Decolonizing Foreign Language Education: the Misteaching of English & Other Colonial Languages

Decolonizing Foreign Language Education interrogates current foreign language and second language education approaches that prioritize white, western thought. Edited by acclaimed critical theorist and linguist Donaldo Macedo, this volume includes cutting-edge work by a select group of critical language scholars working to rigorously challenge the marginalization of foreign language education and the displacement of indigenous and non-standard language varieties through the reification of colonial languages. Each chapter confronts the hold of colonialism and imperialism that inform and shape the relationship between foreign language education and literary studies by asserting that a critical approach to applied linguistics is just as important a tool for FL/ESL/EFL educators as literature or linguistic theory.

Donaldo Macedo is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education at University of Massachusetts Boston. He is a leading authority in critical language studies and critical pedagogy and has published extensively in the areas of Creole languages, critical literacy, bilingualism, and multiculturalism. He is the founder and former chair of the Applied Linguistics Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston.