Beyond Grammar: Language, Power, and the Classroom

Beyond Grammar: Language, Power, and the Classroom asks readers to think about the power of words, the power of language attitudes, and the power of language policies as they play out in communities, in educational institutions, and in their own lives as individuals, teachers, and participants in the larger community. Each chapter provides extended discussion of a set of critical language issues that directly affect students in classrooms: the political nature of language, the power of words, hate language and bullying, gender and language, dialects, and language policies.

Written for pre-service and practicing teachers, this text addresses how teachers can alert students to the realities of language and power-removing language study from a neutral corner to situate it within the context of political, social, and cultural issues. Developing a critical pedagogy about language instruction can help educators understand that classrooms can either maintain existing inequity or address and diminish inequity through critical language study.