My Background
I hold a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Yaounde 1, Cameroon and have a tenure position as lecturer at the Higher Teacher Training College, Yaounde. I run CAMELTA Research Group and are the outreach coordinator of the IATEFL ReSIG. I am a consultant with TransformELT and a steering committee member for the International Festival of Teacher Research. I have been Seasonal TEFL trainer for the American Peace Corps in Cameroon for four years. I have presented papers at international conferences and was the plenary speaker for the ReSIG & GISIG 2019 joint PCE event in Africa TESOL conference in Abuja. I co-organised the first South-South Teacher Research conference that featured many participants across the globe and are currently coordinating the sub-Saharan Africa teacher research mentors group. My research interest is postcolonial discourse in ELT. I have published research articles in international journals and is co-editor of Interdisciplinarity in the 21st Century Global Dispensation: Research in Language, Literature, & Education in Africa (eric.ekembe@yahoo.com).
Why Globe?
Why did you decide to become a Globe PLC mentor?
I decided to be a Globe PLC mentor to use the space and opportunities offered by Globe to share my teacher research experiences with people of similar backgrounds, support individuals, institutions, and teacher associations in teacher research projects. This is in view of expanding teacher research networks across the globe.
What can people expect from the Researching Classroom PLC?
People on this PLC will have clearer insights into various classroom challenges across the globe and how practitioners involved in researching classroom challenges find systematic ways of navigating the constraints. Researching classrooms is not just about finding solutions to the problems practitioners encounter in their English Language classrooms; it is a form of decolonisation of the mind, decentring, and empowerment. Yet, there exists no systematic framework that can explain such outputs. What people on this PLC reason out from cross fertilisation of ideas has the potentials of generating a possible framework that will inform Applied Linguistics on the dynamics of classroom challenges and ways of overcoming them.
Why would you encourage people to join Globe?
Practitioners involved in classroom research on this PLC will gain global recognition that is stronger than that gained in their classrooms. Their ideas shared on this platform will be tested by Globe members and in different parts of the world. This is the greatest form of recognition offered to practitioners and researchers by Globe; this is one way they are offering contribution to global pedagogy. It is strongly believed that teachers have written tons of books on the chalkboard that have disappeared by the end of the day (personal communication with Dwyer). Where this is understood to be a form of regret, this PLC offers them wider opportunities for teachers to catch up and promote their ideologies, materials, etc.
What researching classrooms can offer is still in the incubator. Its potential of transforming global ELT is largely unknown. Anyone joining this platform will not only widen their horizon on the dynamics of classrooms across the globe, but stands to be at the centre of transformation of global ELT.
