Critical Pedagogy and Linguistic Imperialism in the EFL Context

✍ Scribed by Kanavillil Rajagopalan

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 38 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1056-7941
• DOI: 10.1002/j.1949-3533.2000.tb00275.x

✦ Synopsis

Kanavillil Rajagopalan

CRITICAL PEDAGOGY HAS won over a growing number of advocates and enthusiasts in recent years. In his recent contribution to the TESOL Journal, Hones (1999) demonstrates beyond the shadow of a doubt that critical pedagogy can yield rich dividends in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages. The case study he discusses clearly shows that there are many advantages to the critical approach that can be fruitfully exploited by the classroom teacher in a wide variety of pedagogic contexts. His imaginative use of the Mumia Abu-Jamal case as a springboard for plunging into a wider discussion about the U.S. justice system and about philosophically and ethically loaded issues, such as the death penalty, the difficulties faced by the socially underprivileged in getting equal access to justice, the use of organized social violence to right historically instituted inequalities, and so onwell, the sky is the limit, if you come to think of it-can be fairly easily replicated using other current topics of local interest and urgency.