Critically Reading an ESL Text

Many educational theorists and practitioners have argued for some time that all education is political (e.g., Apple, 1990,1992; Freire & Macedo, 1987; Giroux, 1983), but these arguments take on even greater relevance in the area of second language education (Pennycook, 1989) because they are inextricably tied to issues of minority education, the subjugation of particular languages and cultures to the elite status of English, and the economic role that the immigrant work force in the United States plays in providing cheap labor (and new consumers) in a capitalist society. But in spite of ongoing conversations about the political nature of schooling and the issues of power inherent in the ideological constructions of textbooks and pedagogies that are used in classrooms, a critical perspective on what knowledge is legitimated in ESL texts and programs has been slow to emerge in the field of teaching English as a second language.