Starting Points in Critical Language Pedagogy

Abstract

Two decades ago, American educator Bill Johnston (2003: ix) noted that the ‘occupation of ELT is profoundly imbued with values, and these values furthermore are complex and riven with dilemmas and conflict’. Most language teachers would have considered, at one time or another, where their personal values sit in the classroom, and how transparent they should be about them. Similarly, they may have asked themselves where the line between advocacy and indoctrination is when introducing ethically complex content to their students. Critical language pedagogy (CLP) offers teachers a robust perspective on questions such as these. In this era of seemingly accelerated economic, environmental, geopolitical, and social turmoil, Graham Crookes and Arman Abednia’s Starting Points in Critical Language Pedagogy is a timely offering to language teachers interested in orientating their classrooms towards social justice. It aims to help those currently operating in ‘teacher-fronted’ (p. 3) ‘conventional classrooms’ (p. 4) to shift ‘to more interactive classroom[s] where students have more to say about what goes on and have more to do’ (p. 13).