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Spirituality and English Language Teaching

Spirituality and English Language Teaching

Mary Shepard Wong | Ahmar Mahboob

(2018)

Abstract

This collection of 16 reflective accounts and data-driven studies explores the interrelationship of religious identity and English Language Teaching (ELT). The chapters broaden a topic which has traditionally focused on Christianity by including Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and non-religious perspectives. They address the ways in which faith and ELT intersect in the realms of teacher identity, pedagogy and the context and content of ELT, and explore a diverse range of geographical contexts, making use of a number of different research methodologies. The book will be of particular interest to researchers in TESOL and EFL, as well as teachers and teacher trainers.


Mary Shepard Wong is a Professor in the Global Studies, Sociology and TESOL Department, Azusa Pacific University, USA. She is the co-editor of Christian Faith and English Language Teaching and Learning (with C. Kristjánsson and Z. Dörnyei, 2013, Routledge) and Christian and Critical English Language Educators in Dialogue (with A.S. Canagarajah, 2009, Routledge).

Ahmar Mahboob is Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, Australia. He is the co-editor of Language and Identity across Modes of Communication (with D.N. Djenar and K. Cruickshank, 2015, Mouton De Gruyter) and English in Multilingual Contexts (with L. Barratt, 2014, Springer)


This anthology is a relevant and insightful guide, addressing concerns about teacher identity, critical pedagogy and classroom practices. It is a useful pedagogical resource and provides encouragement to those of us who promote interfaith dialogue and understanding in our classes.


This much-needed collection provides abundant and valuable support for English teachers thinking through the significance of their spirituality in their professional practice. The authors illuminate ways teachers’ belief systems – whether under the guise of formal religion, ethically informed value system, political or ideological stance, or philosophy explicitly detached from organized religion – weave themselves intractably into every corner of their pedagogical lives.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
https://doi.org/10.21832/WONG1534 iv
Contents vii
Contributors ix
Acknowledgments xv
Foreword: Complexifying our Understanding of Spirituality xvii
1 Introduction: Why a Book on Spirituality and Language Teaching? 1
Part 1 Religious Faith and Teacher Identity 13
2 The Dangers and Delights of Teacher Spiritual Identity as Pedagogy 15
3 Buddhist Principles and the Development of Leadership Skills in English Language Program Administration and Teaching 32
4 Attempting Interfaith Dialogue in TESOL: A Duoethnography 46
5 Response to Part 1. Possibilities for Nonattachment: Investigating the Affective Dimension of Imposition 63
Part 2 Religious Faith and Pedagogical Practice 73
6 A Buddhist in the Classroom Revisited 75
7 The Relevance of Hinduism to English Language Teaching and Learning 85
8 Multiple, Complex and Fluid Religious and Spiritual Influences on English Language Educators 103
9 Response to Part 2. ‘Religious Faith’ and ‘Pedagogical Practice’: Extending the Map. A Response to Brown, Sharma and Vandrick 119
Part 3 Religious Faith and the Language Learning Context 129
10 Language and Religion in the Construction of the Lebanese Identity 131
11 Teachers’ Perceptions of the Interface between Religious Values and Language Pedagogy in Egypt 151
12 Church-sponsored English as a Second Language in Western Canada: Grassroots Expressions of Spiritual and Social Practice 172
13 Response to Part 3. Religious Faith and the Language Learning Context: Exploring the ‘Interface’ 195
14 Spirituality and English Language Teaching: Moving Forward 207
Afterword: Spirituality in Language Teaching 216
Index 222