The article discusses the critical approaches of teaching English and the appraisals of the ways English is being taught (Penny Cook, 1999). It can help professionals understand the complex ways TESOL occurs and offers a perspective on how to change and develop. Three main themes constitute a critical approach to TESOL, with the first being a transformative pedagogy. It discusses the critical approaches to education that would positively transform education. Another theme in the article is domain on interest, which explains to what level domain transforms the critical approach. The last theme is a self-reflexive stance on a critical theory which explains the extent to which work questions its own and common assumptions.
In the article, critical domain is an important aspect of critical work that connects with TESOL relations both socially and politically through teaching approaches and interactions. Second Language Acquisition is important because it locates learning in the psychological dominion (Pennycook, 1999). Critical works in TESOL aim to teach English to non-English speakers because of political and social relations. However, there has been inequality and resistance to non-English African speakers. Critical thinking seems to be have been brought down by TESOL and leftist politics which need to be resisted. Depolarizing critical work advocates for critical thinking, which encourages a political version of critical work.
Critical approaches to TESOL constitute how language education occurs and a pedagogical focus on transforming the conditions. It is in terms of urgency, reproduction, and structure and it aims to transform a negative approach in TESOL mostly through awareness (Pennycook, 1999). For TESOL to deal with complexity and diversity, they need to engage with the question of difference, which can be achieved by engagement and inclusivity.
Reference
Pennycook, A. (1999). Introduction: Critical approaches to TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 33(3), 329-348.