World Language Education as Critical Pedagogy

Accessible and cutting-edge, this text is a pivotal update to the field and offers a much-needed critical perspective on world language education. Building off their classic 2002 book, The Foreign Language Educator in Society, Timothy G. Reagan and Terry A. Osborn address major issues facing the world language educator today, including language myths, advocacy, the perceived and real benefits of language learning, linguistic human rights, constructivism, learning theories, language standards, monolingualism, bilingualism and multiculturalism.
Organized into three parts - "Knowing Language," "Learning Language," and "Teaching Language" - this book applies a critical take on conventional wisdom on language education, evaluates social and political realities, assumptions, and controversies in the field. Each chapter includes questions for reflection and discussion to support students and educators in developing their own perspectives on teaching and learning languages. With a critical pedagogy and social justice lens, this book is ideal for scholars and students in foreign/world language education, social justice education, and language teaching methodology courses, as well as pre- and in-service teachers.

Timothy G. Reagan is Professor at the University of Maine and Research Fellow at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Terry A. Osborn is Professor at the University of South Florida, USA.

Chapter 1: Introduction: World Language Educators Still Need Critical Pedagogy PART I KNOWING LANGUAGE Chapter 2: Language and Language Mythology: What We Need to Learn and Unlearn Chapter 3: Linguistic Legitimacy and the World Language Educator: Whose Language is Real? PART II LEARNING LANGUAGE Chapter 4: Why Study a Foreign Language? The Case for World Language Education Chapter 5: Learning Languages: Constructivism and World Language Education PART III TEACHING LANGUAGE Chapter 6: When Methodology Fails: A Critical Look at World Language Education Chapter 7: The World Language Educator and Critical Reflective Practice: Toward Emancipatory Knowledge Chapter 8: World Language Education, Critical Pedagogy and Social Justice: Toward Conscientização Chapter 9: Challenging Ideology in the Curriculum: The Role of Critical Pedagogy and Social Justice Education Chapter 10: Critical Pedagogy, Social Justice and National Standards: An Insurmountable Dilemma? Chapter 11: The Empire Strikes Back: Toward an Epilogue