An Introduction to Applied Linguistics

4.7 Critical pedagogy
This last example differs from those previously described in that it reports a general
approach rather than a project grappling with a specific issue. The approach is indeed
so general that it offers an alternative way of doing applied linguistics and in Chap ter 6
we look at examples 1 to 6 from this alternative point of view. But in addition
to permeating the whole field of applied linguistics, critical pedagogy (itself an
aspect of critical applied linguistics) is a project in itself since it occupies space for
both teachers and students of applied linguistics in their studying and in their
research.
Critical pedagogy, and more generally critical applied linguistics, represents a kind
of postmodern version of critical discourse analysis. As such it places the onus of
action firmly on the subject, in this case the learner, student, reader. Alastair Penny -
cook (1994a) describes the approach in his Chapter 9 (‘Towards a critical pedagogy
for teaching English as a worldly language’). He takes as his point of departure: ‘it is
impossible to separate English from its many contexts and thus a key tenet of the
discourse of English as an International Language – that it is possible to “just teach
the language” – is equally untenable’ (Pennycook 1994a: 295).
Pennycook is concerned to make clear that he is not proposing a prescriptive
set of teaching practices; what he is doing is ‘to lay out some general concerns in
developing critical pedagogies of English’ (ibid: 300). He recognises that his stance
is ideological but points out that all education is political while usually pretending it
is not: ‘I would argue that all education is political, that all schools are sites of cultural
politics’ (ibid: 301).
Pennycook emphasises the importance of ‘voice’ which is used to refer to ‘a con -
tested space of language use as social practice … (it) suggests a pedagogy that starts
with the concerns of the students, not in some vapid, humanist “student-centered”
approach that requires students to express their “inner feelings”, but rather through
an exploration of students’ histories and cultural locations, of the limitations and
possibilities presented by languages and discourses … a critical practice in English
language teaching must start with ways of critically exploring students’ cultures,
knowledges and histories in ways that are both challenging and at the same time
affirming and supportive’ (ibid: 311).
As a specific instance of the working out of critical pedagogy, Pennycook reports
an experience when he was teaching English in China. He became aware that num -
bers of foreigners who purported to be teachers of English were in fact Christian
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missionaries. He decided that his students needed to be given the opportunity to
consider this situation:
In a course on ‘British and American culture’, a course that had always previously
consisted of lectures on the political and education systems, festivals and holidays
of the United States and the UK, I decided to add a section on American fun -
damentalism to the curriculum … it was important to make available to my
students alternative readings of the United States that drew links between
fundamentalism and right-wing politics and showed how the vast expansion of
English language learning was being used by those who sought only to ‘convert’
their students and preach their right-wing politics. The object here was to give my
students ways of thinking about connections between the language they were
so busily engaged in learning and other cultural and political complexes about
modernity, Christianity … anti-abortion campaigns … Chinese population prob -
lems and family policies, freedom of speech, and so on.
(ibid: 313–14)
Pennycook is at pains to point out that this approach does not detract from his
responsibilities to ensure his students’ ‘success’ as normally defined. He sets out his
creed:
I am suggesting that first, we need to make sure that students have access to those
standard forms of the language linked to social and economic prestige; second, we
need a good understanding of the status and possibilities presented by different
standards; third, we need to focus on those parts of language that are significant
in particular discourses; fourth, students need to be aware that those forms rep -
resent only one set of particular possibilities; and finally, students also need to be
encouraged to find ways of using the language that they feel are expressive of their
own needs and desires, to make their own readings of texts, to write, speak and
listen in forms of the language that emerge as they strive to find representations
of themselves and others that make sense to them, so that they can start to claim
and negotiate a voice in English.
(ibid: 317–18)
It is important to note that unlike those who argue the case for linguicism
(Phillipson 1992), Pennycook does not oppose the spread of English as long as it
is approached critically: ‘I believe that the spread of English, if dealt with critically,
may offer chances for cultural renewal and exchange around the world’ (Pennycook
1994a: 325).