The power of the teacher in online interactions and the sociocritical approach in language instruction
This article aims to contribute to structuring a sociocritical approach to uses of digital technology in education. To do so, it more specifically examines power issues within educational interaction. By means of a study in the field of language teaching-learning, we show that in spite of the discourse on the democratizing potential of digital technology, the use of such technology can contribute to entrenching existing positions of power, despite teachers’ efforts to the contrary. Didactic actions aimed at openness and more symmetrical and horizontal communication can therefore have an effect opposite the one expected, since students’ discourse remains strongly influenced by the power they assign to the teacher within the education system.