Language Teacher Education and the Developing World

Exploring ‘Horizons of Possibility’ for Identity and Agency

Authors

  • Brian Morgan Glendon College/York University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v11i1.20508

Keywords:

language policies and planning, language and development, language teacher identity, language teacher education, multimodality, epistemic dependencies, critical literacies and pedagogies

Abstract

This article advances a “bottom-up” approach to language policy and planning. Drawing on several recommendations in the Lahore Declaration on Language Sciences and the Developing World (Tupas & Mahboob, 2013), the author examines the ways in which the decision-making capacities of field professions in English Language Teaching (ELT) might be enhanced to further the development goals stated in the declaration. Which theories of language, for example, are more likely to foster teacher agency, or conversely, discourage innovation and local relevance? To realize the former, it is crucial for scholars and practitioners in the developing world to challenge “epistemic dependencies” based on Western-based knowledge in ELT (Kumaravadivelu, 2012). The textual and pedagogical complexities of such a challenge are then explored, followed by a discussion of their possible implementation in a certificate program in the Teaching of English as an International Language (D-TEIL).

Author Biography

  • Brian Morgan, Glendon College/York University

    Associate Professor, English Department

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Published

2016-05-26

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Morgan, B. (2016). Language Teacher Education and the Developing World: Exploring ‘Horizons of Possibility’ for Identity and Agency. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 11(1), 89-106. https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v11i1.20508

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