Speakers
Description
According to UNESCO's Learning: The Treasure within (1996), lifelong education is based on four pillars including learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be. A number of studies suggest that together with helping learners to reduce emotional distress, the acquisition of social and emotional skills contributed to better academic performance and improved attitudes and behaviours.
For decades, much of the focus of language education in Vietnam has been directed towards the enhancement of academic performances for learners rather than the explicit growth of their social and emotional skills (Nguyen,2020). Although the National General Education Curriculum (GEC - 2018) has identified a list of attributes and core competences, the level to which social emotional learning (SEL) is integrated in language lessons still seems blurred. This context highlights the need to improve SEL competence for both teachers and learners.
In this research, the authors explore SEL framework on both theoretical and practical dimensions. A definition of SEL framework and its importance in maintaining students’ well-being in the 21st century is presented. The alignment of SEL components with the attributes and core competencies in GEC proves that SEL is feasible at school policy level. Examples from a series of English textbooks for K12 students – Global Success are taken to illustrate how SEL is embedded at classroom level. The authors also provide suggestions for SEL intervention techniques in English lessons to encourage teachers’ social emotional teaching competence.
