Introduction
The teaching of language and power is now a recognised approach to language education in primary and secondary schools, and in some countries, such as Australia and South Africa, is included in state curricula. Critical literacy is an umbrella term for language pedagogies that grew out of the discipline of linguistics (including critical linguistics, critical language awareness (CLA), genre theory, critical discourse analysis) and out of work in the field of adult literacy. This use of the word ‘critical’ signals a view of language as central to the workings of ideology—as a key means of mobilising meaning to sustain or contest relations of domination in society (see also Pennycook, Critical Applied Linguistics and Language Education, Volume 1). Critical literacy education seeks to enable students to ask and answer the questions—whose interests are served by the way in which language is used? Who benefits? Who is disadvantaged?—so that out of this understanding,...
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Janks, H. (2008). Teaching Language and Power. In: Hornberger, N.H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_14
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