AbstractThis chapter develops a critical perspective on foreign language education by drawing on
postcolonial theory and research in order to better conceptualize and address the complexity
of language education in terms of ecologies of interconnected spaces of policy, curriculum,
and classroom practice. Starting from the basic classroom issue of linguistic diversity
and variability, this chapter offers a critical approach to language in education that strives to
“situate language study in cultural, historical, geographic, and cross-cultural frames within
the context of humanistic learning” (Modern Language Association [MLA], 2007, p. 4).
This chapter advocates a critical, transcultural, and translinguistic humanism grounded
in decolonial practices of foreign language education that are theoretically informed,
educationally relevant, socially engaged, and ethically accountable. The chapter
also attempts to bring increased historical and critical depth to how foreign language
educators understand and perform the teaching of language in ways that connect to
transdisciplinary research concerns in the humanities and beyond.
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