Culture in Language Education: Is This an Outdated Issue?

Dear Colleagues,

Debate over the concept of culture is not new and has been disputed for many years within academia. One of the debates that sees itself ongoing concerns the question of how to move past a narrow, monolithic, essentialist, native-like understanding of culture towards a more fluid and interactive construction of culture among various people. Abdallah-Pretceille (1998), for instance, refers to the concept of culturality to reinforce the interactive and meaning-making construction individuals undertake in communication. 

In part, it is safe to affirm that the controversy around the concept of culture is derived not only from historical, social, political, and geographical foundations and events taking place worldwide but also from how culture is conceptualised, studied, and discussed within the disciplines (Byram and Morgan et al., 1994; Corbett, 2022). Moreover, the subjectivities associated with the concept of culture are also in dialogue with the existing theoretical and political models set in place to manage cultural diversity in social settings (Banks, 2009). 

In the field of education, these sometimes-contrasting perspectives seem to have led to tensions in how culture may be addressed in school settings. This is particularly sensitive in the field of language education, where the language–culture nexus has long been argued for alongside the adoption of intercultural, citizenship-based, transnational, and decolonial perspectives of such interconnection (Byram, 2008; Macedo, 2019; Risager, 2015, 2022). 

Lipovetsky and Serroy (2010) claim that “In these hypermodern times, culture has become a world whose circumference is everywhere and whose centre is nowhere”. (p.12). In these liquid times marked by globalisation, interdependence, escalating ruptures and conflicts, the superficial nature of the immediate and the expendable, and other world challenges, is the concept of culture outdated or still central to thinking and re-creating the world? Likewise, is it realistic to affirm that culture is teachable? If so, what would this mean? 

In view of the above, the main aim of this Special Issue is to provide a platform for innovative, disruptive, multi/interdisciplinary dialogue and research on the topic of culture in language teaching and learning. Researchers are invited to submit review papers, conceptual articles, and original empirical research, addressing (but not being limited to) the following topics: 

• (New, controversial) epistemologies to address the concept of culture and corresponding implications for language education;
• Critical approaches to the concept of culture in light of plurilingualism, plurilingual education, and pedagogy for linguistic diversity;
• The interconnection between decolonising curriculum development and the concept of culture;
• Experiences in (pre-service and in-service) teacher education as regards intercultural, citizenship-based, transnational, and decolonial perspectives;
• School and classroom practices at different educational levels that challenge narrow and native-like approaches to the learning of culture;
• Collaborative, community-based partnerships that reshape cultural dialogue in (language) education;
• Arts-based movements and practices in language education towards creative cultural undertakings;
• Innovative research approaches and methodologies to address culture in language education. 

I look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Prof. Dr. Ana Sofia Pinho
Guest Editor

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• culture 
• language education
• educational practices
• decolonial perspectives
• transnational approaches
• intercultural citizenship
• plurilingualism