The image in English language teaching

Abstract

The social world, and with it the world of meaning is, by a now pretty well settled view, fundamentally different to that world as imagined (or actual) some three or four decades ago. All the papers in this volume reflect that sense: an unease that our frames, our theories and tools, are no longer adequate to the shapes and the requirements of the contemporary world of meaning. The semiotic world has changed, yet our theories remain – by and large, uneasily – those we had and which seemed usefully adequate “then”. The semiotic world is a mirror, even if not perfect, of a social world in which former boundaries have blurred, weakened or disappeared entirely, with consequent effects on “language”. One major aspect of this are the phenomena captured under the label of globalization: with its all-embracing effects in relation to language, language learning and language teaching. [Excerpt from the Preface by Gunther Kress]