Page 278 - Beyond Methods

266 Ensuring social relevance
In Closing
The general discussion, sample microstrategies, and exploratory projects in this chapter all highlight the view that language plan- ning and pedagogy are closely linked to power and politics. Teach- ers and teacher educators, therefore, have to seriously consider sev- eral social, political, historical, and economic conditions that shape the lives of their learners and their linguistic and cultural identity. More specifically, any language learning and teaching enterprise, if it aims to be socially relevant, must critically consider, among other things, the process of standardization, the role of the home lan- guage, and the use of appropriate teaching materials.
The challenge facing the L2 teacher is how to help learners strike a balance between their desire to maintain their linguistic identity while at the same time prepare them to face the sociopolitical and economic imperatives that point to the need to master and use a dominant language. “I prefer to be honest with my students,” as- serts Lisa Delpit (1995, pp. 39–40), “I tell them that their language and cultural style is unique and wonderful but that there is a polit- ical power game that is also being played, and if they want to be in on that game there are certain games that they too must play.”
As the Delpit quote and the general discussion in this chapter suggest, linguistic identity is closely linked to cultural identity. What are the challenges and opportunities that L2 learners face in pre- serving their own cultural identity while at the same time expanding their cultural horizon to survive in a culturally challenging world? We turn to that issue in the next chapter.