Teaching English in Industrial Revolution 4.0: Challenges and Opportunities

Education 4.0 is defined as the use of technology in the teaching and learning contexts. It is aimed at providing graduates with the capabilities and competencies required by the digital-driven industry. The purpose of this study is to find out the impacts of education 4.0 on English language teaching, the way to improve English teachers’ professionalism in 4.0 industrial revolution and the strategies for the innovative classroom for education 4.0. The technique of data collection in this study is library research with descriptive qualitative design. The findings of this study indicate that 4.0 industrial revolution may have a positive and negative impact on English language teaching. The positive impacts include providing flexible time and place for learning, enhancing students’ confidence and motivation, encouraging students’ independence, improving students’ creativity, establishing meaningful learning for students, preparing the graduate for future work and life, creating opportunities for the teacher to engage in technology in the learning process. The negative one involves creating difficulties for the unprepared teacher, reducing interaction between teachers and students, demanding high internet access, declining writing skills and lacking focus. Furthermore, to improve professionalism, a teacher should be aware of and adapt to the development, develop collaboration with students, improve the quality and the competency of teachers, join and participate in teachers’ professional development.