LEARNING ENGLISH IN OUR DAY

Document Type : research article

Author

Department of Applied German Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, USA.

10.22059/jflr.2026.418305.1303

Abstract

Objective:This article aims to examine the symbolic, historical, and social meanings of English in today's world, particularly for learners of English as a second or foreign language. Drawing on the author's lived experience (growing up in a French-English family and learning German during WWII) and key concepts in applied linguistics, the paper addresses the question of how English can simultaneously function as a utopian language (embodying dreams of opportunity, freedom, and modernity) and a language of violence (representing colonialism, inequality, and economic-cultural domination).
Methodology:The study adopts a qualitative, reflexive, and autoethnographic approach, integrating the author's personal experiential data with a systematic review of applied linguistics research (including theories of translanguaging, transpositioning, and transknowledging) and a critical discourse analysis of English usage in economic, political, and technological domains. The work also draws on Edgar Morin's concept of "complex thought" (la pensée complexe) to propose a novel framework for language pedagogy.
Findings:The findings reveal that:English today is not merely a tool for communication but a carrier of symbolic values (identity, dreams, progress) as well as forms of hidden violence (economic, social-symbolic, cultural, and political).Emerging approaches such as translanguaging and transknowledging, though valuable steps toward linguistic and epistemic justice, remain insufficient in addressing the challenges posed by artificial intelligence; AI algorithms tend to reduce language to statistical data and instrumental efficiency, hindering the cultivation of full cognitive, moral, and human potential.Morin's complex thought, with its emphasis on historicity, subjectivity, and dialogue with complexity, offers a promising direction for language education that treats language not as a mere structure but as a human social-symbolic sign.
Conclusion:The author concludes that English language teaching in the age of AI and globalization requires a paradigm shift from instrumental and structural approaches toward critical, relational, and complexity-oriented pedagogies. The paper ends with seven practical recommendations for language teachers, focusing on cultivating critical reflexivity, making explicit the hidden logic of textbooks, teaching relational thinking, contextual interpretation, sharing personal teaching experiences, and separating performance assessment from the existential worth of learners.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Anderson, Benedict (1983). Imagined communities. Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso.
Andrews, J., Fay, R., Huang, Z. M., & White, R. (2023). From translanguaging to transknowledging: Exploring new epistemological and linguistic approaches in higher education research. Emerald Publishing.
Byram, Michael (1997) Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Multilingual Matters.
Canagarajah, Suresh. (1999)  Resisting linguistic imperialism in English teaching. Oxford U Press.
Castaneda Pena, H., Gamboa P;. & Kramsch, C. (Eds.) (2024) Decolonizing applied linguistics in Latin America. Moving to a multilingual mindset. Routledge.
Cenoz, Jason & Durk Gorter  (Eds.) (2015). Multilingual education. Between language learning and translanguaging. Cambridge U Press.
Chatonsky, Gregory (2026) Le troisième espace latent de l’enseignement supérieur. AOC (Analyse, Opinion, Critique) 26 June.
Citton, Yves (2014) Introduction. In : L’économie de l’attention. Nouvel horizon du capitalisme ?. La Découverte.
Cummins, Jim (2022). Rethinking the education of multilingual learners. A critical analysis of theoretical concepts. Multilingual Matters.
Dewaele, Jean  Marc(2010).Emotions in multiple languages. Palgrave Macmillan.
Ellis, Rod (1994).The study of second language acquisition. Oxford U Press.
Fan, R. (2010) Reconstructionist Confucianism: Rethinking morality after the  West. Dordrecht, NL: Springer.   https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3156-3
Gamboa, P. & Kramsch, C. (2027) Beyond binaries in teacher education. Towards a decolonial and sociohistorical reflexive pedagogy.  In Tavares, V & Melo-Pfeifer S. (Eds.) (2027). Beyond North-South binaries in language and higher education. Cambridge U Press.
Goodman B  & Tastanbek, S. (2021). Making the shift from a codeswitching to a translanguaging lens in English language teacher education. TESOL Quarterly 55:1, 29-53. Https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.571
Garcia, Ofelia & Li Wei (2014) Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan.
Gee, James P., Hull, Glynda & Lankshear, Colin (1996). The new work order. Behind the language of the new capitalism. Westview Press.
Geok-lin Lim, Shirley (1994)  Monsoon history.  Skoob books.
Gogolin, Ingrid (1994/ 2008): Der monolinguale Habitus der multilingualen Schule (The Monolingual Habitus of Multilingual schools).. Waxmann Verlag
Graham, Jorie (2026) Killing Spree. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Gramling, David (2016). The invention of monolingualism. Bloomsbury.
Hoffman, Eva (1989). Lost in translation. A life in a new language.  Penguin.
Holborow, Marnie (2012) Neoliberal keywords and the contradictions of an ideology.  Block, David, Gray, John & Holborow, Marnie. Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics. (pp.33-55). Routledge.
Holmes, Prue, Fay, R., Andrews, J. and Attia, M. (2013). Researching multilingually: New theoretical and methodological directions. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 23 :3, 285-299.
Hu, G  (2021). English language policy in Mainland China: History, issues, and challenges. In E.L.Low & A. Pakir (Eds.) English in East and South Asia: Policy, features and language in use (pp.19-32). London, UK: Routledge.
Jian, Feng & Li, Yan-song (2019). Paradigm shift of foreign language education in the view of morality-strengthening education for cultivating talents of global governance. TEFLE 6.
Jian, Feng (2021). A centenary of the CPC and new mission of foreign language education in China. Foreign Languages in China 4: 4-7. DOI: 10.13564/jcnki.issn.1672-9382.2021.04.016
Kramsch, Claire (2009) The multilingual subject. Oxford U Press.
Kramsch, Claire (2021) Language as symbolic power. Cambridge U Press.
Kramsch, Claire (2023a) Global English – the indispensable bridge in intercultural communication? TEANGA 30 :1, 1-32. https://doi.org/10.35903/teanga.v30i
Kramsch, Claire (2023b). Poetic equivalence: Key to the development of symbolic competence.  In: Echevarria, Megan (Ed.) Rehumanizing the language curriculum. (p.13-26). Peter Lang.
Kramsch, Claire & Zhang, Lihua. (2018) The multilingual instructor. Oxford U Press.
Lee, T.K, Zhu Hua & Li Wei (in press) Transpositioning: Intercultural Communication beyond language and culture. Routledge.
Li, Jin. (2012). Cultural foundations of learning: East and West. New York: CambridgUniversity Press.
Li Wei (2018) Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied Linguistics 39:1, 9-30. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx039
Lǐ Xiǎo-Lí & Michael Singh (2026) Integrating translanguaging and the symbolic power of transknowledging: postmonolingual thinking tools as acts of epistemic resistance. Applied Linguistics Review 17:2, 491-511.
Lightbown, Patsy & Spada, Nina (2013) How languages are learned.  4th ed.. Oxford. U Press.
Macedo, Donaldo (Ed.) (2019) Decolonizing foreign language education. The misteaching of English and other colonial languages. Routledge.
Makoni, Sinfree & Pennycook Alastair (2007). Disinventing and reconstituting languages. Multilingual Matters.
May, Steven (2012). Language and minority rights. Ethnicity, nationalism and the politics of language. 2d ed. Routledge.
McNamara, Timothy (2019). Language and subjectivity. Cambridge U Press Morin, Edgar (2005). Introduction a la pensée complexe.  Points.
Morin, Edgar (2005) Introduction a la pensée complexe. Points.
Morin, Edgar (2022) The challenge of complexity: Essays by Edgar Morin. Liverpool University Press.
Norton, Bonny (2013) Identity and language learning. Extending the conversation. 2d ed. Multilingual Matters.
Ortega, Lourdes (2019). SLA and the study of equitable multilingualism. Modern Language Journal Supplement  - SLA across disciplinary borders. Vol.103  pp.23-38.
Park , Joseph Sung Yul (in press) Commodification of language. Cambridge U Press
Pavlenko, Aneta (2005) Emotions and multilingualism. Cambridge U Press.
Pennycook, Alastair (1998) English and the discourses of colonialism. Routledge.
Pennycook, Alastair (2019)  From translanguaging to translingual activism. in Macedo, D. pp.169-185.
Phillipson, Robert (1992) Linguistic imperialism. Oxford U Press.
Rosa, Jonathan (2019) Looking like a language, sounding like a race: Raciolinguistic ideologies and the learning of Latinidad . Oxford U Press
Simonds, Sandra. (2026) No future. Review of Jorie Graham’s latest poetry. New York Review of Books June 28, p.18.
Singh, Michael & Li, Xiao Li  (2025). Bourdieu and Sayad’s contribution to researching multilingually:” Creating knowledge through postmonolingual theorizing. In : Goodman B. & Seilstad, B (Eds.) Researching multilingually. Conceptual and methodological failures, struggles and successes (pp.31-54). Multilingual Matters.
Song, Yang & Lin, Angel. (2026). From translanguaging to transknowledging: decolonizing knowledge production in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review 17:2, 389-396.
Tavares, V & Melo-Pfeifer S. (Eds.) (2027). Beyond North-South binaries in language and higher education. Cambridge U Press.
Uryu, Michiko (in press) Liminality and memory in haunted intercultural encounters. Routledge.
Widdowson, H.G. (1994) The ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly 28:2, 377-389.
Zarate, Geneviève, Gohard-Radenkovic, Aline,  Lussier, Denise & Penz, Hermine (2003).  Cultural mediation in language learning and teaching.  Council of Europe.
Journal of Foreign Language Research
Volume 16, Issue 2
July 2026
Pages 149-162

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics