The Roads We Take - The Pedagogic Route as a Proposal to Build English Classes Along Critical Decolonial Pathways

ABSTRACT

As an alternative to the popular planning for English classes derived from the communicative approach, known as Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP), I propose the pedagogic route. I argue that critical and decolonial praxiologies lack a proposal that could build up to a more flexible classroom, one more open to discussions. In this line of thought, I support the argument that the text (in a broad sense of the word) should be seen as a starting point for understanding social practices and political, historical, and identity intersections that compose them. Throughout the article, I describe four trails suggested for building classes, namely: talking topic, expanding repertoires, thinking over, and bringing to life. I point out some actions that are part of the pedagogic route, such as the study of the meaning making process through reading, discussions, and the formulation of proposals that bring language to life. I end this piece by inviting other teachers to appreciate these trails and to propose new ones.

KEYWORDS:
critical language education; decoloniality; pedagogic route; meaning making; planning