English and a World of Diversities: Confrontation, Appropriation, Awareness

Karmani (2005) and Kabel (2007) raise various issues on the role of English in global social and political contexts. While I am in agreement with Karmani’s call for language educators to be more sharply aware of certain beliefs about the role of English in the world, I argue that the challenges debated by the authors are not exclusively about English against Islam but more broadly about language. I also argue that English as a language in itself can hardly be viewed as inherently defected, but rather, centrally at stake are the configurations of English language education. Revisiting the role of human agency and subjectivity as a proposed force for counterbalancing linguistic manipulation, I argue that a pedagogy of linguistic possibility which allows for language learning experiences of honesty and awareness, may help the world of diverse communities avoid confrontations as well as stay away from false promises of hybridity.

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