Navigating the internet use as the encounter of the new literacy studies for periphery EFL teachers: a critical self-reflection

Ribut Wahyudi

Abstract

The internet has been an integral part for most EFL teachers nowadays. Those teachers make use of the internet to help them at least search for appropriate materials for their classroom teaching. Some others use the internet to discuss particular courses outside the classroom time. However, the fact that the internet has been of central use, the research on it in relation to literacy (read, write, research and publish) for EFL teacher personal and professional development in developing countries is under explored (Warschauer, Shetzer and Meloni, 2002, cited in Cahyani & Cahyono, 2012). In that regard, this article is to address that critical issue. As an EFL teacher from the developing country myself, my personal and professional experiences and my encounters with colleagues on the internet use inform my subjectivities in writing this article. As the current globalized world requires teachers to have multi-literacy skills, I deliberately frame the internet use within New Literacy Studies (NLS) which sees literacy as social practice (Street 1985 cited in Street, 2003), an event and set of practices, a global and local practice, faith based and critical (Pahl & Rowsell, 2012). The foci of my discussion will be on the use of internet for the sake of teaching resources, research purposes, expansion of social network and professional development. Key words: New literacy studies, Multiple literacies, EFL teachers, Internet use

References

Abdullah bin `Amr. (n/d). Hadith. Accessed October 30, 2015 from

http://sunnah.com/bukhari/60/128,

Anas bin Malik. (n/d). Hadith. Accessed October 30, 2015 from

http://sunnah.com/urn/1252230,

Cahyani, H. & Cahyono, B.Y. (2012). Teacher‟s attitude and technology use in

Indonesian EFL classroom. TEFLIN Journal, 23(2), 130-148.

Canagarajah, S. (2002). Reconstructing local knowledge. Journal of Language, Identity

and Education, 1(4), 243-259.

Canagarajah, S. (2006). Negotiating the local in English as a lingua franca. Annual

Review of Applied Linguistics, 26, pp 197-218.

Definition of hadith (n/d) accessed October 30, 2015 from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadith

Dervin, F & Ragnarsdóttir. (Eds). (2014). Origins: A sustainable concept in education.

Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Freire, P. (n/d). The “banking” concept of education, Accessed 30 October, 2015 from

http://puente2014.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/87465079/freire_banking_concept.p

df,

Kennedy, K. J. (2011). Teacher quality and its cultural contexts: What can the west learn

from the east. Journal of Research, Policy & Practice of Teachers, & Teacher

Education, 1(1), 8-15.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (2012). Language teacher education for a global society: A modular

model for knowing, analysing, recognizing, doing and seeing. London/New

York: Routledge.

Lin, A., Wang, W. Akamatsu, N & Riazi, A. M. (2002). Appropriating English,

expanding identities, and re-visioning the field: From TESOL to Teaching

English for Glocalised Communication (TEGCOM). Journal of Language,

Identity and Education, 1(4), 295-315.

O‟Farrell, C. (2005). Michel Foucault. London: Sage Publication

Pahl, K. & Rowsell, J. (2012). Literacy and education (2nd ed). NY: Sage.

Panthee, R. K. (2012). Web.2.0. technologies, cultural and technological hegemonies and

teaching design to deconstruct them in cross cultural contact zone. Journal of

Global Literacies, Technologies and Emerging Pedagogies, 1(1), 38-55.

Pennycook, A. (2000). English, politics and ideology: From colonial celebration to post

colonial performativity. In T. Ricento (Ed) Ideologies, politics and language

policies: Focus on English (pp.107-119). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John

Benjamin Publishing Company.

Renandya, W. (2014). Choosing the right international journal in TESOL and Applied

Linguistics. ELTWorldOnline.com. 6, 1-17.

Siregar, F.L. (2014). Teacher voices: A virtual forum for ELT professionals.

ELTWorldonline.com, 6, 1-6.

Street, B. (2003). What‟s new in new literacy studies? Critical approaches to literacy in

theory and practice. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 55(2), 77-91.

UN Development Report 1999 accessed May 29, 2014 from

http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/260/hdr_1999_en_nostats.pdf

Wahyudi, R. (2014). “Democratic” online courses as “globalized communication” in

English language teaching and applied linguistics: A proposal. Journal of Global

Literacies, Technologies and Emerging Pedagogies, 2(3), 248-260.