A volume in Contemporary Language Education
Series Editor: Terry A. Osborn, Fordham University
This book addresses a timely and very important topic: language in education. Language, apparently, is a
very tricky business. On the one hand, everyone uses language, and virtually everyone has strong views
about language. In the educational domain this seems to be especially true. Language is not merely an
intrinsic component of the educational process as the medium of instruction in the classroom, but also serves
as the mediator of social reality for students and teachers alike. It plays a central role in articulating and
conveying not only social, cultural and empirical ideas, but ideological concepts as well. It is also used to
make judgments about the speaker, not to mention its role in maintaining differential power relations. And
yet, in spite of this, the role of language is not sufficiently recognized in classroom practice much of the time.
Nor is language, except in fairly narrow ways, really an especially central part of the curriculum, in spite of
its incredible importance. To be sure, we do spend a great deal of time and money attempting to teach
students to read and write (that is, to provide them with basic literacy skills), and we provide nominal support
for foreign language education programs. We also provide limited support for children coming to school
who do not speak English. What we do not do, though, is to recognize the absolute centrality of language
knowledge and language use for the educated person. This book seeks to address these issues from the broad
perspective of critical pedagogy.