TESOL for Biolinguistic Sustainability: The Ecology of English as a Lingua Mundi

Abstract

This article examines the ecology between biological and linguistic diversity and the implications for a biolinguistically sustainable approach to TESOL. Drawing on interdisciplinary sources from bio-ecology and anthropology, the article examines the effect of the global spread of English as a lingua mundi in language shifts and extinctions. Consideration is given for how linguistic and biological exchanges are interrelated. Two hypothetical cases are introduced, drawn from the authors ethnographic experience in the Indian Himalayas that demonstrate how the introduction of two English-language discourses can lead to biological, linguistic, and cultural loss. One case involved the introduction of a commercial scientific forestry discourse in an Indian village, and the other the introduction of a psychiatry discourse in a Tibetan refugee Buddhist educational institution. This is followed by a brief description of the actual cases as examples of sustainable biolinguistic (ESL) education. The conclusion considers how to promote more responsible TESOL research and education.