Life-long learning process among English language lecturers in the globalized world

Abstract

Global trends demand educators, including language teachers, to upgrade and equip themselves with contemporary knowledge and skills in order to perform better in their job. The process of cquiring and learning new knowledge and skills is continuous. Those relying only on what they were equipped with at the start of their teaching career will find it difficult to help produce knowledgeable, efficient and well-rounded graduates who are not only able to meet the requirements of the changing work market but also contribute towards nation building. Hence, in addition to their work expectations, language teachers need to upgrade, retool, and reengineer themselves through seminars, conferences, workshops, and courses so that they can meet current and future challenges. This process of acquiring and exchanging of ideas on teaching and learning opens up channels of communication among educators from all over the world, It is made easier still with developments in ICT that enable educators from all over to communicate and learn from each other in this borderless world. Hence, educators' learning process promotes communication among those sharing the same interests and brings them together, leading to better understanding of people and cultures. This paper describes some preliminary findings on the life-long learning process of selected university language lecturers in Malaysia, and deals particularly with how the learning process helps contribute towards nationhood.