Global Markets/Global Englishes: Drama and Discourses in Colonial Spaces

Abstract

Through this study, we examined the intricacies embedded in viewing drama as a space to explore the sociocultural/sociopolitical complexities of English-language education. In this piece, we share selected qualitative data from a larger project collected during a 2-year period from courses in intermediate English and business English education from Spanish-dominant students enrolled at the University of Puerto Rico. Our emphasis in this article is on the business English education course. Traditionally in Puerto Rico, business English education courses are aimed at Spanish-speaking students acquiring technical skills in English, such as writing a memo, resume, or letter, with the idea of providing the necessary language tools to compete in an English-dominant global market. In our analysis of previous approaches to the course, we noticed that business English courses were presented as neutral and mechanical without any or little emphasis on the politics of English-language acquisition for business purposes. As educators grounded in the traditions of critical inquiry through drama, we were interested in how we might use drama to subvert the traditional skill-based curriculum to engage students in a critical examination of the mechanism of power that accompanied the introduction of English-language learning.