Toward a Pedagogy of Possibility in the Teaching of English Internationally: People's English in South Africa

In recent years, a number of ESL professionals have pointed to the ambivalent role of English in different parts of the world. Whose interests are served in the teaching of English internationally? What is the significance, for teachers and learners of English, of the debate on the “new marriage” between language and politics (Walters, 1989, p. 1)? In seeking to address these questions, this article draws on a poststructuralist theory of language to challenge the hegemony of “communicative competence” as an adequate formulation of principles on which to base the teaching of English internationally. It argues that the teaching of English can open up possibilities for students by helping them to explore what might be desirable, as well as “appropriate,” uses of English. By way of example, the article examines the current movement in South Africa for “People's English”: how teachers and learners of English are attempting to resolve the ambivalent role of English in South Africa by appropriating the language in the interests of freedom and possibility for all South Africans.