Language as Power: Verbal Aggression Seen Through the Lens of Critical Applied Linguistics

Abstract

This article shares a language classroom experience, in which language was used as a form of exercising aggression. A real example is used for describing the

experience and then, the situation is analyzed from the perspective of critical applied linguistics discipline. In the classroom, language adopts different forms and purposes and the language teacher plays a very relevant role as mediator for creating tolerant environments where the respect for the human dignity takes place. In this scenery (these arenas) critical pedagogy, its theory and practice, is an alternative to help language teachers to reflect and to take actions about the use and impact of the language in the school

context. From a critical applied linguistics approach, language class more than a linguistic fact is a humanistic act that turns the classroom into a social practice.