The Political Dimensions of Language Teaching & Participatory Approach Week 7 ELT 214 Approaches to ELT II

The Politics of Language (1) Learning a language is a political act English is seen as the language of power, because of its status as an international language Many people around the world want to learn English to get a good education or job. They believe that knowing English will help their economic advancement. Graddol (2006:22) suggests ‘On the one hand the availability of English as a global language is accelerating globalisation. On the other, the globalisation is accelerating the use of English.’ This view sees English as tool that benefits the individual who learns it.

The Politics of Language (2) Concerns about using English; What is lost when an individual learns English or ‘adds’ an English speaking identity. When they learn English they will lose their ability in another language or in their native language (a new identity as an English speaker might cause another identity to fade or die) Educational inequality as not everyone has the opportunity to study English. English dominance will lead to the loss of endangered languages spoken in countries where English use predominates, when ‘ English only’ policies are used.

Whose English is to be the language of instruction Whose English is to be the language of instruction? Should it be native-speaker English as spoken in United States or in the United Kingdom? Or as Kachru (1992) calls ‘inner circle’ countries (Anglophone Canada, Australia, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand, South Africa, and certain countries in the Caribbean)? What about the variety of English where English is commonly used and is often official language-such as India, Nigeria, and Singapore-Kachru refers as ‘outer circle’ countries? These former British colonies have evolved their own varieties of native –speaker English, established among others as World Englishes. Should these varieties be the target of instruction? Standard Singaporean English used for education, ‘Singlish’ often used for communication within families and among friends.

English as a Lingua Franca Kachru’s third circle, ‘the expanding circle’ is about millions of people who use English as an additional language. The norms of the other circles are controlled by native speakers, but here in the third circle we are confronted with millions of people speaking English as an International and Global Language, a Lingua Franca or contact language. Who owns the English language? (Widdowson, 1994), is it just native speakers or is it anyone who is able to speak English for whatever purpose? Seidlhofer, Breitender and Pitzl’s (2006) solution to this problem is that English should no longer be considered to be owned by native speakers only, but that it should be seen as a Lingua Franca whose norms are determined by its users. English becomes a communicative language not only spoken by native speakers but by outsiders who may make mistakes which native speakers would consider as inaccurate (for example the omission of ‘s’ on the end of third person singular present tense verbs ‘He walk to school every day’).

Critical Discourse Analysis Critical Discourse Analysis is the study of how identity and power relations are constructed in language. The problem stated here is that language is not ideologically neutral. An example from a newspaper during the apartheid-era in South Africa; ‘Jubilant Blacks Clashed with Police’ ‘Police clashed with Jubilant Blacks’ (initiating the confrontation to the police not to the Blacks) Another example is gender discrimination in texts describing women as subservient to men. Those problems can apply to other languages as well. What can teachers do about the politics of language?

Critical Approaches to Pedagogy Teachers need to be aware of the political dimensions of speech acts, that language is not neutral but may convey political issues. Critical pedagogy tries to make teachers aware of the need of an egalitarian society that gives all students the same opportunities and therefore promotes social justice. Larsen-Freeman and Anderson (2011) describe four methods of how to become a more critical teacher: Literacies Plurilingualism and Multicompetence Non-native Speakers as Teachers Hidden curriculum

Literacies Some educators think that participating in the English culture cannot be equated with being able to read this language. It is a whole concept which they see as a plural, as the concept called literacies. In this sense literate English culture is influenced by its politics, its education and business. It empowers people to be able to use and speak this language. Those teachers that consider English as empowering students will take into account how power is explicitly and implicitly expressed in English texts. They will exactly look at which words authors use and how the language (its grammar/aspects) works in those contexts.

Plurilingualism and Multicompetence A lot of English learners are plurilingual which means that they are used to speak more than one language. Teachers should motivate English learners to learn more languages and that it is important to go beyond and have positive attitudes towards other languages. Teachers should teach their students that multicompetence, the knowledge of more than one language, and a successful use of language are the most important things to learn.

Non-native Speakers as Teachers Many language education programs hire native speakers rather than non-native speakers because they believe them to have a better intuition when it comes to a correct language use. This is rather a political issue than an issue of competence, as non-native speakers are the best example of how one can become a successful language user and they know best what it takes to overcome problems when learning a new language. A good teacher is not determined by his/her origins.

Hidden Curriculum It is important to be aware of the content that is being taught and how one teaches. Hidden curriculum refers to the student’s backgrounds that come into play during lessons. It influences the way in which they behave and the meaning they attribute to the teacher’s actions and what material he/she uses during lessons. The teacher’s lesson planning might include things like a discussion with students about life issues and problems they have to solve when learning English.

Participatory Approach By: Paula Freire

Similar to content-based approach: both begin with meaningful content and form emerges from content in both. Different from content-based approach: nature of the content (not about subject matter, but about issues of interest)

First developed for a native-language literacy program in Brazil by Freire. Learners were engaged in dialogs about immediate social problems (unemployment, low income, addiction). These dialogs were helpful for literacy development, reflection, and action, which improved their social lives.

According to Freire “education is meaningful to the extent that it engages learners in reflecting on their relationship to the world they live in and provides them with a means to shape their world.” In other words, “education is not free; it occurs within a particular context.”

Goals of participatory approach: Help students to understand the social, historical, or cultural forces that affect their lives Empower them to take action and make decisions in order to gain control over their lives

Observations and Principles

2. Problem from previous class is posed 1. Initial discussion about their lives The class activity should be connected with outside world events. Students’ themes provide the content for future lessons. 2. Problem from previous class is posed The syllabus is not predetermined. It is an ongoing, context- specific problem-posing process.

3. Class discusses and finds solutions to problems Education is very effective if it is experience oriented/related to students’ real needs. Teachers are co-learners 4. Group letter writing Knowledge should be used as a tool to help learners to find their voices. They see themselves as active participants in the social life.

5. Students’ working together to edit the letter Linguistic forms are not taught in isolation; they act for change with a focus on content 6. Students’ reading others’ revised letters Students can create materials to be used in the following session. 7. Discussing what they have learned Self evaluation is encouraged. The students see the outcome and evaluate the process of learning.

Conclusion Language focus is not pre-determined; it follows from content And content emerges from ongoing, collaborative investigations in students’ lives Thus “real communication, accompanied by appropriate feedback that subordinates form to the elaboration of meaning, is key for language learning” (Auerback, 1992). In short, learning to communicate by communicating, NOT by preparing to do so through practicing the language!