IS IT POSSIBLE TO DECOLONIZE THE CONTENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING MATERIALS? ACTION IN REFLECTION
ação na reflexão
Abstract
Proposing as a backdrop a dialogue between the concepts of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and (de)coloniality, this text aims to problematize the so-called “plastic world of the English textbook”, based on a reflection that results in action by English teachers in trying to decolonize their content through different interventions. Initially, the text addresses the reasons and consequences of the expansion of English around the world, focusing on the fact that the language has become a highly profitable product exploited by a billion-dollar transnational industry, English Language Teaching (ELT). Next, under critical and decolonial lenses, the power of ELT materials produced in the global North is confronted, seeking to demonstrate that teachers, especially non-native, must equip themselves to act on the contents of these textbooks, aiming to drive different changes that meet the real needs of their learners. Finally, the text brings some initiatives aimed at empowering English teachers at different levels, expecting that this awareness can have practical effects not only in the critical treatment of the English textbook, but in all phases of the process that involves the pedagogy of the lingua franca of the contemporary world.
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References
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