Developing Critical Languaculture Pedagogies In Higher Education

Despite widespread agreement about the need to develop interculturally competent graduates, there is a lack of agreement about how this goal may be achieved in practice. This is significant as universities around the world, particularly in English-speaking countries, have espoused an interculturally-aware vision for their future graduates and turned to language education, as an inherently intercultural activity, to expose students to a world which is linguistically and culturally different from their own. This book focuses on narrowing the gap between the often conflicting theoretical and practical imperatives faced by language teachers in an internationalised higher education context. It does so by providing comprehensive conceptual discussions of emerging critical intercultural language pedagogies as well as empirical accounts and case studies from the frontline.

Despite widespread agreement about the need to develop interculturally competent graduates, there is a lack of agreement about how this goal may be achieved in practice. This is significant as universities around the world, particularly in English-speaking countries, have espoused an interculturally-aware vision for their future graduates and turned to language education, as an inherently intercultural activity, to expose students to a world which is linguistically and culturally different from their own. This book focuses on narrowing the gap between the often conflicting theoretical and practical imperatives faced by language teachers in an internationalised higher education context. It does so by providing comprehensive conceptual discussions of emerging critical intercultural language pedagogies as well as empirical accounts and case studies from the frontline.

In the context of Black Lives Matter, decolonizing initiatives, #MeToo, climate emergency protests and other movements for social and environmental justice, this volume posits a simple question: how can modern languages be taught so that they challenge rather than reinforce social inequalities? Informed by interdisciplinary theories, Critical Pedagogies for Modern Language Education focuses on practical discussions of case studies in areas directly relevant to the classroom contexts of modern languages educators. The volume transforms modern language educators and the modern language profession by putting the politics of language teaching at the centre of its analysis. With case studies covering 11 languages (Modern Standard Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Levantine, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Tamazight) across 13 countries and regions (Austria, Brazil, China, France, Italy, the Levant, Morocco, the Netherlands, Palestine, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the USA), the contributors cover a wide range of theories, including critical discourse analysis, activist pedagogies, culturally sustaining pedagogy, linguistic justice and translanguaging. With student-teacher collaboration at its heart, critical modern languages pedagogy unmasks the ideologies and hegemonies that lie behind mainstream language use and affirms the value of minority linguistic and cultural practices. The volume thus provides transformative approaches to modern languages teaching and learning that respond to the key social concerns of the 21st century.

This edited research volume explores the development of what can be described as the ‘critical turn’ in intercultural communication pedagogy, with a particular focus on modern/foreign language education. The main aim is to trace the realisations of this critical turn against a background of unequal power relations, and to illuminate the role that radical culture educators can play in the making of a more democratic and egalitarian social order. The volume takes as a starting point the idea that criticality draws on a number of intellectual traditions, which do not always focus on social and political critique, and argues that because ideological hegemony impacts on the meanings that people create and share, intercultural communication pedagogy ought to locate itself within wider socio-political contexts. With reference points drawn from critical and transnational social theory, critical pedagogy and intercultural theory, contributors to this volume provide readers with powerful ways that show how this can be achieved, and together assess the impact that their understanding of criticality can make on modern/foreign language education. The volume is divided into three major parts, namely: ‘theorising critically’, ‘researching critically’ and ‘teaching critically’.

As a consequence of globalization and internationalization, there has been a dramatic increase in the number and diversity of students who are gaining international educational experience. Making connections between contemporary study abroad research, theory, and practice, Intercultural Interventions in Study Abroad describes innovative programmes that have been designed to deepen the intercultural learning and engagement of student sojourners. In addition to reviewing the benefits and limitations of these interventions, this volume offers recommendations for further enhancements in the field. Exploring examples of intercultural interventions in a wide variety of countries from pre- to post-study abroad, this book helps readers develop a critical awareness of their strengths and limitations, and provides directions for future developments in intercultural pedagogy. Written by intercultural educators and study abroad scholars from different parts of the world, each chapter describes an innovative pedagogical intervention that has been designed to enhance intercultural learning and engagement, including: designing and implementing pre-sojourn intercultural workshops; using guided, critical reflection to deepen students' intercultural learning and engagement; monitoring class interaction to maximize intercultural learning; optimizing intercultural learning and engagement abroad through online mentoring. Truly international in scope, this text is essential for study abroad professionals who seek to enhance the intercultural development, global-mindedness, and second-language learning of students through innovative intercultural programming.

Many language teachers recognise the importance of integrating intercultural learning into language learning, but how this can be best achieved is not always apparent. This is particularly the case in foreign language learning contexts where teachers are working with a prescribed textbook and opportunities to use the language outside the classroom are limited. This book argues that teachers can work creatively with conventional resources and utilise classroom experiences in order to help learners interpret aspects of communication in insightful ways and develop awareness of the influence of cultural assumptions and values on language use. The book provides extensive analysis of a range of classroom interactions to demonstrate how teachers and learners can work together to construct opportunities for intercultural learning through reflection on pragmatics.

Bringing together a range of perspectives from tertiary language and culture teachers and researchers, this volume highlights the need for greater critical engagement with the question of language teacher identity, agency and responsibility in light of an ever changing global socio-political and cultural landscape. The book examines the ways in which various moral, ethical, and ideological dimensions increasingly inform language teaching practice for tertiary modern/foreign language teachers, both collectively as a profession but also at the individual level in everyday classroom situations. Employing a narrative inquiry research approach which combines brief autobiographical reflections with semi-structured interview data, the volume provides a comprehensive portrait of the processes ten teacher-researchers in Australia working across five different languages engage in as they seek to position themselves more purposefully within a critical, political and ethical framework of teaching practice. The book will serve as a springboard from which to promote greater understanding and discussion of the impact of globalisation and social justice corollaries within the field, as well as to mediate the gap between language teaching theory and practice, making this key reading for graduate students and researchers in intercultural communication, language teaching, and language teacher education.

This edited book focuses on the state of language learning in Anglophone countries and brings together international research from a wide range of educational settings. Taking a contextual perspective on the language learning crisis currently facing Anglophone countries, the authors examine systemic challenges, real-world practices, and broader cultural trends that have an impact on the uptake of modern foreign languages in different Anglophone settings. This book will be of interest to scholars working in applied linguistics and language education, particularly those with a focus on educational policy and Global English.