderline between two opposing influences, what can and should English teachers do as professionals? The kind of needs determines the kind of teaching. In this newly unfolded page in history we find ourselves in, all English teachers must be consciously aware of newly defined needs of teaching. Such is the realization on which the ensuing discussion is based.