Confronting the Political Economy of Englishes in the Classroom

Abstract

Despite celebratory discourses of Global English(es), scholars adopting political economic approaches have demonstrated the continued unequal distribution and valuation of English(es), and have shifted the focus to questions of unequal speakers in unequal conditions (Tupas, 2020). Drawing on ethnographic data from an English-teaching NGO for ‘disadvantaged’ young adults in Delhi, this paper seeks to contribute to political economic scholarship of English Language Teaching and Learning in two ways. In a first instance, I trace the shaping effects of class, caste and coloniality on how marginalised students orient themselves to notions of correctness and discursively reject fluid language practices. In a second instance, I introduce data from workshops with staff at the NGO in which we attempt to co-analyse the findings outlined in the first section and discuss potential implications for their practice. Noting the discursive, political and affective discomfort that marked these interactions, I ask what is at stake when engaging in discussions with English language teaching institutions that explicitly locate English learning and teaching within its political economic and ideological conditions, and what this means for scholarly projects aligned with critical, emancipatory and social justice causes. Keywords: English, India, Political Economy, Caste, Critique