The third edition includes chapters on: The Grammar-Translation Method, The Direct Method, The Audio-Lingual Method, The Silent Way, Desuggestopedia, Community Language Learning, Total Physical Response, Communicative Language Teaching, Content-based Instruction, Task-based Language Teaching, The Political Dimensions of Language Teaching and the Participatory Approach Learning Strategy Training, Cooperative Learning, and Multiple Intelligences Emerging Uses of Technology in Language Teaching and Learning View Diane Larsen-Freeman explaining the need to consider a range of methods in language teaching, and how methods continue to evolve.
The Political Dimensions of Language Teaching and the Participatory Approach
This chapter of the book they take a look at the politics of language use and language teaching. We also discuss one language teaching method, the Participatory Approach, which pays particular attention to the political dimensions of education.
The Politics of Language
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.1 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. ‘On the one hand,’ Graddol (2006: 22) notes, ‘the availability of English as a global language is accelerating globalization.
On the other, the globalization is accelerating the use of English.’ This view sees English as a tool that benefits the individual who learns it. 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. They are also concerned about the educational inequality that results. After all, not everyone has the opportunity to study English. More generally, some worry about English dominance leading to the loss of endangered languages, such as those spoken by indigenous people and immigrants living in countries where English use predominates, especially when ‘English only’ policies are adopted.
After reading “The Political Dimensions of Language Teaching”, you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs. You can also visit my channel on YouTube.