Language of “Commons”

Definition:
Language of “Commons” denotes an orientation which sees English as a language used to support conviviality in opposition to the dominant metaphor of “language as a resource” to be exploited. A “language as commons” orientation entails a respect for limits in the spread of English, the need to allow the language to be taught and learned as a convivial tool, and the need to integrate multilingual practices (see “multilingual approaches to education” in the glossary) into how language is taught and learned. Far from prescribing recipes, a “languages as commons” orientation wants to encourage conversations and critical reflections around the role of the English language and of the English teacher within an economic system that is built to generate unlimited growth and consumption sometimes irrespective of local languages/varieties and histories.^[1]

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^[1] Katunich, John. 2020. “Reorienting language as commons: Dispositions for English language teaching in the second watershed”. In Jason Goulah & John Katunich (eds.), TESOL and sustainability: English language teaching in the Anthropocene era, 41–64. London: Bloomsbury Academic.