"English Is Out There—You Have to Get with the Program": Linguistic Instrumentalism, Global Citizenship Education, and English‐Language Voluntourism. (11th December 2019)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- "English Is Out There—You Have to Get with the Program": Linguistic Instrumentalism, Global Citizenship Education, and English‐Language Voluntourism. (11th December 2019)
- Main Title:
- "English Is Out There—You Have to Get with the Program": Linguistic Instrumentalism, Global Citizenship Education, and English‐Language Voluntourism
- Authors:
- Jakubiak, Cori
- Abstract:
- Abstract : English‐language voluntourism is a practice in which Global North, often young and inexperienced, volunteers teach English in the Global South on a short‐term basis as a form of alternative travel. Like other forms of volunteer tourism, English‐language voluntourism is characterized as global citizenship education for visiting volunteers and as development assistance for host communities. Drawing upon data collected as a part of a larger, multisited ethnography—which included participant‐observation in three different contexts, qualitative interviews with current and former volunteers, and a content analysis of English‐language voluntourism promotional materials—I argue that the practice's dominant discourses promote a limited view of language ‐in ‐education and development and the role(s) of civic action in social change. By framing short‐term, unskilled, English language teaching (ELT) as a Global South development initiative, English‐language voluntourism discourse extends to vulnerable others the same, individualistic, market‐based logic to which volunteers, themselves, are increasingly exposed. This logic defines nation‐states as economic competitors rather than guarantors of rights, and it casts the ideal citizen‐subject as a shape‐shifting, risk‐taking, life‐long learner who can mitigate economic volatility alone. For the most part, volunteer participants take up these discourses and frame their service as meeting one of two goals: increasing aAbstract : English‐language voluntourism is a practice in which Global North, often young and inexperienced, volunteers teach English in the Global South on a short‐term basis as a form of alternative travel. Like other forms of volunteer tourism, English‐language voluntourism is characterized as global citizenship education for visiting volunteers and as development assistance for host communities. Drawing upon data collected as a part of a larger, multisited ethnography—which included participant‐observation in three different contexts, qualitative interviews with current and former volunteers, and a content analysis of English‐language voluntourism promotional materials—I argue that the practice's dominant discourses promote a limited view of language ‐in ‐education and development and the role(s) of civic action in social change. By framing short‐term, unskilled, English language teaching (ELT) as a Global South development initiative, English‐language voluntourism discourse extends to vulnerable others the same, individualistic, market‐based logic to which volunteers, themselves, are increasingly exposed. This logic defines nation‐states as economic competitors rather than guarantors of rights, and it casts the ideal citizen‐subject as a shape‐shifting, risk‐taking, life‐long learner who can mitigate economic volatility alone. For the most part, volunteer participants take up these discourses and frame their service as meeting one of two goals: increasing a nation‐state's competitive advantage by building its English language capacity, or helping individual people escape poverty alone by equipping them with the value‐added skill, English. Global citizenship education through English‐language voluntourism thus aligns with the interests of neoliberal governance rather than other, more progressive, social agendas, and it does little to help volunteers engage with the cultural politics of global ELT. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Anthropology & education quarterly. Volume 51:Number 2(2020:Jun.)
- Journal:
- Anthropology & education quarterly
- Issue:
- Volume 51:Number 2(2020:Jun.)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 51, Issue 2 (2020)
- Year:
- 2020
- Volume:
- 51
- Issue:
- 2
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2020-0051-0002-0000
- Page Start:
- 212
- Page End:
- 232
- Publication Date:
- 2019-12-11
- Subjects:
- development -- English‐language voluntourism -- English language teaching -- global citizenship -- linguistic instrumentalism -- volunteer tourism
Educational anthropology -- Periodicals
Education -- Periodicals
Anthropologie et éducation -- Périodiques
Electronic journals
306.43 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.anthrosource.net/Issues.aspx?issn=0161-7761 ↗
http://www.jstor.org/journals/01617761.html ↗
http://www.ucpress.edu/journals/3a ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1548-1492 ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1111/aeq.12332 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0161-7761
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 1546.502700
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 14797.xml