15 th Annual Cornerstone University ESL Conference Gainey Conference Center, Grand Rapids, Michigan – Saturday April 2, 2016 Cornerstone ESL Conference 2016 – Biblical Themes for Christians in Language Teaching © Michael Lessard-Clouston Biblical Themes for Christians in Language Teaching Michael Lessard-Clouston Biola University, Cook School of Intercultural Studies 13800 Biola Avenue, La Mirada, CA 90639 U.S.A. https://biola.academia.edu/MichaelLessardClouston michael.lessard-clouston@biola.edu In recent years there has been some discussion on the role of faith and religion in English language teaching (ELT) and research, yet little seems to have been written on what the Bible says about such endeavours. This talk aims to help Christians in ELT begin to think about their various activities in light of a number of Bible themes that might speak to who we are and what we do in teaching English, whether at home or abroad. We begin with a short individual reflection task and then pair discussion and debrief, followed by an overview of the speaker’s recent work on biblical themes for Christians in language teaching. This discussion expands upon previous work on biblical themes for language learning (Lessard-Clouston, 2012). Finally, we will consider how the biblical themes introduced might guide and impact us as Christian teachers and volunteers in ELT. 1. Background • Despite some focus on faith and religion in ELT and research in recent years (e.g., Foye, 2014; Wong & Canagarajah, 2009; Wong, Kristjánsson, & Dörnyei, 2013), there has been perhaps less focus on the Bible as it relates to English language teaching. As a result, the title gives my focus. • Biblical themes are concepts, ideas, or topics we find as we study the Bible. Sometimes these are reflected in particular words, and they usually help us think about timeless theological truths. • According to Richards and Schmidt (2010), language is “the system of human communication which consists of the structured arrangement of sounds (or their written representation) into larger units” (p. 311). In ELT our main focus is English, an international lingua franca which can be both a blessing and a curse (Switz & Lessard-Clouston, 2015), and English language skills. • As Christians working in ELT, the Bible is often central to our thinking, our worldview, and our identities. Writing on identity and language teaching, Norton (2013) states: If we agree that diverse identity positions offer learners a range of positions from which to speak, listen, read or write, the challenge for language educators is to explore which identity positions offer the greatest opportunity for social engagement and interaction. Conversely, if there are identity positions that silence students, then teachers need to investigate and address these marginalizing practices. (p. 16) For Christians in ELT, I believe that biblical themes can help us think about our identities in our work, as well as help inform our language teaching and relationships with ESL/EFL students. • As a faculty member at Biola University, which values the integration of faith and learning, both in my discipline/research and in my teaching, I have spent the last decade thinking about biblical themes that address various aspects of my work in applied linguistics and TESOL. 2. Biblical Themes for Christians in Language Teaching • In earlier work (Lessard-Clouston, 2012) on second language learning I identified seven biblical themes, which also have clear connections for English language teaching and teachers. These are: creativity, understanding, communication, community, sin, diversity, and redemption. This list is not exhaustive, but sufficient for us to consider in today’s talk. I hope the brief task in reflecting on the Bible and language teaching at the beginning helped encourage you to consider the Bible in new ways, and will enable you to connect it and its teachings to your work in ELT.