The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Chung Hsing University
Abstract:
Viewing the English language as a neutral communication tool has been criticized, for it neglects the sociopolitical implications of language learning and teaching. Growing up in a culture that strongly urges people to learn and use English, many Taiwanese students tend to blindly worship English, pursue native-like proficiency in English, and thus lose their own subjectivity in the process of learning English. As a pedagogical tool, critical language awareness (CLA) demonstrates the ideologies and power relations in everyday language by helping language learners become sensitive to and question the role that language plays in everyday usage. This paper focuses on the possibilities of CLA in an EFL college content-based course, and qualitatively describes the experiences of 12 students who participated in CLA-based activities through analysis of class observation notes and student journal writings and artifacts. The results indicate that the CLA approach opened up new possibilities for the participants through critical reflection on English-language ideology and cultural heritage. The results also reveal that the participants gained subjectivity in learning English. This study concludes that a CLA-based lesson helps students to develop a different understanding of their identities in the world and to respond critically to the world.
Relation:
Intergrams: Studies in Languages and Literatures 16(2), p.1-25
