Critical dialogue, autonomy, and alternatives

Abstract

Abstract The goal of this chapter is to reflect on how researchers of language-in-education can enter into productive dialogue with teachers as well as with the wider public. It is argued that teachers’ thinking and inconsistency can, and often must, be criticized but that this criticism easily slips into an authoritarian imposition of scholarly views if the dialogue is exclusively knowledge based. A concern with teachers’ professional autonomy and their cultivation of independent, scientifically informed thinking will be presented as a necessary counterweight. In addition to this, the chapter suggests that scholars in public debate over language education policy may have to resist the incentive to sketch this debate as a strictly scientific one. It will be suggested that to maintain credibility and impact, scholars may have to expand rather than reduce the scope of options for policymakers, accept decisions they do not approve, and refrain from an overly interventionist stance.