Queer is an inclusive term that embraces Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+), among other sexual identities. Thinking queer examines how fixed meanings or knowledge, or a particular image or identity, can be challenged, unfixed, unlearned, inquired, and placed into new learnings and understandings. In this paper, we think queer…

The Chilean system is known worldwide for the detrimental effect of neoliberal policies on public education and school segregation (Bellei et al. 2022). Drawing on Sen's Capability Approach (1999), this paper examines how novice teachers of English balance the tension between the constraints of the social and educational systems (unfreedoms) to…

Although often seen as places of culture, cultivation and creativity, language courses borrow the language of creativity for test-centered practices. Research in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology has long recognized language courses as sites for the legitimation of neoliberal ideals that emphasize language as global, individual, and…

The decolonization of applied linguistics is a critique of applied linguistics (see Phillipson, 1999; Phipps, 2018 and Pennycook & Makoni, 2020). We argue for a shift toward the Global South, in particular Africa, and for the importance of paying attention to 'race' as a significant category of analysis in applied linguistics in Africa. Three…

The paper first reviews how conventionalized uses of dialogue in the language classroom have facilitated a neoliberalist agenda, mainly by positioning learners in a reproductive, consumer role, and teachers as deskilled operatives of scripted interactions. It then discusses three other conceptualizations of the role of dialogue which may offer an…

There has been an increased interest among researchers concerning the relationship between faith and English language teaching (ELT) in the context of the global spread of English; however, to this date, very few studies have focused on ELT and Islam. Considering the wider sociopolitical, ideological or religious issues connected to the global…

This paper explores two prominent strands of inquiry within new materialism -- Deleuze and Guattari's assemblage thinking and Karen Barad's agential realism -- and situates them in relation to language studies. While a singular definition of new materialist scholarship is not feasible, we argue that the selected approaches have potential to come…

The participatory approach is becoming more widespread in the social sciences and is also starting to take hold in the study of language in society. However, there has been little research done on how critical sociolinguistics can be linked to research that is based on the involvement and engagement of as many participants as possible at a level…

This study employed a multi-methods design to investigate the impact of preparation on Chinese test-takers' perceptions of the integrated TOEFL iBT speaking and writing design. Combining results from over 1700 surveys and 10 interviews, it was found that these Chinese test-takers, who are the most vulnerable group in the multimillion testing…

The physical environments where we work, play, live are not neutral. Importantly, place and space are infused with power: while geopolitical boundaries and state borders may delineate geographies into countries and cultures, they also impose linguistic, cultural, and political divides on peoples and communities and create power asymmetries that…

Language tests, including international high-stakes English proficiency tests widely used around the world, are to be viewed as ideological constructs connected with power relations and center-periphery demarcations at different social levels. In this paper, we examine the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) as an instance of…

This analysis is but one small fragment of a broader project exploring conceptions of response-able Spanish bilingualism in Australian secondary education. An initial thematic analysis revealed patterns and trends in the data but overlooked the nuanced, subtle differences regarding the ways in which Spanish bilingualism might be entangled with a…

Translanguaging has been theoretically argued and empirically proven to have transformative and constructive potential because it provides language users with potential access to and opportunities for rich and equal educational and linguistic resources. However, we remind in this article that many 'spontaneous translanguagers' - language users who…

This article revisits the "jongo" activity 'Pisei na Pedra' (2014) integrated into the "Nossa Casinha" guide (Martins & Sala, 2022) for teaching Portuguese to migrant children. "Jongo" is seen as an Afro-Brazilian form of expression, encompassing chants, drumming, collective dance, and spirituality (Rufino, 2014,…

In response to becoming a more multicultural society, the South Korean Ministry of Education has implemented a multicultural education policy since 2006 by promoting English as key for young learners' communicative competence in a global world. Despite numerous previous studies on government-led curriculum and textbooks for English as a foreign…