Towards Critical Dialogue in the Language Classroom: Theory and Practical Applications

In an era of increasing global polarization, the ability to engage in meaningful talk across different languages and cultures has never been more urgent. L2 educators and learners play pivotal roles in facilitating this. However, this challenge requires more than mere fluency; it demands a pedagogical shift that encourages L2 learners to uncover and question hidden assumptions while seeking solutions to problems they may identify.

Towards Critical Dialogue in the Language Classroom offers a timely response, viewing the L2 classroom not only as a site for language acquisition but also as a space for critique, inquiry, and analysis supported by respectful mutual engagement and dialogue in the L2. This book bridges the gap between foundational theory and classroom practice. The first part provides a deep historical and philosophical exposition of dialogue, from manifold sources, through the transformative problem-posing pedagogy of Paulo Freire to contemporary thinkers and educators. The second part translates these ideas into a documentation of classroom practice, detailing activities implemented in an actual L2 context. The book illustrates how to support L2 learners as they move towards critical dialogue. They engage with linguistic functions, use interactive tasks relating to potentially controversial themes, and uncover and question gender socialization embedded in everyday life.

What sets this work apart is its combination of rigorous theoretical grounding and a lived pedagogical narrative. Documenting incremental steps of classroom practice towards critical dialogue, this book serves as encouragement for L2 educators, researchers, and curriculum designers who seek to honor student voices and prepare L2 learners to thoughtfully reshape the world around them.

Graham V. Crookes is Professor, Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where he has studied and taught since 1982. Besides dialogue, he is particularly interested in language teachers’ values and their manifestation in practice and through transformative language teacher education, supported by attention to emotion.

Priscila Leal is a lecturer in the College of Education, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her research specializes in critical dialogue, the development of critical consciousness (conscientização) among teachers, and the creation of culturally and linguistically sustaining curricula. She is an advocate for the agency and the representation of multilingual learners.