Is teaching, and more particularly, the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), a political domain of professional practice? There are two aspects to this issue: first of all, is teaching a professional practice, and secondly, is such practice political. This essay is going to focus on the second part and discuss the politicalness of teaching practice under the presupposition that teaching is a profession. It will argue that teaching, and especially TESOL, are highly politicalized and heavily influenced by political intention. Firstly, the teaching profession as a whole and its relationship with political ideologies is will be discussed. Then, the focus will be put on the politicalness of TESOL education in both in English-dominant societies and non-English-dominant societies.
Maclure (1976) stated that “education cannot be taken out of politics”. …show more content…
The value of education as a contributor to the progress of human history and development of technologies is unquestionable. English as a global language have made international communication easier and efficient, which is a possible factor that helped the overall global peace that most counties now enjoy. TESOL have defiantly helped numerous learners to approach the wilder world and achieve their desired future. Nevertheless, educators, especially TESOL teachers, must be aware of the underlying political and historical hegemony of the education system. Ideally, teachers should avoid the imposing of any particular political ideology onto the students, and should develop and encourage students’ critical thinking skills so that they can form their own understanding to the world and be able to analyze complex issues by themselves. TESOL teachers should especially be careful with culture appreciation in their possibly diverse classrooms, and avoid the tendency of putting more values on English than other
Maclure (1976) stated that “education cannot be taken out of politics”. …show more content…
The value of education as a contributor to the progress of human history and development of technologies is unquestionable. English as a global language have made international communication easier and efficient, which is a possible factor that helped the overall global peace that most counties now enjoy. TESOL have defiantly helped numerous learners to approach the wilder world and achieve their desired future. Nevertheless, educators, especially TESOL teachers, must be aware of the underlying political and historical hegemony of the education system. Ideally, teachers should avoid the imposing of any particular political ideology onto the students, and should develop and encourage students’ critical thinking skills so that they can form their own understanding to the world and be able to analyze complex issues by themselves. TESOL teachers should especially be careful with culture appreciation in their possibly diverse classrooms, and avoid the tendency of putting more values on English than other