Chapter 7: Decolonization and Language Teaching / Kuondoa Ukoloni na Ufundishaji wa Lugha

Abstract

What is the relationship between language teaching and colonialism? What does the term ‘decolonization’ describe worldwide? Why is this relevant to applied linguistics today? This chapter draws upon the diverse contributions of scholars around the world to explore these concepts in historical and social perspective, with attention to course syllabi, literary texts, and language classrooms as contexts where social power may be reproduced, contested, and/or disrupted. The utility of language socialization, as a concept in use by applied linguists to describe linguistic behaviors that cultivate beliefs and expectations about language, is discussed throughout, with particular reference to contexts in the U.S., Kenya, Cameroon, and Tanzania, where English, French, and Swahili are taught. This chapter additionally addresses the increasing circulation of land acknowledgements in the U.S., as part of discourses responding to ongoing legacies of dispossession and forced migration. Readers are invited to consider how the social power and influence of particular languages and language teaching methods link to histories of colonial control over lands, languages, and literatures.

Muhtasari (Kiswahili):

Kuna uhusiano gani baina ya ufundishaji wa lugha na ukoloni? Je, istilahi ya ‘kuondoa ukoloni’ inaelezea nini duniani kwetu? Kwa nini suala hizo zinahusiana na kwa isimu matumizi siku hizi? Sura hii inahusu michango mbalimbali ya wasomi duniani kote ili kuchunguza dhana hizi katika mtazamo wa kihistoria na kijamii, kwa kuzingatia mitaala (silabasi) ya kozi, maandishi ya fasihi, na madarasa ya lugha kama miktadha ambapo uwezo wa kijamii unaweza kutolewa tena, kupingwa, na/au kuvurugwa. Umuhimu wa ujamaa wa lugha, kama dhana inayotumiwa na wanaisimu matumizi kuelezea tabia za kiisimu zinazokuza imani na matarajio kuhusu lugha, hujadiliwa kote sura hii, kwa kurejelea miktadha ya Marekani, Kenya, Kamerun, na Tanzania, ambapo Kiingereza, Kifaransa, na Kiswahili kinafundishwa. Zaidi ya hayo, sura hii inaangazia ongezeko la usambazaji wa kukiri kwa ardhi nchini Marekani, kama aina ya mazungumzo yanayojibia urithi wa unyang’anyisho na uhamiaji wa kulazimishwa. Wasomaji wanaalikwa kufikiria jinsi ya uwezo wa kijamii na athari ya lugha maalumu na mbinu za kufundishia lugha zinahusiana na historia za tawala la ukoloni juu ya ardhi, lugha, na fasihi.

Keywords

Decoloniality, Epistemological racism, Implied reader, Land acknowledgment, Language socialization, Mwalimu