Language teaching = Linguistic imperialism?

Linguistic imperialism is the expansion of a small number of privileged languages at the cost of a large number of others. The language teaching profession is a potential instrument of linguistic imperialism and needs to address the question of the ecological impact of language teaching and to take an ecological view of their profession. An ecological view focuses on areas such as the well being of the inhabitants of a language ecology, and the long term sustainability of the system. The principal task for language teachers as that of empowering their learners by giving them additional knowledge and skills and to cater for the learner’s needs rather than the short-term economic benefits of the teaching institution. Language teachers have to address the question of likely long term outcomes of their practices.