On Global Englishes, Translanguaging, and the Educational Challenge of Celebrating Students’ Capacity for Communication

Abstract

Until very recently, much of the educational and applied linguistics discourse about students and their learning was based on a deficit view (e.g., “low proficiency,” “they should know this,” “they need to improve their command of English”). Such a view justifies the traditional role of teachers imparting knowledge and students passively absorbing it. In fact, John Dewey, writing over a century ago, highlighted this sad state of affairs in education: Why is it, in spite of the fact that teaching by pouring in, learning by a passive absorption, are universally condemned, that they are still so entrenched in practice? That education is not an affair of “telling” and being told but an active and constructive process, is a principle almost as generally violated in practice as conceded in theory. (Dewey, 1916/2001, pp. 43-44) In this short contribution, we share our views on how inclusive language education may be promoted based on Global Englishes and translanguaging through a reconceptualization of who students really are. But before that, we must emphasize that inclusive education is about valuing all cultures and all languages. It encourages students and teachers to use all the cultures and languages they can draw upon in order to understand and master their world, and to act upon that world for their own benefit and the benefit of all.