Where the Personal and the Social Collide in Transformative Language Learning and Teaching
Transformative Language Learning and Teaching (TLLT) is often described in terms of cognitive expansion, identity shift, and meaning‑making. But transformation doesn’t happen inside a sealed individual. It happens at the collision point between the learner’s inner world and the social worlds they enter through language . That collision is not accidental. It is the engine of transformation. 1. The Personal: A Learner’s Existing Identity, Emotions, and Interpretive Habits Every learner arrives with: A personal history of communication Emotional patterns around misunderstanding and ambiguity Deeply ingrained interpretive habits A sense of self shaped by their first language These personal structures determine how a learner perceives new linguistic input. They also determine how much dissonance they can tolerate — and dissonance is where transformation begins. But personal change alone is not enough. TLLT requires the learner to encounter difference . 2. The Social: Cultural Scripts...