The roads we take

The pedagogic route as a proposal to build English classes along critical decolonial pathways

Abstract

As an alternative to the popular planning for English classes derived from the communicative approach, known as Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP), I propose the pedagogic route. I argue that critical and decolonial praxiologies lack a proposal that could build up to a more flexible classroom, one more open to discussions. In this line of thought, I support the argument that the text (in a broad sense of the word) should be seen as a starting point for understanding social practices and political, historical, and identity intersections that compose them. Throughout this article, I describe four trails suggested for building classes, namely: talking topic (conversational topics), expanding repertoires (semiotic expansion), thinking over (reflections), and bringing to life (focus on experiences). More specifically, I point out some actions that are part of the pedagogic route such as the study of the meaning making process through reading, discussions, and the formulation of proposals focused on lived experiences. It is worth stressing, however, that the pedagogic route should not be seen as a single route that would supplant other classroom constructions but as an alternative to highlight that students ought to take the leading role in critical decolonial language education. From my viewpoint, the pedagogic route allows us to draw attention to our bodies and senses, with their intersections and subjectivities, revisit our cultures, values, and knowledge, and learn to also see ourselves in the world in another language. As the objective of this study, I thereby propose an English lesson planning outline that is in line with a view of language as social practice and that favors the expansion of repertoires in a dialogical, critical, and praxis-based manner. I end this piece by inviting other teachers to appreciate this course of action (which I refer to as trails) and to propose new ones.