EMQ » October–December 2018 » Volume 54 Issue 4
[memberonly folder=”Members, EMQ2YearFolder, EMQ1YearFolder”]Teaching English for Reconciliation: Pursuing Peace Through Transformed Relationships in Language Learning and Teaching
By Jan Edwards Dormer and Cheryl Woelk
William Carey Library,
Pasadena, CA, 2018
208 pages
ISBN: 978-0878085439
USD $14.99
Reviewed by David R. Dunaetz, associate professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology, Azusa Pacific University, adjunct professor of French, Claremont Graduate University, and former church planter in France.
The background story that lays the foundation for this very insightful book concerns Jan Dormer’s unsettling experience teaching English in Canada in the early 1990s during the breakup of Yugoslovia. She found herself teaching a class filled with Serb and Croat refugees who were too afraid to participate out fear of being hated or attacked by classmates. The purpose of the book is to provide innovative ways to pursue peace and reconciliation in situations like this, and in situations much less extreme.
Dormer and Woelk emphasize the role of relationships in both reconciliation and the language learning process. The foundational value promoted in the book is “pursuing peace through transformed relationships in English language learning and teaching” (xiv). They propose an other-centered approach to language learning which the teacher can use to promote reconciliation with others, and if appropriate in the context, reconciliation with God.
The first section of the book provides reasons for teaching English for reconciliation. It includes information on conflict resolution and peace education as well as a discussion of biblical concepts that lay a theological foundation for promoting reconciliation through language learning.
The second section discusses the dynamics of relationships in the English classroom, focusing on the learners and their identity, the teacher’s identity and methodologies, and the community that is formed and perhaps transformed in the classroom.
The final section provides examples of how to put these concepts into practice, both in contexts where the curriculum is predefined and in contexts where the teacher has more freedom concerning the choice of curriculum. Applications for specific contexts (e.g., church-based English classes, classes for refugees, and international ministries) are also provided.
Among the many strengths of this book is a convincing argument for placing classroom relationships at the center of an English class, both for the purpose of reconciliation but also as a pedagogical approach to teaching English. For readers without English teaching experience, some parts of the book may seem a bit dry. However, chapters stand independently and those not relevant due to a reader’s limited experience can be skipped without reducing the value of the others.
This book would be appropriate for a wide-range of audiences. Students of TESL/TEFL would appreciate its novel approach to teaching English, especially upper division undergrads and graduate students. More experienced English teachers would also appreciate learning from the experiences and insights of these master teachers. This book, or at least portions of it, would also be valuable in preparing short-term mission teams who will be teaching English in an existing institution or running a church-based language camp.
As someone with ten years of experience in teaching a foreign language, I appreciated the authors’ insights into both teaching theory and practices and will be incorporating these ideas into my classroom.
For Further Reading
Dormer, Jan Edwards. Teaching English in Missions: Effectiveness and Integrity. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2011.
Hocker, Joyce L., and William W. Wilmot. Interpersonal Conflict (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2018.
Salomon, Gavriel, and Baruch Nevo, eds. Peace Education: The Concept, Principles, and Practices Around the World. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002.
