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Learning a language is a political act. Those that know a language are empowered in a way that those who do not know the language are not. These days, because of its status as an international language, it is English that is seen to be the language of power. Many people around the world want to learn English because they believe that it will help them to get a good education or job. They feel that knowing English gives them a greater chance for economic advancement. Other people, however, express concern about what is lost when an individual learns English or ‘adds’ an English-speaking identity. They worry that learning English might mean losing some ability in another language even an individual’s native language or that a new identity as an English speaker might cause another identity to fade or to die.

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English is now spoken all over the world in different ways. Professor Kachru called them three circles: the inner circle includes countries like the UK, US, Canada, and Australia where English is a first language; these countries decide the “traditional” rules of English. The outer circle includes places like India, Singapore, and Nigeria; these were former British colonies and the people use their own version of English in schools and governments. The expanding circle covers nearly all other countries, such as China, Japan, or Honduras; people there learn English as a foreign or international language and usually follow the rules from the inner and outer circle

. But in the expanding circle, many people talk to others who also aren’t native speakers—this is called English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). ELF focuses on being understood, so people may leave out the “‑s” in “he walks” or use simpler grammar, and that’s fine if listeners still understand them.

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Language always carries ideas about who is powerful or important. Critical discourse analysis shows how text or speech can hide bias. For instance, a prison headline might say “Blacks clashed with police,” making it sound like the Blacks were the problem, when it may have been the police who began. Textbooks can also show women only doing chores, which reinforces unfair views about gender. Teachers need to think about these hidden messages when they choose which English to teach. It’s not just about grammar—it’s about making students feel respected and helping them learn in a way that honours their local culture and supports fair communication for a global world

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Critical pedagogy is an approach to teaching that aims to create a

more egalitarian society by raising awareness of social injustice as a necessary part of the curriculum. What you should do about critical pedagogy should not be determined by someone else, who may be unfamiliar with your teaching context or your own political orientation.

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Some educators (Gee 1996, Luke 2004) have explored literacies as a plural rather than singular concept, stressing the fact that participation in a literate English culture means more than being able to read English—learners need to gain access to the specific English language norms, grammar, and vocabulary used by those in power. So students are not just learning to read in English; they would also be learning the discourse of politics, or education, or business. Learning the unique forms, vocabulary, and norms of different discourses is empowering. Teachers who embrace this idea will find themselves examining their teaching practice, choice of texts, activities, and assessment tools, looking for when and how power is explicitly and implicitly expressed.

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To keep one language from complete domination, teachers can foster positive attitudes towards all languages. All language learning should be additive, not subtractive. In other words, the language being studied should not replace any other language, but should rather enrich the learners’ language capacity. Teachers need to respect their students’ identities as plurilinguals.

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Another political issue is the one regarding the speaker status of a teacher (whether native speaker or non-native speaker). Many language education programs prefer to hire native speakers, presumably for the model they provide and the access they have to intuitions about what is correct and how the language works. However, in actual fact, non-native speakers bring a great number of strengths to language teaching, not the least of which is that they are role models of successful learning themselves.

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Another topic has to do with a teacher’s awareness of the hidden curriculum of a language class what is being taught and learned that is not explicit. What do teachers indicate, for example, when they move their students’ desks into a circle formation rather than leaving them in rows? When a teacher asks the students what they want to learn in the class, what message is sent? How is this message different from a teacher presenting a carefully-planned syllabus on the first day of class?. In order to answer these questions, you may need to think differently about both what you teach and how.

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The Participatory Approach: One Response to the Politics of Language Teaching

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The Participatory Approach: One Response to the Politics of Language Teaching

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Although it originated in the late 1950s with the work of Paulo Freire (perhaps the most famous of all critical educators), it was not until the 1980s that the Participatory Approach started being widely discussed in the language teaching literature. In some ways the Participatory Approach is similar to content-based instruction in that it begins with content that is meaningful to the students. The language that is worked upon emerges from it.

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In the late 1950s, Freire, a Brazilian, developed a Portuguese literacy program for illiterate adults living in slums and rural areas. Members of Freire’s literacy team spent time in the communities engaging adults in dialogues about the problems in their lives. From these dialogues, members of the team developed vocabulary lists of words that were important to the people in the communities. The central premise of Freire’s approach is that education and knowledge have value only insofar as they help people liberate themselves from the social conditions that oppress them. The dialogues, therefore, not only have become the basis for literacy development, but also for reflection and action to improve students’ lives. The goal of a Participatory Approach is to help students to understand the social, historical, or cultural forces that shaped a particular context, and then to help empower students to take action and make decisions in order to gain control over their lives in that context (Wallerstein 1983).

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The teacher dialogues with the students in order to identify problems they are having. She then looks for ways to incorporate these problems into the lessons. These problems become the content she focuses on in language instruction.

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The students are encouraged to share the daily concerns of their lives with the teacher and the class.

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What is the nature of student–teacher interaction? 

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What is the nature of student–teacher interaction? 

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The teacher is supportive of her students. She helps them advocate for themselves. She helps the students find solutions to problems while also teaching them the necessary language to understand, discuss and, address these problems. Students work supportively with one another.

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How is the language viewed? How is culture viewed?

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How is the language viewed? How is culture viewed?

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Language is an instrument of power necessary for active and equal participation in society. Language is not a neutral subject. Culture relates to students’ daily experiences.

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The teachers’ goals are to teach language that is meaningful and to raise the political consciousness of her students. Teachers want their students to be empowered to use the language they are learning in order to solve political problems in their lives.

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Characteristics of teaching/ learning process

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Characteristics of teaching/ learning process

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The teacher leads the students in a discussion about their lives. From this discussion, she identifies problems that the class can work on as a whole. She then poses these problems to the students. Students learn how to use language in real world situations in order to address their problems. Knowledge is jointly

constructed with the teacher asking questions and the students responding. Students are encouraged to evaluate their own learning.

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Dialoguing

In the Participatory Approach, teacher and students dialogue about issues in the students’ lives that relate to their power and the power of others.

Problem Posing

Problem posing helps students to understand the social, historical, and cultural forces that shaped the context in which they live, and then helps empower them to take action and make decisions in order to gain control over their lives in that context.