Transforming lives: introducing critical pedagogy into ELT classrooms

Critical pedagogy (CP) in ELT is an attitude to language teaching which relates the classroom context to the wider social context and aims at social transformation through education. In spite of its great potential, however, the practical implications of CP have not been well appreciated and most of the references to the term have been limited to its conceptual dimensions. The present paper highlights the applications of CP for L2 classrooms and provides hints as to how L2 teaching can result in the improvement of the lives of those who are normally not considered in ELT discussions.