Critical Discourse Analysis and

Critical Applied Linguistics

AHMAR MAHBOOB AND BRIAN PALTRIDGE
What Is Critical Applied Linguistics?
Critical applied linguistics studies ways in which education, regulation, and the study and
use of language relate to the realization, maintenance, and reproduction of the distribution
of power in society. The critical move in applied linguistics focuses on issues of power as
it is enacted, reproduced, and resisted through elds associated with language studies,
such as language policy and planning, language codication, language teaching, language
learning, and language testing. The purpose of this work is not only to understand and
explain how power is constructed and exercised through language, but also to change the
practices and empower those who are at risk from oppressive practices. Work that attempts
to achieve these goals in applied linguistics has a critical perspective, even if it is not
always labeled as such (Pennycook, 2010). Some of this critically oriented work predates
the adoption of the term critical in applied linguistics, while others followed in response
to a call by Pennycook in his 1990 article Towards a Critical Applied Linguistics for the
1990s:
We need to not only understand ourselves as intellectuals situated in very particular
social, cultural and historical locations, but also to understand that the knowledge
we produce is always interested. If we are concerned about the manifold and manifest
inequities of the societies and the world we live in, then I believe we must start to take
up moral and political projects to change those circumstances . . . [We would] do well to
be more humble in the world, listening to the many alternative views of language and
learning, rather than preaching our views as the newest and best. (Pennycook, 1990,
pp. 256)
Critical in Language Policies
Studies in language policy focus on the regulations, laws, policies, and practices that relate
to the use and functional distribution of languages. These studies examine issues such as
which language(s) are adopted as national or ofcial languages or both in a region; and
the status, role, and future of languages that are not promoted through such regulatory
policies. It investigates how and why certain languages are given a privileged position,
and how the use of particular language(s) helps the powerful maintain their political and
economic control.
Tollefson points out that the term critical has three interrelated meanings:
(1) it refers to work that is critical of traditional, mainstream approaches to language
policy research; (2) it includes research that is aimed at social change; and (3) it refers to
research that is inuenced by critical theory. (Tollefson, 2006, p. 42)
The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, Edited by Carol A. Chapelle.
2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0273
2 critical discourse analysis and critical applied linguistics
One key inuence of critical language policy studies has been in examining the role, func-
tion, and power of English worldwide. In examining English as a global language, Phillipson
argues that English, as it is used as a worldwide language, privileges countries where
English is spoken as a native language and positions people who can use the language
prociently in a more powerful position vis--vis the local population who cannot. He
writes:
whereas once Britannia ruled the waves, now it is English which rules them. The British
Empire has given way to the empire of English. [Critical applied linguistics] attempts to
contribute to an understanding of the ways in which English rules, who makes the rules,
and what role the English teaching profession plays in promoting the rules of English
and the rule of English. (Phillipson, 1992, p. 1)
Phillipsons (1992) Linguistic Imperialism was one of the rst book-length studies of how
English plays a crucial role in the maintenance of power structures in a postcolonial con-
text. However, this work has also been quite controversial. For example, Canagarajah
(1999) in his book Resisting Linguistic Imperialism critiques Phillipson by highlighting the
deterministic nature of Phillipsons work. He also notes that Phillipsons work has been
done from the centre and does not provide the tools to explore the complexities of
resistance to linguistic domination. Pennycook (2001) similarly raises concerns about these
arguments and notes that Phillipson takes a static view of language and maps it onto
a deterministic political framework, suggesting thereby that the promotion of English
supports dominant capitalistic and political interests (p. 62). While both Canagarajah and
Pennycook note the power of English, they also highlight the importance of studying how
English is appropriated and resisted by people in different parts of the world.
Critical language policy research also seeks to describe and explain how people in
various parts of the world have internalized the notion that English is the language of
national development. As a result of this belief they maintain and promote English as a
national or an ofcial language, often at the cost of local languages. For example, Mahboob
(2002) examines how the language policies in Pakistan devalue local language and encourage
the adoption and use of English. Such ideologies, rather then leading to national develop-
ment, naturalize the power of English and ensure that the existing power relationships
are maintained. As such, they can be seen as hegemonic practice.
Critical work on language policy also examines claims about how English and other
languages relate to national and economic development. English is often linked to processes
of modernization and development and is marketed as the language of diplomacy, edu-
cation, nance, globalization, science, technology, tourism, and so forth. As a consequence
of this, there is a global trend for English to be introduced in all schools and at earlier
grades. Critical inquiries into the question of earlier is better English-in-education policies
question whether such policies work. They observe that students who are educated through
such reforms show no marked differences from students who are educated in their local
languages. In fact, some studies show that such policies give people an inadequate edu-
cation both of and through their rst language (Pennycook, 1999, p. 1). Pennycook (1999)
also points out that putting the limited resources of developing countries into English
takes away resources that could be spent on educating female students or other marginal-
ized groups, or on other developmental projects. Thus, the relationship between English
and development is seen as tenuous at best.
critical discourse analysis and critical applied linguistics 3
Critical in Language Codication
Language codication processes are those in which linguists study and document how
languages work. Typically, research on language documentation and codication is not
labeled critical. However, this work can be seen as critical in how it inuences peoples
perceptions and beliefs about language and how language works in society. These descrip-
tions of language are used in education and inform the design of pedagogical and other
material. For example, traditional grammars of English, used and taught through textbooks,
are based on these materials. These codied varieties are normalized through their use in
education and promoted as the standard language. Critical perspectives on this work
raise questions such as: Whose dialect is codied and used as models in education? How
are variations on the standard evaluated or judged? And what consequences do people
face when they do not adhere to the standard language? Such questions have been raised
in work on World Englishes (Kachru, 1990) and creole studies (Nero, 2006) and have
inuenced and contributed to the critical stance in linguistics and applied linguistics.
The work in areas such as World Englishes and critical language policy (Phillipson,
1992) has created space for other movements in applied linguistics as well. One example
of this is the non-native English speakers in TESOL (NNEST) movement. NNESTs have,
for a considerable amount of time, outnumbered native English speakers in TESOL (NESTs);
however, they have been marginalized in the profession (Mahboob, 2010). The best jobs
(with higher salaries and better benets) are often given to NESTs, even if NNESTs have
appropriate credentials for the position. Experts studying this issue have raised awareness
about the inequities in the job market working against qualied NNESTs. Another thread
of research that builds on these issues focuses on race in the context of applied linguistics
and TESOL. This work also has an emancipatory agenda and is clearly critical in its
orientation, even if it is not always labeled as such.
Critical Language Teaching
Pennycook (1989) argues that language teaching approaches are not neutral, but rather
reect a particular view of the world and [are] articulated in the interests of unequal
power relationships (pp. 58990). This position has been afrmed by researchers who
have shown how particular teaching methods developed in North America, Britain, and
Australia (NABA) and marketed worldwide are not necessarily appropriate for their
contexts. For example, Chick (1996) argues that the use of the communicative approach
in language teaching was possibly a sort of naive ethnocentricism prompted by the thought
that what is good for Europe or the USA had to be good for KwaZulu (p. 22). Similar
issues were raised by researchers in China, India, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, and
Thailand.
A critical turn in language teaching posits that language teaching is not only about
methods but about teachers ability to operate with some personal conceptualization
of how their teaching leads to desired learningwith a notion of causation that has a
measure of credibility for them (Prabhu, 1990, p. 172). As such, critical language teach-
ing is much more interested in helping students achieve the goals that are important to
them and less in the method used to do this. Kumaravadivelu (2006) calls this the post-
method condition, and in response to it presents an alternative framework and introduces
three operating principles that need to be considered in language teaching: particularity,
practicality, and possibility.
4 critical discourse analysis and critical applied linguistics
Particularity seeks to facilitate the advancement of a context-sensitive, location-specic
pedagogy that is based on a true understanding of local linguistic, social, cultural, and
political particularities. Practicality seeks to rupture the reied role relationship between
theorizers and practitioners by enabling and encouraging teachers to theorize from their
practice and to practice what they theorize. Possibility seeks to tap the sociopolitical
consciousness that students bring with them to the classroom so that it can also function
as a catalyst for identity formation and social transformation. (Kumaravadivelu, 2006,
p. 69)
Other researchers engaged in critical language teaching have also recognized these
principles in their work. For example, Canagarajah (1999) provides an in-depth study of
how teachers and students working in remote Sri Lankan classes use creative classroom
strategies that reect an engagement with local context, needs, and resources. He, along
with other critical applied linguists (e.g., Norton Peirce, 1995), highlights the importance
of identity in the discussions of language teaching (and learning). He argues that what we
need is an approach that
provides for the possibility that, in everyday life, the powerless in post-colonial com-
munities may nd ways to negotiate, alter, and oppose political structures, and reconstruct
their languages, cultures, and identities to their advantage. The intention is not to reject
English, but to reconstitute it in more inclusive, ethical, and democratic terms. (Canagarajah,
1999, p. 2)
Genre pedagogues in Australia (Martin & Rose, 2008) have taken a different approach
to empowering students from disadvantaged communities. Genre pedagogues argue that
in order to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds to move out of their positions
of marginalization, they need be explicitly taught the language and discourses of power.
These authors point out that the skills required to produce written textsthe genres of
power and accessare not equally available to students from minority or marginalized
groups. The aim of genre pedagogy is therefore to help students develop control of these
genres. In order to do this, genre pedagogues draw on work on systemic functional
linguistics, the sociology of education, and sociocultural theory.
Critical Language Learning
The critical turn in language-learning research examines questions such as How do power
relations affect language learning, and how do they affect the social identities, wishes,
desires, and histories of language learners? (Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005, p. 281). In order to
do this, Ellis and Barkhuizen add:
Theorists and researchers would unavoidably have to look beyond the walls of language
classrooms and other language learning settings and events, beyond the bounds of static
social relationships and unidimensional language learners, and beyond commonly accepted
and unquestioned causal variables such as personality traits (introversion or extroversion,
for instance) and motivational factors (for example, the inuence of instrumental and
integrative motivation). (2005, pp. 2823)
One of the rst researchers who explored this in the context of TESOL was Norton (Norton
Peirce, 1995). She, among others, argues that identity needs to be understood as uid,
dynamic, and multiple, rather than as constant or static. Identity is something that is
critical discourse analysis and critical applied linguistics 5
negotiated through language and changes based on the learners needs, resources, and
context. She writes:
It is through language that a person negotiates a sense of self within and across different
sites at different points in time, and it is through language that a person gains access
toor is denied access topowerful social networks that give learners the opportunity
to speak. (Norton, 2000, p. 5)
Norton also writes that learning a language is like making an investment. When learners
invest in learning a new language, they do so with the understanding that they will
acquire a wider range of symbolic and material resources, which will in turn increase the
value of their cultural capital (Norton, 2000, p. 10). The use of economic metaphors in
Nortons work posits that language learning is not simply a result of instrumental or
integrative motivation, but something that the learners expect to gain from.
Critical Language Testing
Shohamys (2001) book The Power of Tests represents an important turn in language testing,
from a focus on issues such as measurement and validation to ethical issues such as what
tests are doing, how they affect peoples lives, and how they should be used responsibly.
Hamp-Lyons (2000, p. 579) discusses the accountability to society and by society that
should drive all those involved in the industry of creating, administering, consuming,
preparing people for, and critiquing tests (original emphasis). McNamara and Shohamy
(2008) continue this discussion in relation to the use of language tests for citizenship,
immigration, and asylum purposes. This work mirrors the key tenet of critical applied
linguistics research, which aims not just to describe what people are doing, but also to
transform and change what they do (Pennycook, 2001). McNamara (2009) points out the
discriminatory policies and practices that the use of such tests support. He discusses how
the 190173 White Australia Policy, up to the 1930s, employed English dictation tests as
a way of keeping people out of Australia. The new Australian Citizenship Test now plays
a similar role. McNamara points out, however, that the language requirements of this test
are, in fact, much higher than previous standards set for this purpose and that test takers
need to obtain a high level of language and literacy skills in order to have a chance of
passing the test. This, of course, is not just happening in Australia. Language and other
sorts of tests are being used for similar gatekeeping purposes in the Netherlands, Sweden,
Denmark, France, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, the UK, and the US (McNamara & Shohamy,
2008). Language testers, McNamara and Shohamy argue, need to develop more effective
forms of advocacy and the mobilization of the people for whom such testing has conse-
quences so that policy makers will no longer be able to ignore them.
Conclusion
In concluding, we would like to relate the work done in critical applied linguistics to
critical discourse analysis (CDA). Critical applied linguistics has a number of points in
common with CDA, and a number of ways in which it is rather different. Like critical
applied linguistics, CDA aims to unpack power relations that are not evident, on rst sight,
to people, and it aims to bring about change. Critical applied linguistics, like CDA, describes
and seeks to change inequities and discriminatory practices that are related to descriptions,
perceptions, policies, and practices of language. Many of these issues are interrelated,
6 critical discourse analysis and critical applied linguistics
however, and while we may want to tease them apart by considering which subeld
critical applied linguistics or CDAthey belong to, it is not always easy to do so. Even
in the summaries of key issues provided here, work in critical language policy, critical
language codication, critical language teaching, learning, and testing is interrelated in
multiple ways. For example, language codication efforts tend to focus on the language
(or discourse) that is promoted through a language policy. Language tests then use these
codied varieties as the standard language that has to be tested for various purposes.
The tests in turn have a backwash effect on language teaching and learning. This inter-
relatedness of both critical applied linguistics and CDA highlights the signicance of being
aware of the various subelds in critical applied linguistics as we develop our work in
this area.
Another thing to be noted is that while many subelds use the label critical to mark
their orientation to the eld, other work or subelds might not. What is important is the
goal of our work: to describe the processes through which positions of power, prestige,
and authority are naturalized and, in doing so, resist them and bring about change, be it
critical applied linguistics or CDA that we use as a framework for doing this.
SEE ALSO: Corpus-Based Linguistic Approaches to Critical Discourse Analysis; Critical
Analysis of Discourse in Educational Settings; Critical Analysis of Multimodal Discourse;
Critical Analysis of Political Discourse
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