(13) Working with new authors

Out of the many "new" authors I'm having the pleasure to read on critical ELT materials, all introduced by my supervisor, Hilary Janks from South Africa, Witswatersrand University, which has become a great reference in language critical awareness and critical literacy, is one of the most inspiring to me. Her text is easy, accessible, and empowering. Besides, her work during and after the apartheid to qualify teachers and make the local educational system more meaningful and competitive to the minority groups in the country has really made a big difference in the lives of those communities. She concluded her Phd from Lancaster University (UK) in 1996 and her supervisor was Norman Fairclough. Her critical series "People's English" is extremely interesting and has helped me gather a few ideas for my little handbook, which is supposed to be one of the final products of my post-doc. Here's a little bit of Janks taken from her PhD dissertation (1996: 4-5): "Critical language awareness [CLA] focuses on the relationship between language and power and is particularly interested in the way language is used to maintain and contest relations of domination; CLA can contribure to processes of resistance and transformation by de-naturalising dominant discourses."