What do 21st century L2 learners need?

Synopsis

You will have noticed that our students today are vastly different from those of 10 or 20 years ago. They come to us with different needs, aspirations and expectations.

Gone are the days when they would sit still listening to our language lessons and completing worksheets and homework assignments.

While doing well in high stakes examination continues to be of importance to them, they are more interested in learning how to become competent users of the language in the shortest possible time so that they can communicate and interact with other speakers of the language.

Unless we are aware of their changing needs and well-equipped to meet these needs, students are likely to be disengaged in our classroom. We all know that lack of engagement leads to minimal or superficial learning.

In my keynote presentation at the webinar hosted by Hebei University on 8 May 2021, I discussed how we can work towards meeting the affective, cognitive, social and linguistic needs of 21st century L2 learners both in and out of the classroom. I also shared my insights on the desired profile of 21st century L2 teachers.