Learning languages of hope and advocacy - human rights perspectives on sustainability-oriented language education

Abstract

What if the way we (teach and learn to) speak about human rights crises is part of these crises? This conceptual paper sets out to explore the role of a human rights-informed pedagogy of hope in helping learners cultivate languages of hope and advocacy in the context of language education for sustainable development. Recognising that a focus on agency connects critical pedagogies of hope, human rights education, and language education, this contribution argues that the language classroom may become a space of hope by offering stories of hope, change, and transformation to help learners envision a better future and take communicative action towards these futures. Cultivating languages of hope and advocacy highlights the learners’ role as active change agents who assume responsibility in the face of their human rights duties and act accordingly. Thus, human rights-informed language education may empower learners to contribute to living together in a more sustainable and just world.