It is contended that much of present-day applied linguistics for language teaching (ALLT) fails to mediate effectively, primarily because an ideological construction, emanating from a critical theory perspective, is too often imposed on everyday pedagogical practices. This has resulted in an exaggerated level of concern about the power imbalances that language teaching involves, leading to the promotion of approaches which attempt to subvert teaching and the teacher role, irrespective of the pedagogical consequences, while simultaneously proscribing others, which, from a practitioner perspective, are widely regarded as axiomatic. Such a stance has taken root, it is also argued, because of insufficient critical questioning of its moral and intellectual underpinnings. As a remedy, more should be done by ALLT to appreciate the rationale for and build on existing pedagogical traditions.