Significance of critical applied linguistics for applied linguists and English teaching professionals in Pakistan

Abstract

Contextualizing critical applied linguistics within the diverse multilingual and multiethnic setting of Pakistan, this paper seeks to underline how important it could be for applied linguists and English teaching professionals to underpin their research on the rich insights this relatively new field of academic inquiry affords. Underlining this can be crucial because we observe that most applied linguists and English teaching professionals in Pakistan usually view the scope and application of applied linguistics rather narrowly as they believe that it only deals with English language teaching and learning. However, the fact remains that the scope of applied linguistics transcends far beyond language teaching and learning. In addition, such professionals tend to see language related issues in isolation from the political, ideological, and power dynamics, which govern them. Such an approach is termed as traditionalist, structuralist or apolitical/ahistorical. Contrary to the above approach, critical applied linguistics problematizes and politicizes language related issues, raising more critical questions that relate to access, power, marginalization, hegemony, difference, and resistance (Pennycook, 2001, p .6). Thus, the purpose of the paper is to enlighten applied linguists and English language teaching professionals by introducing some crucial conceptual frameworks within critical applied linguistics such as linguistic imperialism, linguistic human rights, critical language policy, and minority language rights and so on. We believe that applied linguists can usefully apply the above frameworks in their academic research as well as their teaching to understand and analyze the critical dimensions of language policy and planning, sociolinguistics, English teaching and so on. Towards the end, the scope of those concepts is also contextualized, and discussed in relation to language policy and planning, English language teaching, and the challenges of indigenous mother tongues in Pakistan.