Reimagining educational linguistics: a post-competence perspective

Abstract

Abstract Drawing on Bernstein’s sociology of education, this article offers a critical discussion of the origins, assumptions and values of educational linguistics since its foundation in the 1970s. It argues that the sociohistorical context in which the field emerged led to its areas of focus and mission being based on a number of problematic assumptions originating in a primarily Anglophone, Chomskyan theory of language and learning; assumptions that have led to it promoting a strong ‘competence model’ (Bernstein’s term) of education ever since, thereby exacerbating the disconnect between applied linguist and language teacher communities. After identifying important changes in language learning contexts and characteristics worldwide since the 1970s, the article presents a framework for reimagining educational linguistics that looks beyond competence to also recognise the validity of both literacy and pluralist orientations to education and the need for systems, institutions, programs and teachers to move flexibly or choose eclectically along a continuum between these. It discusses the implications of this reimagined vision, including for understandings of relationships in the classroom, notions of authenticity in texts and communities, language modality, curricular outcomes, assessment and language repertoires. A reimagined research agenda is also offered that it is hoped will support attempts to make educational linguistics relevant to the widest possible range of practitioner communities worldwide.