In the field of English Language Teaching (ELT), it's crucial to adopt critical perspectives in English Language Teaching that challenge traditional approaches. This means moving beyond the idea of a single, 'correct' form of English and embracing the rich diversity of World Englishes and the importance of intercultural competence. This article explores why a critical lens is essential for educators and learners alike, preparing them for real-world communication.
Understanding Critical Perspectives in ELT: Why It Matters
Traditional ELT often relies on homogenisation and reduction to make learning measurable, but this can overlook the dynamic nature of English. Students often adapt and reshape their English use to express their identities and backgrounds. Correcting these uses based on native-speaker models can be seen as linguistic discrimination, stemming from colonialising ideologies that generate inequality and frustration.
The Problem with Standard Language Ideology
The Standard Language Ideology is a widely held belief that a specific standard variety of English is more 'correct' and 'intelligible' for formal settings. This ideology artificially fixes a benchmark, implicitly devaluing other varieties. Consequently, it creates discrimination, disadvantaging those who don't speak the standard variety early in life or lack resources for standardisation lessons. The idea that only British and American English are correct, or that teachers should only teach standard English, often misleads students.
Embracing World Englishes in the Classroom
By the 1980s, the concept of diverse English varieties gained recognition, with scholars like Kachru (1992) emphasising the need to acknowledge World Englishes' linguistic, cultural, and pragmatic pluralism. This suggests that a one-size-fits-all approach no longer works, and students don't necessarily benefit from a default setting to inner-circle English (Canagarajah 2006; Jenkins 2006).
Many students use non-inner circle varieties comfortably in their daily lives. As Gupta (2012) notes, learners will encounter a wide range of usages in the real world, needing guidance through these complexities. Rose (2017) argues that