Teachers' Views of Asian Folktales for ELT

doi:10.65961/AJELT-2018-1-004

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Asian Journal of English Language Teaching ›› 2018, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (1) : 113-142. DOI: 10.65961/AJELT-2018-1-004

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Teachers' Views of Asian Folktales for ELT

Soe Marlar LWIN

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With the increase in trade, communication, travel and migration among Asian countries in the 21st century, the primary role that English plays throughout Asia has become that of a lingua franca or common language for people living or working in Asia to communicate with fellow Asians. Accordingly, there has been a need for English Language Teaching (ELT) curricula in Asian coun- tries to help learners develop intercultural competence particularly relevant to the Asian context. Given that folktales are an important part of cultural heri- tage and efforts have been made by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to disseminate the rich folk literature of its member coun- tries by publishing collections in English, those folktales could be useful teaching resources to provide learners with opportunities to explore the English language and various Asian cultures simultaneously. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the views of English language teachers in the region on using such folktales. In this study, I examine what a group of English language teachers from nine Southeast Asian countries know about Asian folktales and how they feel about using them to teach English in their respective teaching contexts. The study offers some pedagogical implications for English teachers and teacher-educators in the region.

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Soe Marlar LWIN. (2018). Teachers' Views of Asian Folktales for ELT.Asian Journal of English Language Teaching , 27(1): 113-142. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2018-1-004

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