Beyond Words: Literacy as the Heart of English Language Teaching in the Digital Age

Abstract

English Language Teaching, commonly known as ELT, is often understood as the process of teaching grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Many people still believe that learning English mainly means memorizing grammatical rules, learning new words, practicing pronunciation, and developing the ability to speak fluently. Although these aspects are important, they are not enough to describe the broader purpose of English language education. In the context of modern education, ELT should not only focus on language forms and communication skills, but also on literacy. Literacy allows students to read, understand, interpret, evaluate, and produce texts in English. Therefore, English language instruction should help learners become not only accurate users of English, but also critical, creative, and confident users of the language.