Kritiske potentialer i sprogpædagogisk praksis

Since the 1970s the predominant agenda within language teaching has been a communicative one based on a notion of language learning as a cognitive process. In recent years, however, a social turn has taken place within language pedagogy, including a view of language as a social practice and the learner as a social being. This has led to critical language pedagogies aiming at empowering learners to negotiate identities and social positioning within social hierarchies and power relations. The article gives two examples of critical potentials within pedagogical practice: One from the teaching of Danish as a second language, where learners’ everyday experiences of marginalisation and their ambitions could be included in the communicative activities; the other from the teaching of German as a foreign language at a Danish upper secondary school, where a fairly static view of culture could be transformed into a more dynamic one. Finally the article presents a list of points for reflecting on how to give language teaching a critical perspective.