<i>Colonialingualism</i>: colonial legacies, imperial mindsets, and inequitable practices in English language education

Translanguaging and plurilingual approaches in English Language Education (ELE) have been important for envisaging more equitable language education. However, the languages implemented translanguaging or classrooms predominantly reflect knowledge belief systems of dominant, nation-state, “official”, and/or colonial as opposed to those endangered Indigenous languages. This paper contends that privileging dominant knowledges, languages, neoliberal valorizations diversity is Colonialingualism. Colonialingualism, covertly overtly, upholds legacies, imperial mindsets, inequitable practices. Colonial carry legacies can perpetuate an imperialistic worldview. Languages be disembodied from place commodified mere “resources”, only economic “value” rather than cultural importance, a “modern” global, empire. Colonialingualism resides “epistemological error” western thought, characterized by linguistic imperialism cognitive imperialism; view humans are superior nature; white (epistemological) supremacy. dominates current mainstream worldview, institutions, pedagogies, ways languaging. subtractive detrimental multilingual, multicultural learners’ identities heritages; endangered, knowledges; minoritized communities; our environment. argues that: (1) colonialingualism illustrates “transformative limits” plurilingualism; (2) epistemic “unlearning” required enable use all languaging processes, systems, including minoritized, ELE. The example heritage pedagogy Canadian context will demonstrate how while take place.