Language and Power
Kennepeum! (Welcome!) to ENGL 519: Language and Power. This course will focus on the many sociolinguistic issues which relate to language use, language learning, and TESOL, such as the politics of bilingual education, world englishes, ownership of English, English as a colonizing force, and the myth of monolingualism in U.S. classrooms. Nguri and Ortiz (side) see language as cultural and life, there is a mediation between people and language. In many ways, our languages make human beings unique from other animals. On the other hand, our use and abuse of power work may shape our language in a multiplicity of ways. During this course, we will read a variety of texts which ask us to consider language in relationship with and to power. That is, we will work to identify the power structures in language use teaching language, in language acquisition, in political and social frameworks, and particularly from the perspective of English dominance.