ELT, Gender and International Development: Myths of Progress in a Neocolonial World

Roslyn Appleby

Published by Multilingual Matters 2010

ELT, Gender and International Development

Myths of Progress in a Neocolonial World

Roslyn Appleby

In the series Critical Language and Literacy Studies

https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847693051

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book draws on the narratives of white women as English language teachers in the neocolonial world of international development. It explores the paradoxes of language as aid, and questions the mythical power of English to deliver on the promises of a brighter future for the developing world.

Author / Editor information

Appleby Roslyn :

Roslyn Appleby is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney. She holds a PhD in education, and her scholarly work has been presented and published in the fields of applied linguistics, English language teaching, and international development. Her transdisciplinary research brings together critical language studies, gender and sexuality, spatiality and development. She has extensive experience as a teacher of English language and academic literacy development in higher education.

Reviews

Constance Ellwood, The University of Melbourne:

The overall impact of the book is that of a much-needed resource to provoke deeper thought about the three issues – ELT, gender and development aid – which it addresses. This is a book that informs deeply about the aid context in general, about the need for locally responsive ELT practices, and about gender in the aid context. However it does more than that. In offering ways to rethink the interplay between space and time, Appleby effectively contributes to long-running debates about context in English language teaching. Additionally, through the insights it offers on the experiences of women teachers in ELT aid contexts, both as teachers and as women, the book also has the potential to ‘teach’ those of us who may never have considered the political aspects of ELT, gender and aid. It is a book which should be read by all who are responsible for ELT aid programs, by those who teach on aid programs, by anyone interested in issues of language planning and above all, by anyone interested in asking “what would a decolonized, dewhitened, postcolonial English language teaching actually look like?”

Hye-sun Cho, University of Kansas, USA:

Appleby’s book is well theorised and well written, presenting vivid, intriguing and engaging accounts of white women language teachers in development contexts, not so much as ‘agents of change’, but rather as participants in a complex process where multiple trajectories and shifting identities play out in language teaching practice. Overall, many will find this book extremely instrumental in understanding the complex nature of ELT as a contact zone between multiple cultures and communities, not as an apolitical, ahistorical and autonomous enterprise.

Marilyn Martin-Jones, Director, MOSAIC Centre for Research on Multilingualism, University of Birmingham, UK:

This book presents a penetrating analysis of teachers’ narratives about their everyday experiences of English language teaching (ELT) in international aid programmes in East Timor and Indonesia. Starting from these narratives, the author interrogates the social and cultural significance of ELT in such contexts and unpacks some of the discourses and practices that produce gendered subjectivities in international aid projects. The book is a very welcome contribution to the all-too-sparse literature on language in development.

Naz Rassool, The University of Reading, UK:

The book's focus on gender relations in development contexts, its superb deconstruction of aid agencies in situ, the gendered space of ELT classrooms and the voices of ELT teachers working in development contexts is unique. This book should be read not only by sociolinguists, sociologists, critical theorists and theorists of development working in the academy but also NGOs and aid agencies working in post-trauma societies. There is much to be learned here.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction: This is Where it Crashed and Burned Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part 1. Understanding English Language Teaching in Development
Chapter 1. Models of Development and English Language Teaching Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
Chapter 2. Time and Space in English Language Teaching, Gender and Development Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
Chapter 3. Spatial Context: East Timor, Indonesia and Australia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	72
Part 2. Teachers’ Narrative Accounts
Chapter 4. Being There: Teachers’ Spatial Engagements with Development Contexts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
Chapter 5. It’s a Bubble: English Language Teaching Practices in Development Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
Chapter 6. Doing the Washing Up: Teaching and Gender in Development Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Chapter 7. Conclusion: Spatial Practices in the Contact Zone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
Appendix A. Teachers and Projects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
Appendix B. Transcription Codes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	240

Language: English
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
Pages
- Main content: 264
Keywords: English language teaching; Neocolonialism; Teacher narratives; ELT; International development; Gender studies; Development studies; Gender relations; ELT classrooms; Postcolonial English language teaching

eBook

Published: August 3, 2010
ISBN: 9781847693051