Journal

Adapting ELT class material within the ELF-aware perspective: Voices from the classroom (pp. 42-59), Natasha Tsantila, Maria Glava & Elissavet Pramateftaki

Adapting ELT class material within the ELF-aware perspective: Voices from the classroom

Natasha Tsantila, Maria Glava & Elissavet Pramateftaki

Drawn upon ELF awareness, this paper showcases instructional interventions performed by two practitioners working in two multilingual state schools in Greece. More specifically, guided by the lead author throughout the process, the two practitioners were initially initiated into the principles and processes of ELF awareness and relevant practices for inclusive multilingual classrooms. Subsequently, based on the criteria of authenticity and relevance, and taking into consideration their multilingual learners’ background, they designed and conducted two original ELF-aware lessons focusing on the teaching of speaking and listening. The lessons exposed learners to real, spontaneous and authentically produced discourse of non-native English language speakers and engaged them into follow-up tasks and class discussions. These tasks and subsequent discussions focused on: a) an appreciation of the newly designed and taught lessons, b) the use of English as the shared of medium communication among speakers of diverse lingua-cultural backgrounds, c) issues of intelligibility and comprehensibility, and d) socio-cultural differences and similarities among different cultural groups. Through these ELF-aware lessons, practitioners aimed at assisting learners to: a) raise their awareness of language and language use, including languaging and translanguaging, and b) to bring their world knowledge and intercultural experiences into the classroom. In this paper, we describe the ELF-aware lessons and report findings which were received through practitioners’ interviews and learners’ reflective writing. We conclude with pedagogical implications connected with teacher education-programmes and materials development.

Key words: ELF-awareness, ELF-aware lessons, materials adaptations, materials development