Article Title

ELT and Empowerment: Questions, Observations, and Reflections for Christian Educators

Authors

Michael Lessard-Clouston, Biola UniversityFollow

Keywords

critical pedagogy, ELT, empowerment, imperialism, world Englishes

Abstract

As a field, English language teaching (ELT) has come under attack from a number of critical practitioners. In the classroom, English language teachers aim to empower our students by helping them improve their English abilities and skills. Yet there are discrepancies in terms of who learns and uses English for various purposes. Are English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) teachers helping, or are we part of the ‘problem’ in ELT, as critics suggest? This article poses four questions in order for readers to consider issues in ELT and empowerment. In doing so, it summarizes observations from both the author’s experience and potential resources in the ELT literature, and closes with some reflections to help Christians in ELT consider their understanding of and response to some important current topics in our field.

Recommended Citation

Lessard-Clouston, Michael (2015) "ELT and Empowerment: Questions, Observations, and Reflections for Christian Educators," International Journal of Christianity and English Language Teaching: Vol. 2, Article 5.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.biola.edu/ijc-elt/vol2/iss1/5