'To English' in Quebec: Toward Critical Approaches to English Language Teaching

The author describes his essay thus: "This paper is about resistance — resistance to the overwhelming hegemonic role of the English language. Critical approaches to English language teaching (ELT) engage with the politics of both teaching the language of the dominant and resisting domination by the same language. Critical approaches to ELT are often transdisciplinary, or anti-disciplinary, and seek new ways of understanding language, culture, and identity in relation to power and politics. Critical approaches move past dichotomous binaries, e.g. dominant/subordinate, native/non-native, global/local, and insist on the in-between spaces that those dichotomies create. Not only do critical approaches take seriously pressing concerns of linguistic attrition and hegemony, they also engage with a number of social and cultural issues that are often excluded from mainstream language education. My central research question is therefore: To what extent do Quebec ELT researchers and institutions embrace critical approaches to ESL instruction? My analysis shows, supported by a review of literature, that the majority of research in Quebec on ELT has not embraced critical approaches and has stagnated in the mainstream and normative approaches of applied linguistics. I propose that Quebec shift its focus on ELT toward critical approaches."

Master's Research Essay

Athabasca University

Athabasca, AB

April 2015

ii-36p.

en