Thanks, Mike. The neglected world of foreign language teaching and research
in a foreign country has left some very big gaps and is currently lagging
behind any major paradigm shifts that may be emerging in other educational
contexts (at least that's my experience in Thailand over the past 8 years).
I am convinced that sfl/chat theory can be applied to help develop FL
teaching of English here. Unfortunately the 600,000 Thai teachers of English
get precious little support from the authorities, apart from meaningless top
down reforms, like the current *standards based curriculum* that is being
introduced, with all the imported parlance accompanying it. Our local
organisation (Thailand TESOL) has made that the theme of our annual
international seminar next January, and I know of at least two speakers (as
well as myself) who will be using Vygotskian/Brunerian/SFL points of
departure. As a friend and colleague of mine who is interested in Theravadda
Buddhism (which is the dominant religion in Thailand) claims, there are some
interesting connections between the Vygotskian school of thought and the
works of Buddha that are 'taught' in schools and temples.
By the way, is there any more news on the on-line seminar?
Phil
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Cole <mcole@weber.ucsd.edu>
To: <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 3:24 AM
Subject: sfl/chat
Phil-- As Jay says, there is an intersection of halliday/vygotksy, and, i
would
add, a pretty big intersection, so you should consider yourself as enriching
the discussion, not hijacking it!
mike
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