Action research for social justice in language education

Abstract

Social justice language education is a current response in the field of language teaching and applied linguistics to world problems such as poverty, illiteracy, hunger, health and climate crises, segregation, discrimination, xenophobia, and human rights violations, among many others. It is considered a moral philosophical lens for the understanding of disadvantage within education (Tikly & Barrett, 2011). There is agreement in the relevant literature that it is driven by the principles of inclusion (through access and redistribution), relevance (through recognition of diverse groups) and democracy (through their participation) (Tikly & Barrett, 2011). However, how to enact these principles in practice in specific settings remains complicated for various reasons involving for instance contextual conditions of possibility, and a disconnection between theory and practice (McDonald & Zeichner, 2009). In this chapter, I show that one way in which social justice language education can move beyond the level of rhetoric to foster grounded praxis development of social justice in language teachers is through action research. I describe an action research intervention that articulates the principles of social justice education and their realisation in a concrete setting in an NGO in Argentina. I discuss challenges and implications emerging from this example of practice.