IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INNOVATION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The English language being our lingua franca has come to stay in Nigeria. Hence, there is the need to create new methods of teaching English language and implement effectively these new methods which will enhance national development. English language is evolving all the time, particularly alongside advance in technology. Innovation in English language teaching has become a major advancement in recent years. This paper discusses among other things: innovation in English language teaching focusing on digital platforms and portals like Learning Management System, WhatsApp, Facebook, Google Docs, Digital video, Edmodo, Online Corpora and Online Continuous Professional Development (CPD), Innovation in teaching for national development, benefits of innovation in English language teaching and the level of implementation of the innovation in English language teaching. The implementation of the innovation in English language teaching is bedeviled with many obstacles like epileptic power supply, poor internet connection (system related), lack of IT skills and resistance to embrace and adopt online teaching (teacher related), and management related challenges. The study concludes that management of schools and government should provide functional internet facilities, stable power supply, organized training, seminar and workshop for students and lecturers on the effective usage of online teaching and learning. This will go a long way to enhance national development.