Starting Points in Critical Pedagogy (Review)

The spirit of today’s time is that much needs fixing in the world. From the climate crisis to children being deprived of a quality education, international organizations often seek to develop ways to improve life for global citizens. This is also true within applied linguistics, as special interest groups in teachers’ organizations such as IATEFL and TESOL International have sought to establish more accessible and equitable access to language education. One such barrier to equity in language pedagogy is an overly single-minded focus on language proficiency, which many are resisting in favor of a holistic stance that instead seeks to ask questions about what works well in our communities and how society can be improved. From this position, Starting Points in Critical Language Pedagogy is a timely book, introducing beginning and experienced teachers to the concept of critical language pedagogy and inviting readers to evaluate the status quo.