Symbolic Violence and Pedagogical Abuse in the Language Classroom

Abstract

The English language (EL) classroom is often depicted as a benign, neutral space separate from external tensions and struggles (Crystal, 1997, 2012), and although language education researchers such as Pennycook (1994), Phillipson (1992), Rapatahana and Bunce (2012) and Rivers (2013) draw attention to contestations in this space, an idealization of EL pedagogic relations still exists. The enduring image of EL classrooms as beneficial, harmonious, problem-free and negotiable spaces is a key component of the many branches of the ELT (English language teaching) industry; major corporate and aid organizations rely on ‘the known’ propagation of the benefits of ELT in idealized classrooms where the desire to teach and learn is high. However, the EL classroom is not a disinterested space, its walls are permeable to the outside world and it reflects the inequalities prevailing in contemporary society.