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[AILA Review 36:1] 2023
► pp. 64–90

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Addressing race in English language teaching

ORCiD logo with link | Rio de Janeiro
ORCiD logo with link | Rio de Janeiro
Published online: 24 July 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.22016.coa
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to analyze a set of didactic materials developed to teach English as an Additional Language at a Brazilian public school in Rio de Janeiro. Such materials were designed to invite 7th grade students with diverse social, racial, and economic backgrounds to learn about the world and the English language from viewpoints that delineate a decolonial stance (Mignolo, W. (2010). Desobediencia epistémica: Retórica de la modernidade, lógica de la colonialidad y gramática de la descolonialidad. Del Signo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Kumaravadivelu, B. (2016). The decolonial option in English teaching: Can the subaltern act? Tesol Quarterly, 50(1), 66–85. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Jansen, J. (2017). As by fire: The end of the South African university. Tafelberg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Grounded on the notions of Critical Race Literacy (Ferreira, A. (2014). Teoria racial crítica e letramento racial crítico: Narrativas e contranarrativas de identidade racial de professores de línguas. Revista Da Associação Brasileira De Pesquisadores/As Negros/As (ABPN), 6(14), 236–263.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and Critical Language Awareness (Alim, H. S. (2005). Critical language awareness in the United States: Revisiting issues and revising pedagogies in a resegregated society. Educational Researcher, 34(7), 24–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), this paper looks into didactic activities built upon emancipatory ( (1996). Pedagogia da autonomia: Saberes necessários à prática educativa. Paz e Terra.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and transgressive (Pennycook, A. (2006). Uma lingüística aplicada transgressiva. In L. P. Moita Lopes, Por uma linguística aplicada indisciplinar. Parábola Editorial.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; hooks, b. (2013). Ensinando a transgredir: A educação como prática da liberdade. Martins Fontes (original work published 1994).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) approaches to Applied Linguistics and Language Education, understanding English Language classrooms as privileged arenas for the construction of ideas on race. The methodological approach is based on the premises of a Dialogical Discourse Analysis (Brait, B. (2018). Bakhtin: Outros conceitos-chave. Contexto (original work published 2006).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) to identify centripetal and centrifugal forces ( (1981) The dialogic imagination: Four Essays by M. M. BAKHTIN. Edited by Holquist, M. (ed.), Emerson, C. and Holquist, M. (trans.), University of Texas Press Slavic series, Austin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) in the didactic materials produced. Results have indicated that the discourse genres selected (Bakhtin, M. (1979/2003). Estética da criação verbal. São Paulo: Martins Fontes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar apud Tilio, R. (2017). The contemporary coursebook: Introducing a new proposal. In R. Tilio & A. Ferreira (Eds.), Innovations and challenges in language teaching and materials development. Pontes Editoras.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and the set of activities developed are permeated by social voices ( (1981) The dialogic imagination: Four Essays by M. M. BAKHTIN. Edited by Holquist, M. (ed.), Emerson, C. and Holquist, M. (trans.), University of Texas Press Slavic series, Austin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) that promote decolonial dialogues in the English language classroom.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Race as a social (and linguistic) construct
  • Race and English language teaching in Brazil
  • Research questions and methodology
  • Data analysis
  • Travelling to Nairobi
  • Introducing Yennega – The Princess of Gambaga
  • Challenging The Tragedy of Othello
  • Looking from a favela window and appreciating Black Girls’ Magic with Sulwe
  • Echoing voices of resistance
  • Results
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Nguyen, Trang Thi Thuy
2025. Voicing decolonial dialogues: Indigenous teachers’ translanguaging in the mainstream classroom. Linguistics and Education 88 ► pp. 101440 ff. DOI logo

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