The pursuit of efficiency, and the of use technology in English language teaching (ELT), as if free of the influences of ideology and tradition, are characteristic of ‘control-constructed’ environments conducive to neglecting learners as persons (Holliday, 2005). Regardless of methodological orientation, teacher practices can tend towards mere transmission of knowledge within hierarchal structures sustaining power asymmetries. The presenter will attempt to clarify the concept of neoliberalism. He will offer examples of seemingly efficient but routinized technical practices, such as using online platforms to monitor graded reading, which, uncritically accepted, may inhibit development of the ELF program. He will pose alternatives reflecting a view of knowledge as negotiable and socially constructed, in the hope that teachers may resist being lulled into a comfortable pattern of easily manageable and measurable, but devitalizing procedures.
