Canagarajah, A.S. Resisting linguistic imperialism in English teaching

1. Canagarajah, A.S.Resisting linguistic imperialism in English teaching

2. Centre/periphery (Kachru, 1999) To better understand the use of English in different countries, Kachru conceived the idea of three concentric circles of the language • The “inner circle” represents the traditional bases of English: the U.K., U.S. Australia, New Zealand, Anglophone Canada, South Africa, Ireland, Malta, and some of the Caribbean territories. • The “outer circle” includes countries where English is not an official language, but is important for historical reasons (e.g. the British Empire) and plays a part in the nation’s institutions. This circle includes India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Tanzania, Kenya, etc. • The “expanding circle” encompasses those countries where English plays no historical or governmental role, but where it is widely used as a foreign language or lingua franca. This includes much of the rest of the world: China, Russia, Japan, most of Europe, Korea, Egypt, Indonesia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braj_Kachru

3. Inner, outer and expanding circles: Note the number of EFL speakers is much greater and growing faster than those who speak English as L1 or L2 White, R.W. (1997). Going round in circles: English as an international language and cross-cultural capability. From http:// host.uniroma3.it/decenti/boylan/text/white01.htm Retrieved October 17, 2008.

4. Sri Lanka The Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka late in the 6th century B.C., probably from northern India. Buddhism was introduced in about 300 BC and a great civilization developed. In the 1300s, a south Indian dynasty seized power and established a Tamil kingdom. Occupied by the Portuguese (1500s) and Dutch (1600s), the island was united under British rule by 1815. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948; its name was changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. Tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists erupted into war in 1983. Tens of thousands have died in an ethnic conflict that continues to fester. http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcsrilanka.htm

5. Schoolgirl thinking http://flickr.com/photos/88173127@N00/432767566/ www.nancarrow-webdesk.com Tamil College in Northern Sri Lanka (2003) From http://www.jamd.com/image/#g2727807

6. Reproduction vs. resistance: Competing models of critical pedagogy • Reproduction: “students are conditioned mentally and behaviorally by the practices of schooling to serve the dominant social institutions and groups” (Canagarajah, 1999, p.22) • Resistance: “contradictions within institutions … help students gain agency … and initiate change” (Ibid.)

7. How does reproduction and resistance play out in Ravi and Rajan’s experience? • How is the “hidden curricula” in the classroom serving the reproduction of the status quo? e.g. how is Rajan investing in values of the “centre”? And, how is Ravi either ambivalent about or resisting acceptance of those values?

8. Activity in class: Small groups Summarize how Canagarajah re-defines the following concepts, referring back to resistance/reproduction : • Language • Subjectivity (identity) • Culture • Knowledge • Power Next, read the paragraph bottom of p. 34 (“Postcolonial discourses …”) and discuss the politics of location in relation to Luke’s “Two takes on the critical”