Abstract
This chapter is about transcending boundaries of a conceptual, cultural, communal and attitudinal nature in terms of understanding the nature of language. It begins with a focus on homogenized conceptualizations of language and the way common fictions naturalize outmoded notions of purity, authenticity and ownership commonly linked to the standardization of forms. Through the denaturalization of dissimulated ideologies upon which such essentialist conceptualizations are based, discretely bounded languages (in this case, ‘English’) are revealed to be inventions and reifications of ideological projects. Challenges which accompany conceptualizations of English that are more fluid in nature are discussed vis-à-vis the manner in which English teaching is regulated and regularized by linguistic as well as curricular artefacts and constructs, including grammars, lexicons, textbooks, syllabuses and teacher preparation courses.
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Toh, G. (2019). Interrogating Language as Social and Ideological Construct. In: Effecting Change in English Language Teaching. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15261-1_6
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