Spirituality and English Language Teaching

Religious Explorations of Teacher Identity, Pedagogy and Context

Edited by Mary Shepard Wong, Ahmar Mahboob

Publication date:

09 August 2018

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781788921534

This collection of 16 reflective accounts and data-driven studies explores the interrelationship of religious identity and English Language Teaching (ELT). The chapters broaden a topic which has traditionally focused on Christianity by including Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and non-religious perspectives. They address the ways in which faith and ELT intersect in the realms of teacher identity, pedagogy and the context and content of ELT, and explore a diverse range of geographical contexts, making use of a number of different research methodologies. The book will be of particular interest to researchers in TESOL and EFL, as well as teachers and teacher trainers.

List of Contributors

Acknowledgements

Foreword: Suresh Canagarajah: Complexifying Our Understanding of Spirituality

Chapter 1. Mary Shepard Wong: Introduction: Why A Book on Spirituality and Language Teaching?

Part I. Religious Faith and Teacher Identity

Chapter 2. Mary Shepard Wong: The Dangers and Delights of Teacher Spiritual Identity as Pedagogy

Chapter 3. MaryAnn Christison: Buddhist Principles and the Development Leadership Skills in English Language Program Administration and Teaching

Chapter 4. Joel Heng Hartse and Saeed Nazari: Attempting Interfaith Dialogue in TESOL: A Duoethnography

Chapter 5. Ryuko Kubota: Response to Part I: Possibilities For Nonattachment: Investigating the Affective Dimension of Imposition

Part II. Religious Faith and Pedagogical Practice

Chapter 6. Sid Brown: A Buddhist in the Classroom Revisited

Chapter 7. Bal Krishna Sharma: The Relevance of Hinduism to English Language Teaching and Learning

Chapter 8. Stephanie Vandrick: Multiple, Complex and Fluid Religious and Spiritual Influences on English Language Educators

Chapter 9. David Smith: Response to Part II: ‘Religious Faith’ and ‘Pedagogical Practice’ – Extending the Map: A Response to Brown, Sharma and Vandrick

Part III. Religious Faith and the Language Learning Context

Chapter 10. Kassim Shaaban: Language and Religion in the Construction of the Lebanese Identity

Chapter 11. Deena Boraie, Atta Gebril and Raafat Gabriel: Teachers’ Perceptions of the Interface between Religious Values and Language Pedagogy in Egypt

Chapter 12. Carolyn Kristjánsson: Church-Sponsored ESL in Western Canada: Grassroots Expressions of Spiritual and Social Practice

Chapter 13. Brian Morgan: Response to Part III: Religious Faith and the Language Learning Context: Exploring the Interface

Chapter 14. Ahmar Mahboob and Eve Courtney: Spirituality and English Language Teaching: Moving Forward

Afterword: Henry Widdowson: Spirituality in Language Teaching

This much-needed collection provides abundant and valuable support for English teachers thinking through the significance of their spirituality in their professional practice. The authors illuminate ways teachers’ belief systems – whether under the guise of formal religion, ethically informed value system, political or ideological stance, or philosophy explicitly detached from organized religion – weave themselves intractably into every corner of their pedagogical lives.