Critical Perspectives on Language Teaching Materials

by Gray, John

• ISBN13: 9780230362857
• ISBN10: 0230362850
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-11-25
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This Critical Perspectives on Language Teaching Materials brings together a collection of critical voices on the subject of language teaching materials for use in English, French, Spanish, German and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classrooms. It is firmly located within the 'critical turn' in Applied Linguistics and seeks to build on the growing body of work in this vein. Collectively the authors take it as axiomatic that the politics of representation and identity, and issues of ideology and commercialism cannot be neglected in any serious study of language teaching materials. Rather, it sees these issues as central. The book draws on research carried out in the UK, Spain, North America and Brazil, and is aimed at language teachers, teacher educators, students, researchers, materials writers and those working in the materials publishing industry.

Author Biography

John Gray is Senior Lecturer in TESOL Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK. He is interested in language and globalization, the cultural and political aspects of the global spread of English, ELT materials analysis and English language teacher education. His previous publications include The Construction of English and Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics (with David Block and Marnie Holborow).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; John Gray
2. Telling Tales: Changing Discourses of Identity in the 'Global' UK-published English Language Coursebook; John Kullman
3. LGBT Invisibility and Heteronormativity in ELT Materials; John Gray
4. The 'Neoliberal Citizen': Resemiotizing Globalized Identities in EAP Materials; Christian W. Chun
5. 'This Activity is Far From Being a Pause for Reflection': An Exploration of ELT Authors', Editors', Teachers' and Learners' Approaches to Critical Thinking; Denise Santos
6. Critically Evaluating Materials for CLIL: Practitioners' Practices and Perspectives; Tom Morton
7. Communicating Constructions of Frenchness through Language Coursebooks: A Comparison; Simon Coffey
8. Spanish Imagined: Political and Subjective Approaches to Language Textbooks; Cristina Ros i Solé
9. Motivation, Authenticity and Challenge in German Textbooks for Key Stage 3; Nick Andon and Ursula Wingate
10. Resisting Coursebooks; Scott Thornbury