Changing the World from the Classroom: Pedagogy as Illusio

Chapter 4 Changing the world from the classroom: Pedagogy as illusio explores pedagogical approaches in language teaching that have social justice aspirations. Using Basil Bernstein’s (Bernstein, B. (1990). The structuring of pedagogic discourse (Vol. V: Class, Codes and Control). Routledge, London) pedagogies typology (liberal, conservative, radical, subversive) to enable systematic comparison, the chapter teases out false dichotomies that pit conservative against radical approaches, foreclosing other options. The chapter clarifies terms such as critical pedagogy, a term often assigned to practices that are very different despite professing a common social justice goal. The chapter provides an in-depth discussion of Critical English for Academic Purposes, and Raciolinguistics as influential manifestations of radical pedagogies within the field of literacy. The chapter also discusses Systemic Functional Linguistics/Genre, Reflective Literacy and variations of Critical Literacy as examples of subversive pedagogies. It concludes with a means of reconciliation around concepts such as repertoire and registers, around language as a mode of critical social action, and with a call for a literacy approach that equips students with the necessary knowledge to both access powerful discourse and ‘play the game’, and to raise consciousness of the role of language not only in social reproduction but also in broader democratic destabilisation drives and global crises.