Transepistemic language education, or transepistemics, is the act of learning from multiple knowledges and lifeways to equip educators, learners, and humanity more broadly with more conceptual tools for sustainable and relational futures (Meighan, 2023). 

Transepistemics activate knowledge sharing and knowledge co-creation while we language. An example of transepistemics is the learning of Indigenous place names which transmit an intimate knowledge of the land and local ecosystem. 

Transepistemics seek to foster more spaces where we can (un)learn (1) cognitive and linguistic imperialism (Battiste, 2013; Phillipson, 1992); (2) epistemic and environmental racisms (Kubota, 2020; Kuletz, 1998); and (3) colonialingualism (Meighan, 2022).

Transepistemic language education

There is a relationship between language and the environment. Languages shape worldviews, inform behaviours, and are not disconnected from local political, sociocultural, and ecological contexts. English has an enduring colonial, imperialist, and assimilationist legacy and can be easily delinked from context, culture, and place. In this article, I argue that an epistemic (un)learning of the Western ‘epistemological error’ is required to enable equitable validation of all languages and knowledge systems, including those Indigenous and minoritized, in ELT for more sustainable futures. Heritage language pedagogy (HLP), conceptualized differently from mainstream versions, and transepistemic language education in the Canadian context will illustrate how epistemic (un)learning takes place. HLP seeks to relink connections between languages and place-based knowledges. The article demonstrates how HLP and transepistemic language education enables learners and educators to engage in a decolonial and pluriversal sharing of languages, knowledges, and worlds for more equitable and sustainable ELT.

Transepistemic English language teaching for sustainable futures | ELT Journal | Oxford Academic

With ongoing colonialingual epistemic injustices and inequitable practices, there is a need to (un)learn cognitive and linguistic imperialism—the Western epistemological error—so that all multilingual and multicultural learners are respected and validated in ELT classrooms. I propose an HLP as part of transepistemic language education to action this (un)learning. I introduce and define transepistemic language education as a way of learning, teaching, knowing, and being which enables respectful and non-hierarchical knowledge co-creation while we engage with languages, peoples, cultures, and lands. Transepistemic language education is the act of learning from multiple knowledges and lifeways to equip educators, learners, and humanity more broadly with more conceptual tools for sustainable and relational futures. I define HLP as a way in which allmulticultural and multilingual learners—those who know majority, Indigenous, and minoritized languages—can feel empowered and validated in an Earth-centred learning process.

Transepistemic English language teaching for sustainable futures | ELT Journal | Oxford Academic

Transepistemic English language teaching, via non-hierarchical knowledge co-creation, activates an epistemic (un)learning by challenging dominant Western mental models and assumptions, such as cognitive and linguistic imperialism and human exceptionalism.

Transepistemic English language teaching for sustainable futures | ELT Journal | Oxford Academic

Further Reading