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Ethical subjectivity and ontologies of English: implications for social justice in English language education

Wicaksono, Rachel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0312-8491 and Wicaksono, Clara (2025) Ethical subjectivity and ontologies of English: implications for social justice in English language education. In: Biel, Albert and Esleben, Fabian, (eds.) Social justice in language education : taking action. Multilingual Matters (In Press)

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Abstract

We are two English language teachers, mother (Rachel) and daughter (Clara); one born in the UK and currently teaching about English language teaching at a university in the UK, and one born in Indonesia and currently teaching English in Japan. In this chapter, we focus on the hiring, teaching and testing practices that constitute what ‘English’ is. We explore our own roles in these practices, and how these practices work by excluding options for individuals and groups, thereby limiting their freedom to be what/who they might like to be. We show how we have tried to take responsibility for challenging these exclusionary effects.

Our aim in writing this chapter is to demonstrate that thinking about ‘English’ is a necessary first step in deciding how we want to teach English in ways, and with outcomes, that we consider to be ethical, that is, socially just. We have tried to write the chapter in a way that makes it obvious how we have arrived at where we are; through being born in a particular place, educated in a particular way, and having had the teaching experiences that we have had so far.

Item Type: Book Section
Status: In Press
Subjects: L Education > LB Theory and practice of education
P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics > P40 Sociolinguitics
School/Department: School of Education, Language and Psychology
URI: https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/9086

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