How long before expat TEFLers are extinct?

There is another reason why world-travelling TEFLers are becoming rarer: More and more schools recognise that stop-gap students and other lost souls (who might not be driven by a motivation to improve other's English skills) are not the best teachers - and require proper credentials (e.g. educational university degrees) plus a longer-term commitment.

Ten years as an TEFLer and the market shows little sign of slowing where I am and in fact my company continues to expand. True there are greater options to learn English but the students still want face to face real live teachers in their classroom. Indonesia has really made people wanting to teach here very hard and I don't think that's a bad thing either, however there is still huge interest in working here and that's from people who match the legal requirements.

I can't see it coming to an end or declining just the market conditions will change.

I think the new tech is going to hit like a sledgehammer on a date with a grape.
One minute the TEFLers are having a nice old time ... BANG!

Maybe technology will mean there's less demand for teachers for adults who want to teach themselves, but I think there will always be classrooms of kids that need teachers. For that matter, I think there will always be adults who prefer to learn in a classroom with a teacher and classmates. Whether the teachers will be expats is another question!

The question isn't tech taking over from live teachers, it's tech negating  the need for teaching .
Why learn a language if all you have to do is have your phone handy and Indonesian, Mandarin or whatever comes out as English in real time?
Google translate's conversation mode is already pretty handy, but I see a fully automatic, very accurate translation matrix available as standard in a very few years.
It won't matter what language is spoken, you'll always hear your preferred tongue when they speak.
Scary for TEFLers, really handy for the world.; the electronic babelfish is almost with us.

Ah, okay, I get what you mean. Personally, I have a hard time conjuring up images of a future that's markedly different from the present. Technology can be amazingly disruptive, but it seems to me that we are seldom correct in predicting how or when.

If I do make an effort to imagine the future of global communication, what I see is a world that gradually has fewer and fewer languages and more bi/multilingualism, thus less need for translation.

The 1960s saw massive numbers of people working in manufacturing, then along came machines. The UK newspaper unions went on strike to stop new tech, a total waste of time - the unions being a bunch of Cnuts the not so great (can you make a name plural?) trying to hold back the tide with the same level of success. (Yes, I know the story is misunderstood)

TEFLers teach English today, but I don't think any will be left in 5 to 10 years time as tech makes learning languages a thing of the past.

Star trek is fiction, but so were tiny hand held communication devices when they first appeared on our screens in the 1960s.
Star trek has universal translators, and so will we in the very near future.

However, all is not lost just yet as these units won't be able to teach cross cultural understanding so there will be a place for a new breed of super TEFLer ..... at least for a while.

The advent of "universal translators" will indeed be eventually a reality. And they certainly will improve communication between people.

But I think saying that will cause the extinction of TEFL as a thing of the past is like saying calculators caused the elimination of math teachers. While it is true there are indeed some people today that will indeed pull out some electronic device to do 3 + 5, but many people still need to learn math to do their job (such as create electronic devices).

Or as another example, CDs were suppose to make vinyl records extinct. Yet vinyl record sales actually are increasing. Despite the "rise of the machines" some people still appreciate that real touch and feel experience, and that includes direct person to person communication (sans machine), especially in business (where making a "deal" is still a interpersonal relationship). So TEFL may decline, but probably not become a thing of the past in our lifetime.

A computer will not replace idiomatic phrases and phrasal verbs. There are some things that can only be delivered via in person. I do see the market changing, I have a company but it is a "we come to you" approach. Luxury plays a big role as well. Never underestimate wealth. It is considered normal and desirable to have a native speaker come to your house. I just don't see the demand changing, in fact it is greater, it just depends on if your in a country with high English demand. I do agree that traditional language centers are on the decline (as least where I am). I do think classroom management is difficult for a lot of ESL teachers. However, I just make small groups and one to ones. Just my two cents.

As long as you call them "teachers" instead of instructors someone will be hiring them. Beppi has a point, I've yet to meet one who has a real passion for teaching.

joeman098 wrote:

A computer will not replace idiomatic phrases and phrasal verbs.

Not yet