Pursuing Language Through Critical Metalinguistic Engagement

Abstract

In this article Renata Love Jones and Patrick Proctor introduce the notion of pur suing language to engage in crit i cal dia logue about the nature and focus of lan guage and lit eracy edu ca tion in mul ti lin gual and mul ti cul tural con texts. A per sis tent threat in language and literacy education is standardization that constrains how language and lit er acy ar e operationalized, which fur ther limits how chil dr en can bring their unique commu ni ca tive prac tices into schools and classr ooms. In response, the authors describe pur su ing lan guage as a state of being respon sive in our language and liter acy instruc tion, with the goal of develop ing lit er acy skills through cul-tur ally affirming and anti-oppres sive prac tices. They operationalize this pur suit of language in classroom contexts by delineating a framework of critical metalinguistic engagement. The ar ti cle begins with a theor y of languaging and goes on to unpack critical metalinguistic engagement by each of its component parts-critical, metalin-guis tic, and engage ment-and con cludes with an argu ment for being inten tional about pursing lan guage through rela tion ships and dis po si tions that affirm lan guage diversity in edu ca tional prac tice and research.