Is second language teaching enslavement or empowerment? Insights from an Hegelian perspective

Whether second language (L2) teaching contributes to the enslavement or empowerment of learners has become a branch in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages research. More and more discussions are emerging, and they tend to base on more and more diverse theoretical frameworks. This article aims to shed light on this issue by exploring it from a Hegelian framework of language. Among Hegel’s theories of language, two notions, namely, mutual recognition and universalisation of culture are selected for discussions. The conclusion is that based on Hegel’s theories of language L2 teaching has a stronger tendency of contributing to the empowerment of learners.