This document summarizes key points from a class on the didactics of English language teaching. It includes a debate on Robert Phillipson's article "Myths and Realities of Linguistic Imperialism" and presentations on teaching English and national identity and intercultural education. It lists questions from a questionnaire on Phillipson's article, including how he counters the view that English is universally fitting and the consequences for foreign language education. It provides summaries of the solutions proposed by Clinton Robinson and the views expressed by Canagarajah on resisting pedagogies from the center.

1. Class 4:
PRACTICE II, DIDACTICS OF ELT. Prof. Estela N. Braun
A) Debate around questionnaire onPhillipson’s“Myths andrealities of linguistic
imperialism” article (1996).
B) ppt “Enseñanza del inglés e identidad nacional” by Silvana Barboni (2011).
C) Michael Byram. Teaching English for Intercultural Education (ppt)
D) How can the theory be reflected in the classroom?
Realities and myths of LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM , by Robert Phillipson.
QUESTIONNAIRE. Answer Questions 12,13,14 and 15 and hand them in next class
April 7th
, 2015.
1. According to Phillipson where does imperialism linger now that colonialism is over?
2. What is his definition of linguistic imperialism? What does it involve?
3. What does he mean by “the hidden past of ELT “that his book brings into focus?
4. Who would the concepts language spread / language death relate to?
5. How does his work relate to human rights law?
6. How does linguicism work?
7. Where does linguistic imperialism take place?
8. Who determine language policies in post-colonial days?
9. How does linguicism affect pedagogic practices?
10. What is the purpose of this article by Phillipson?
11. What is his argument to prove that language plays an essential role in North-South relations?
12. How does he counteract A.D.’s faith that “English fits on all counts”?

2. 13. What are the consequences for foreign language education? (page 8)
14. What solution does Clinton Robinson (page 8) propose?
15. What views does Canagarajah pose on this matter (1995)?
“Realities and myths of LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM, by Robert Phillipson”
QUESTIONNAIRE:
12. How does he counteract A.D.’s faith that “English fits on all counts”?
13. What are the consequences for foreign language education? (page 8)
14. What solution does Clinton Robinson (page 8) propose?
15. What views does Canagarajah pose on this matter (1995)?
12) AD’s faith that “English fits on all counts” seems to reflect a belief that if
English has served as the dominant language in certain parts of the globe, it merits
global marketing, despite all the evidence globally that linguistic and cultural diversity
as a source of richness, of uniqueness, of distinctiveness, and that feelings about
language rights run high from Wales to New South Wales.
13) An elementary truth is that the world’s powerful states have pursued policies
with regard to the Third World which knowingly promote poverty (‘free trade and
‘liberalization’) have not been adhered to by those states. These harsh economic
facts also affect education systems. Most applied linguistics acts in consonance with
the dominantaid paradigm. Itconnives in the falserepresentation of global power by
a pretence of being non-political, by pedagogical and linguistic agendas being
relatively explicit but the political agenda being banished beyond the professional
pale. The political disconnection is accompanied by a cultural, which the failure of ELT
personnel, ‘experts’ in language learning, to learn local languages epitomizes. This
sort of professional competence goes without saying in foreign language education
throughout the Western World but is regarded as superfluous in dominant second
language learning paradigms both in the home market in the North and in its export
variant. This ethnocentricity and anglocentricity, the belief that our culture and
language is universally relevant, is what is patronizing in language aid.
14) Clinton Robinson’s solution proposes:

3.  formulating and articulating multilingual strategies for education,
communication, and every sector of social life,
 more closely defining that the real need for English (or any other LWC) is in
specific contexts,
 making wider linguistic choices viable and available (in many places this means
developing local languages for educational use: materials, teachers, trainers…)
15) Canagarajah poses his view on this matter by analyzing a small growing body
of ethnographic studies from the periphery that suggest that pedagogies and
textbooks from the center are not used in the prescribed manner in local classrooms,
and that strategies of resistance against the discourse and ELT pedagogies are
influenced by students’ own indigenous social and educational traditions.