The Power of Language

Alastair Pennycook (2001) said that in 1990 a group of teachers and students of the University of California decided to found the journal Issues in Applied Linguistics,  the term Critical Applied Linguistics was also assumed to focus attention on the limits of traditional Applied Linguistics to counteract some general assumptions as teachers superiority of native versus non-native, the criterion of a particular privilege pedagogical approach of a specific language model. In the process of the supposed ideological progress in other areas of knowledge, there is the existence of a critical pedagogy, critical discourse analysis or critical ethnology, Pennycook (2001) suggests a perspective that reveals the most overtly political and ideological knowledge , language, text, language pedagogy and evaluation of the "difference". Finally, Pennycook clarifies that Critical Applied Linguistic is not seen as a discipline, whereas it is a way of thinking that has to spread, as a antidisciplinarity praxis or an applied Linguistics "With attitude", as he describes it.

  We are being dominated by English-speaking countries through the language. The power of language, for instance, is represented by the classroom.  For example, we as teachers are trying to pursue our students to act, behave, think and express themselves in such a way that it seems they don't have the right to share their ideas freely, ours students just try to say what we want to listen and how we want to listen to it. The language is a way to colonize the world in which we are living, the textbooks we use in class, for example (which by the way, the majority of them are from British publishing houses)are giving the discourse of a world, culture and life that our Colombian students (for example) are not even close to. They have to learn things from countries totally different from them; they don’t even need so much garbage about other countries because at the end of the day they are going just to start thinking that their culture is not worthy enough to be at least in an English lesson. There is a way to colonize too, there is a way of looking for other places to conquer through the language and the worst thing is that we fail into that trap. We are going straight to a "bilingualism program" which has no more than just crazy objectives in a short period of time with a lot of difficulties in the middle of the way such as the number of people inside the classroom and the lack of resources and even prepared teachers to deal with that overwhelming rush to fictional goals. The idea is not to be against English language radically, the idea is to change the view of "necessity" we have towards it, there are many other languages to learn, let the people choose. We need more critical teachers with a perspective of language not only as a "tool" to get a job or to be successful but also as a door-opener to see beyond our eyes.

Suggested Readings

Freire, P.(1970). Pedagogía del oprimido. De Río de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 
Pennycook, A. (2001). A Critical Introduction. Nueva Jersey, U. S. Lawrence E. Associates Inc. Publishers.