ESL, Ideology, and the Politics of Pragmatism

Abstract

This article discusses how all forms of ESL instruction are ideological, whether or not educators are conscious of the political implications of their instructional choices. Those choices can encourage students to think critically about their education and about society, or they can discourage questioning the status quo in and out of school. This article asserts that ideology is unavoidable, a position supported by various L1 and L2 scholars whose work is surveyed here. Finally, the accommodationist politics of apparently neutral pragmatism in English for academic purposes is discussed.