Raising critical language awareness in Japanese high school EFL classrooms: Co‑construction of CLA‑focused Global Englishes pedagogy

Abstract Global Englishes language teaching (GELT) advocates for an epistemic reorientation of traditional English language teaching, synthesizing insights from World Englishes, English as a lingua franca, and other sociolinguistically informed paradigms and theories in language education. Focusing on the theoretical overlap between GELT and critical language awareness (CLA), this article demonstrates how GELT can offer explicit awareness‑raising opportunities that address not only linguistic diversity but also the intersections of language and power. It reports on participatory action research in two Japanese high schools, detailing the implementation and outcomes of a reading activity called the ‘CLA‑themed reading marathon’. The reading topics were organized into three interconnected sub‑themes designed to 1) develop a descriptive understanding of linguistic diversity , 2) raise awareness of issues related to prejudices and stereotypes, racism, and language , and 3) critically assess issues related to technologies and linguistic diversity , such as artificial intelligence and World Englishes. We present and discuss students’ voices identified in the post‑activity reflections, which indicate their learning outcomes and their perspectives on the activity and the selected readings. The results highlight the impact of the activity on students’ learning, such as raising awareness of linguistic injustice, disrupting common‑sense assumptions about language and enhancing reading engagement and comprehension, while also indicating challenges. One challenge was that a few students reported a sense of distance toward the CLA topics and social issues discussed in the activity, viewing them as ‘someone else’s problem’. Based on these successes and challenges, we offer implications for future research and practice in GELT.