TEFL Tourism : Principles, Commodification and the Sustainability of Teaching English As a Foreign Language.

176 Pages·2019·3.492 MB·

by  Stainton, Hayley

TEFL Tourism

TEFL Tourism
Principles, Commodification and the Sustainability of Teaching
English as a Foreign Language
Hayley Stainton
CABI is a trading name of CAB International
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© Hayley Stainton 2019. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, by
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the
copyright owners.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK.
ISBN-13: 9781786393227 (Hardback)
9781786393234 (ePDF)
9781786393241 (ePub)
Commissioning Editor: Claire Parfitt
Editorial Assistant: Tabitha Jay
Production Editor: James Bishop
Typeset by SPi, Pondicherry, India
Printed and bound in the UK by Severn, Gloucester.
Contents
1 Introduction 3
TEFL Tourism 3
Historical Context of Niche Tourism 4
The Postmodern Tourist 5
Operators, Communities and TEFL Tourism 6
A New Approach 7
2 The Global TEFL Tourism Industry 9
Defining TEFL Tourism 9
A New Global Agenda 11
TEFL Opportunities Worldwide 14
Regulation of the Sector 21
3 TEFL Tourism as a Form of Niche Tourism 33
Situating TEFL Within the Context of Niche Tourism 33
The Work-leisure Binary 36
Volunteer Tourism as a Macro 39
Cultural TEFL Tourism 44
Philanthropic TEFL Tourism 46
Pro-poor TEFL Tourism 47
Educational TEFL Tourism 50
Adventure TEFL Tourism 52
Gap Year TEFL Tourism 54
4 The Commodification of TEFL in the Context
of Tourism 59
TEFL in a Capitalist World 59
The TEFL Business Model 66
The TEFL Package 74
Tourism Rhetoric 75
5 The Education Paradox 81
Developed vs Developing-world Teaching 81
Ethnocentric Perceptions 83
v
vi Contents
Pedagogy and Teaching Practice 84
The Definition of ‘Teacher’ 90
TEFL Training and Qualifications 91
Teacher Skills and Suitability 97
6 The Sustainability of TEFL Tourism 103
TEFL as a Tool for Development 104
TEFL Tourism as a tool for Poverty Reduction 109
The Impacts of TEFL Tourism 112
Ethics within TEFL Tourism 125
7 The TEFL Tourist – Who, What and Why? 127
TEFL Tourist Characteristics 127
TEFL Tourism Motivations 129
TEFL Typology 135
8 The Future of the Industry 143
Future Growth of the TEFL Tourism Industry 144
Lessons Learned from the Niche Tourism Umbrella 147
Guidelines, Regulations and Mindfulness 149
Concluding Remarks 150
References 153
Index 165

1
Introduction
The burgeoning globalisation of the world nowadays – arguably the biggest service indus-
economy has seen societal English-speaking try worldwide. While there is ample evidence of
capabilities increase in importance throughout the amalgamation of the two concepts of TEFL
many countries. Similar to other associated and tourism, as demonstrated throughout the
industries such as volunteer, responsible or sus- chapters of this book, the majority of existing
tainable tourism, the focus of teaching English research revolves around pedagogical practice
as a foreign language (TEFL) has in many cases or development agendas. It is this gap in the lit-
shifted away from its traditional altruistic and erature which inspired the production of this
philanthropic perspective, where education was book, with the ambition of raising awareness in
the priority, to a postmodern commercialised both academic and non-academic communities
commodity, acting as a resource that can be pro- of the benefits and pitfalls that the tourism ele-
duced, controlled, distributed and valued. ment may present.
Essentially a combination of the notions of The English language has become an inte-
tourism and English language teaching, TEFL gral part of world society, with many destinations
tourism is introduced in this book as a micro- putting significant focus on the expansion of
niche tourism form designed to satisfy the this as part of their development agendas.
demands for English language teachers around Enhanced English language capability opens up
the globe. Through demonstrating parallels be- an array of doors for a destination in terms
tween TEFL tourism and other alternative tour- of economic and social development. This book
ism types, such as volunteer tourism, a number outlines the role that TEFL tourism plays in
of cautionary approaches are advised in order to modern-day capitalist society. It is estimated that
facilitate appropriate sustainable management by 2020 there will be over 2 billion English lan-
of the TEFL tourism industry. guage learners (British Council, 2014), and
with this brings insatiable demand for teachers.
This presents one of the most significant chal-
TEFL Tourism lenges to educators and citizens across the globe
and many destinations are now looking towards
The limited academic reference to TEFL and its tourists to fill employment gaps.
links with tourism to date is surprising, given Rooted in the concepts of tourism and
the extent and importance of the English lan- TEFL, TEFL tourism is one of many emerging
guage teaching industry worldwide and taking niche tourism forms available to tourists. TEFL
into account the size of the tourism industry tourists vary considerably, as do all tourist types,
© Hayley Stainton 2019. TEFL Tourism (H. Stainton) 3