ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a study which explores what veteran ESL teachers can tell about treating citizenship from the vantage point of social justice, even at beginning levels of proficiency. It also addresses how such a justice-orientation to citizenship could be concretely understood with a view to challenging the ideologies commonly found within official curriculum and assessment documents. The chapter first presents critiques of the 2000 and 2012 versions of the Canadian Language Benchmarks before presenting the theoretical backgrounds for the study reported here: first, the notions of citizenship and acculturation and second, of justice-oriented citizenship. The Canadian Language Benchmarks 2000: ESL for Adults was an attempt to define English language proficiency organised into 12 levels, from beginner to full fluency. The majority of the veteran teachers who participated in this study believe that justice-oriented citizenship and critical notions of literacy can be utilised even at the most basic levels of English language proficiency.
