According to Lourdes Ortega (2011), there are different approaches to explaining variability
of L2 learning across individuals. The following excerpt is related to a critical approach:
“As Norton and Toohey (2001) explain, in this perspective constructs such as motivation,
aptitude, and other individual differences are reconceptualized as stemming from the
interplay between people’s understanding of themselves in the world and the constraints,
material and symbolic, that their worlds afford them. These understandings are
dialectically shaped by the hopes and aspirations of individuals and by the power
structures of the societal milieus that they inhabit”
ORTEGA, 2011, p. 179. In: SIMPSON, J. (Ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics.
London: Routledge, 2011).
Which statement best exemplifies the critical perspective in language learning?