Second-Language Learning Through Imaginative Theory

Abstract

This article explores how Egan’s (1997) work on imagination can enrich our understanding of teaching English as a second language (ESL). Much has been written on ESL teaching techniques; however, some of this work has been expounded in a standard educational framework, which is what Egan calls an assembly-line model. This model can easily underlie our unconscious structures. The article begins by reviewing Egan’s kinds of understanding and then discusses how conceptions of English-language learning may be changed when Egan’s Imaginative Education (IE) theory is used as the theoretical base. For example, ESL learning jumps from a simple progression through language levels to multiple and interacting ecological zones that interplay with and within the learner. As well, the focus moves from the generation of activities to the students themselves as conscious, living beings. This theoretical orientation provides possibilities for second-language learning to become wondrous, multifaceted, and intricate.