Blog #9

As Mahboob and Paltridge(2013) put in his article, “Critical applied linguistics studies ways in which education, regulation, and the study and use of language relate to the realization, maintenance, and reproduction of the distribution of power in society”(p.1). Critical applied linguistics are admitted and understood in various ways (Pennycook, 2010). In the final part of Pennycook’s article, the form demonstrates vital domains of critical linguistic teaching and learning, which helps me, get a better understanding to applied linguistic and its diverse emphasis.

I’m an international student from China. This is my first time studying abroad and I found it so different from the education system in China. During this course, I read few articles according to different themes and could summarize various views from it to increase my awareness of second language teaching especially in literacies. Whatever I found was recognize by classmates and teacher and we could deepen our thoughts and found other important and interesting topics through discussions which could not happen in the class in China where students only focus on what teachers say. Here, self-learning and critical learning with interactions play more significant roles in learning process. Discussions, as a very common and normal learning style in Canadian context impressed me the most for its beneficiary for creative thinking and fostering the ability to search for your own ideas while learning. As for different themes in this course, I think it concrete the knowledge system and point out the various aspect in literacies and language teaching in L2, giving guidance to us to know what should be paid great attention to and what problems may occur when we get involved in L2 teaching. Throughout the whole course, I have a brief and basic acknowledgement towards literacy and language learning in L2 while my professional skills and academic knowledge is far away sufficient to be a good ESL teacher. So I need more grounded learning in this field and seek any opportunity to gain some practical experience.

References:

Mahboob, A. & Paltridge, B. (2013) Critical Discourse Analysis andCritical Applied Linguistics. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. DOI: 10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0273

Pennycook, A. (2010). Critical and alternative directions in applied linguistics. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 33(2), pp. 16.1-16.16.