Misplaced Pages

Latest revision as of 12:37, 26 December 2024

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Misplaced Pages. See Misplaced Pages's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In linguistics, critical language awareness (CLA) refers to an understanding of social, political, and ideological aspects of language, linguistic variation, and discourse. It functions as a pedagogical application of a critical discourse analysis (CDA), which is a research approach that regards language as a social practice. More specifically, critical language awareness is a consideration of how features of language such as words, grammar, and discourse choices reproduce, reinforce, or challenge certain ideologies and struggles for power and dominance.

Regarding linguistic variation, linguist Norman Fairclough argued that it is insufficient to teach students to use "appropriate" language without considering why that language is preferred and who makes that decision (as well as the implications for speakers who do not use "appropriate language").

CLA generally includes consideration of how a person may be marginalized by speaking a particular way, especially if that way of speaking serves as an index of their race, ethnicity, religion, social status, etc.

Because power is reproduced through language, CLA is "a prerequisite for effective democratic citizenship, and should therefore be seen as an entitlement for citizens, especially children developing towards citizenship in the educational system".

Frameworks

In 2022, Shawna Shapiro published the book Cultivating Critical Language Awareness in the Writing Classroom. It included chapters describing four pathways teachers can use to implement critical language awareness in the classroom: sociolinguistics, critical academic literacies, media literacy and discourse analysis, and "communicating-across-difference".

Others have argued for the implementation of critical language awareness in other fields such as business and professional communications.

Applications

Critical language awareness has been applied to educating students in South Africa how language was used to maintain and perpetuate the apartheid state.

It has also been applied to present small groups of children with tasks which encourage a focus on the similarities and differences between languages.

See also

• Critical applied linguistics
• Critical discourse analysis
• Critical pedagogy
• Political correctness

References

1. Mosley Wetzel, Melissa; Rogers, Rebecca (2015-12-01). "Constructing racial literacy through critical language awareness: A case study of a beginning literacy teacher". Linguistics and Education. Special Issue on Critical Language Awareness Approaches in the Americas: theoretical principles, pedagogical practices and distribution of intellectual labor. 32, Part A: 27–40. doi:10.1016/j.linged.2015.03.014.
2. Luke, Allan (2012-01-06). "Critical Literacy: Foundational Notes" (PDF). Theory into Practice. 51 (1): 4–11. doi:10.1080/00405841.2012.636324. ISSN 0040-5841. S2CID 143472605.
3. Fairclough, Norman. "Global capitalism and critical awareness of language". Schools on the Web. Archived from the original on 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
4. Clark, Romy (1990). "Critical Language Awareness Part I: A Critical Review of Three Current Approaches to Language Awareness". Language and Education. 4 (4): 249–60. doi:10.1080/09500789009541291. ISSN 0950-0782. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
5. Reginald Mpho Monareng, Rakwena. "The Critical Language Awareness Perspective within the English Second Language Teacher Development". The International Journal of the Humanities. 5 (1): 67–74. Archived from the original on 2017-08-01. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
6. Mehl, Deborah; Deborah Mehl; Shirley Pendlebury (1991). "Grey areas and open minds: critical language awareness for student teachers". Journal of Curriculum Studies. 23 (5): 435–448. doi:10.1080/0022027910230506. ISSN 1366-5839.
7. Alim, H. S., H. Samy Alim (2005). "Critical Language Awareness in the United States: Revisiting Issues and Revising Pedagogies in a Resegregated Society". Educational Researcher. 34 (7): 24–31. doi:10.3102/0013189X034007024. S2CID 145104059. Archived from the original on 2009-06-01. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
8. "Cultivating Critical Language Awareness in the Writing Classroom". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 2024-12-26.
9. Rowland, Olivia (2022). "Review" (PDF). The WAC Journal. pp. 143–148.
10. Koester, Almut (2022), Darics, Erika (ed.), "Critical Language Awareness and Business Communication", Language Awareness in Business and the Professions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 139–159, ISBN 978-1-108-48449-7, retrieved 2024-12-26
11. Gallagher, Chris W. (2024-04-01). ""This Weird Thing I'm Discovering": Toward a Critical Pedagogical Approach to Ghostwriting". Pedagogy. 24 (2): 195–213. doi:10.1215/15314200-11030776. ISSN 1531-4200.
12. Janks, H. (1993). Language identity and power. Critical language awareness series. Johannesburg: Hodder and Stoughton and Wits University Press
13. Springboad to languages

External links

• CLA Collective, "an online resource hub and gathering space for teachers committed to promoting Critical Language Awareness (CLA) in our writing, literacy, and language classrooms and curricula"
• Critical Language Awareness in the Writing Classroom by Shawna Shapiro
• Addressing Political “Confusion Syndrome” Discourses: A Critical Applied Linguistics Perspective, Petra Christian University
• Critical Language Awareness (CLA) and EFL

This sociolinguistics article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Critical theory
• Linguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Sociolinguistics stubs