Theories and Practices in Critical Language Teaching: A Dialogic Introduction

Researching Teaching/Learning of Languages - Any Room for Art in There? The Case of Brazilian Applied Linguistics Today and Its Sources of Knowledge: Borders, Boundaries, Barriers, Barricades

“…In this light, these authors continue their claim that "a core task of critical work involves challenging existing practices and habits of thought" (MORGAN;MATTOS, 2018, p. 214, emphasis added). However, they call the readers' attention to the problem that such a desire, when materialised in words, tends to come across as though shaped by hegemonic discourses.…”

“…Editors for the above mentioned issue of RBLA, Morgan and Mattos (2018) point to the fact that when it comes to the production of research on (foreign) languages, Brazilian AL's take on the notion of criticality -by being coupled with Freire's notion of dialogue -allows for what has been termed a narrative turn in the literature of the field. This favours singularity over universality in research, so that the academic community must recognise that "narrative and other forms of personalised story telling should not be underestimated for [their] potential to mobilise the agency of the social actors involved" (MORGAN;MATTOS, 2018, p. 214, emphasis added).…”

“…However, they call the readers' attention to the problem that such a desire, when materialised in words, tends to come across as though shaped by hegemonic discourses. To counter such a tendency, "if we want critical work to be locally relevant, we should be open to exploring new and varied ways of talking about it and understanding it through the embodied experiences of students and community stakeholders" (MORGAN;MATTOS, 2018, p. 215, emphasis added).…”

“…Amid such a pressing scenario, the authors suggest we examine this problem, bearing in mind that we live in a literate society (MORGAN;MATTOS, 2018, p. 217). Doing so would help us realise the origins of much of the tension surrounding the (in)feasibility of a defying attitude towards globally legitimised, 'sanitised' academic diction.…”

Transnational Dialogue on Language Education in Canada and Brazil: How Do We Move Forward in the Face of Neoconservative/Neoliberal Times?

“…BM: Okay. This comes up a bit in that dialogue that Andrea Mattos and I had (MORGAN, MATTOS, 2018). So, I was a little bit critical of -in our discussion just now -that there wasn't enough pedagogy, and maybe there was too much theory, but then again I started to realize that there are some really important reasons why theory is there, and your point about transnational critical literacies generating new ways to see your own locality that you wouldn't have considered before and through contact in collaboration; this idea of critical literacies must include a critique of the knower in a particular historical moment and site, or an investigation of the knower's, reader's and seer's potential to read and understand in a particular place and time.…”