Language teacher education in the age of ambiguity: Educating responsive meaning makers in the world. (January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kubanyiova, Magdalena
• Other Names: Freeman Donald guest-editor.; Johnson Karen E. guest-editor.; Peercy Megan Madigan guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Language teaching research. Volume 24:Number 1(2020)
• Page Start: 49
• Page End: 59
• Publication Date: 2020-01
• Subjects: creative arts -- critical turn in language teacher education -- knowledge base of language teacher education -- language teachers -- language teaching as acts of moral imagination; Languages, Modern -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers -- Periodicals; 407.1
• DOI: 10.1177/1362168818777533
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1362-1688

Abstract

Language learning happens across many sites of social interactions; those scarred by injustices, conflicts and structural violence as well as those characterized by conviviality of human encounters and acts of welcoming the stranger. This article outlines new directions for language teacher education in this age of ambiguity. I propose that its core task should involve educating 'responsive meaning makers in the world', that is, teachers who are critically conscious of the politics of their social worlds while, at the same time, committed to growing their capacity to respond to the particular moment of an educational encounter. I suggest that creative arts may play a crucial part in preparing language teachers for such re-envisioned roles.