Foreign English Language Teachers’ Local Pedagogy

ELT methods have been criticized for being limited and inadequate. Postmethod pedagogy has been offered as an alternate to these methods. The postmethod pedagogy emphasises localization of pedagogy and celebrates local culture, teachers and knowledge. Localizing pedagogy is easy for local teachers as knowledge and understanding of the local comes to them by instinct but may not be so for foreign teachers working in these local communities. However, it is also a fact that in the wake of globalization and internationalization, teachers are moving not only across geographical borders but also across cultural and social borders and to teach effectively, they need to localize their pedagogy. How do teachers localize their pedagogy in a foreign society? There is not much research on the phenomenon. The current qualitative research tries to bridge this gap. The research explored what aspects of the local are valued by expatriate teachers for particularizing their pedagogy; how this knowledge of the particular is translated into practice and to what extent it helps in socially and culturally empowering their students. The findings of the research are expected to help foreign teachers localize their pedagogy, and may also be helpful in designing orientation, integration and professional development courses for expatriate teachers.