Curriculum Design and Praxis in Language Teaching: A Globally Informed Approach ed. by Fernanda Carra-Salsberg, Maria Figueredo and Mihyon Jeon (review)

Reviewed by: Curriculum Design and Praxis in Language Teaching: A Globally Informed Approach ed. by Fernanda Carra-Salsberg, Maria Figueredo and Mihyon Jeon Chelsea Escalante Fernanda Carra-Salsberg, Maria Figueredo, and Mihyon Jeon, editors. Curriculum Design and Praxis in Language Teaching: A Globally Informed Approach. University of Toronto P, 2022. 278p. As in many other disciplines, language, literature, and linguistics educators emerging from the pandemic found themselves facing new challenges and opportunities provoked by global events. Flexibility expectations added complexity to the teacher experience; migration and movement transformed student populations; inflation added financial stress to students and teachers; low enrollments threatened departments; artificial intelligence demanded new policies and transformed curricula; and social inequities disadvantaged certain students. These are just some of the factors that language teachers are juggling when they step into the post-pandemic classroom. In response to this ever-changing sociocultural, political, and technological landscape, editors [End Page 86] Fernanda Carra-Salsberg, Maria Figueredo, and Mihyon Jeon present a critical and timely research volume that addresses many of these pertinent issues. The three editors, along with their 31 contributors, come together to offer research on curriculum design and practice in language teaching within a global framework in a post-pandemic world. This welcome addition to the field covers topics such as critical pedagogy, student engagement, interdisciplinarity, collaboration, experiential learning, multiliteracies, and technology, among others. By taking a global approach to the teaching of languages, literatures, and linguistics, they provide a theoretical and practical source that inspires language educators in their curricular design and praxis and prepares them to tackle some of today’s most pressing issues. The first section, “Critical Approaches to Curriculum and Pedagogy in Language and Pre-service Teacher Education,” emphasizes the importance of creating a space for the development of students’ language skills, while also encouraging critical thinking, cultural mindfulness, and sociopolitical consciousness. Grounded in critical pedagogy framework that posits that education is not a neutral act—but rather a political and cultural process dependent on a wide variety of social factors—its three chapters treat a range of topics, from the effect of informed use of technology in a Hindi-Urdu class, to the use of Socratic circles in teacher education courses, to the results of a critical language awareness activity for teacher candidates. This guides practitioners who want to decolonize their language programs, invite multiple perspectives into their classrooms, and prepare for a multilingual and multicultural world. It provides practical activities to foster critical consciousness and, ultimately, to create a more inclusive space for learners. “Designing Classroom Resources, Activities, and Assessment Tools for Student Engagement” recognizes the vital role that teachers play in their students’ learning experience and the necessity of creating assessments and critical materials that are relevant to their lived experiences. The four chapters offer research on using real-life situations as a pedagogical tool in linguistics courses, the effectiveness of translingual auto-narratives in an ESL classroom, the primacy of teacher agency in the creation of assessments, and the benefits of the “5-minutes before class” for additional exposure to target language and culture. This section is useful for teachers who wish to incorporate [End Page 87] new materials and ideas into their curriculum, especially materials or practices that are easy to implement and are authentic and relevant to their students’ lives. “Inter-artistic Approaches to Language Teaching” includes three chapters, each offering ideas for promoting language acquisition through the study of language and literature in combination with music, visual arts, and other forms of community-engaged arts. Student engagement and learning blossoms when students make connections across disciplinary lines and use contemporary art forms for creativity. This appeals to teachers of literature and the arts who are looking to inspire a deeper sense of connection between language of study and its artistic, literary, and cultural history. “Experiential Education in Language Teaching and Learning” positions experiential learning as a bridge to student engagement and a tool for enabling students to find a greater purpose to language study – to move outside the walls of the university classroom and engage in meaningful connection to the communities that use the target language. These chapters explore the influence of experiential learning on academic communication...

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