Preparing to Teach Newcomer Students: The Significance of Critical Pedagogy and the Study of Ideology in Teacher Education (original) (raw)
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Daring to Infuse Ideology into Language-Teacher Education
The need to prepare qualified English-language teachers for the ever-increasing population of diverse linguistic minority students in English-speaking countries is well documented in the literature . Much of this literature calls for preparing English as a Second Language (ESL) and Sheltered English (SE) teachers, by teaching them language-acquisition theory, language-teaching methodologies and approaches, and a range of content/subject areas.
Teacher Ideology in English Language Education
Reconceptualizing English Education in a Multilingual Society, 2018
There are at least three theoretical routes in reconceptualizing English language education in the world today and, more specifically, in multilingual Philippines. The first-change what English to teach-is to describe, acknowledge, and endorse the multilinguality of English in the country. The second-change how to teach English-is to locate English language education within the broader educational landscape of the country which in recent years has, to some extent, reconfigured the languages of instruction in favor of the "mother tongues," especially in the elementary level. The third theoretical route-change how to think about English (and other languages, for that matter)-is to describe, evaluate, and critique the broad ideologies and ideological structures of English language education in the country. This assumes that the teaching of English is intricately linked with discourses, ideologies, and unequal relations between languages beyond the formal confines of the classroom. Thus, reconceptualizing English language education puts the spotlight on the role of teacher ideology in the process. We cannot change the way we teach English if we do not change the way we think about English and its role in the Philippines and the world. Here, English language education is not only about the form(s) of English but, more importantly, about the content of education itself, and this thus has implications for the content of English language teacher training, textbooks and other teaching and learning materials, and everyday classroom talk.
Ideology for second language teachers
A bstract This paper criticizes the lack of clarity in second language teacher education, and in the literature on second language teaching more generally, about the relationship between language and ideology. The paper proposes that there should be a reference point for second language teacher-learners which would allow them to position themselves and others. provides such a reference point in the form of a framework that can be used to analyse the extent to which the language in texts supports the power of social elites. The paper draws on some examples of orientalist discourse in order to discuss how second language teacher-learners can come to understand the process of the production and reproduction ideology operates and the fact that if second language teacher-learners decide to disagree with him, their own use of the term ideology will be based on principled argument. Such an outcome will be preferable to the current situation in which this valuable concept is rarely dealt with explicitly, and across the literature appears in contradictory ways, leaving second language teacher-learners struggling to identify some coherence around the term.
Becoming a Critical ESL Teacher: The Intersection of Historicity, Identity, and Pedagogy
TESOL Quarterly, 2022
This case study examines how an experienced secondary ESL teacher's personal and professional history is linked to his curricular choices in the classroom and how his enactment of critical educator identity interacts with ideologies within society. The analysis of the focal teacher's experiences that remain prominent in autobiographical memory shows that his lived experiences of (re)learning Spanish and English, studying and teaching abroad and in California, and extensive reading influenced the cultivation of his identity as a critical educator. He designed a curriculum that used historical fiction and that evoked an approach to the mechanisms of ideological control both within the context of the chosen works of historical fiction and within students' lives. Yet, the situatedness of teacher identity exposed his identities to the influence of neoliberal educational policies and students' lack of interest in the curriculum and learning in general, jeopardizing his understanding of what to believe, how to act, and how to be. The findings of this study led us to theorize that the interplay of life histories, identities, practices, and contexts by using the notion of historicity.
Issues of ideology in English language education worldwide: An overview
Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 2018
The relatively limited consideration of ideology in mainstream theory and research of teaching the English language to speakers of other languages has arguably prevented the problematization of many taken-for-granted perceptions and practices of the field. In this article I attempt to bring part of this marginalized body of scholarship on issues of ideology in the area of English language teaching (ELT) to highlight its potential insights for the field. The article sets out from a view of ideology as the most fundamental beliefs in any social practice, which may provide a less-formidable conception of the term and lessen the divergence among the minority of ELT researchers and professionals that do concern themselves with ideology. Then, after a brief sketch of the notion of ideology of language (education), I present an overview of aspects of this marginal but vibrant stream of thought on issues of ideology in ELT worldwide. Overall, the discussion is aimed to act as a call for the further understanding and embracement of sociopolitically-sensitive and ideologically-informed approaches to ELT theory, research, and practice.
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 2011
Using a sociocritical approach to the study of language and literacy and discourse analysis, this article examines student initiated challenges in a sheltered English course with two types of English learners: native+, ESL students; and, recently, arriving ESL students. The analysis draws on 19 hours of video-recorded observations of teacher-student interaction in predominantly whole class literacy activities. Through an in depth analysis of the role of student challenge in ideological constructions, this article shows how native+ generation students insert themselves into the co-construction of meaning. The main argument set forth in this article is that despite engaging in sophisticated language practices such as “challenges,” native+ students still do poorly in their class and assessments are biased toward quieter students who are mostly more recent immigrant students. While the course is socially organized to be responsive to the voices of native+, Latina/o students, there is a need for critical awareness, or a sociocritical language ideology, that explicitly recognizes and repositions the literacy practices of native+ students in nondeficit ways.
2010
This study investigates how students understand and experience critical pedagogy in four culturally diverse ESL classes in Northwest University, located in a multicultural metropolis in Canada. I conducted the study in my own classes, simultaneously examining my practice and its impact on my students since teachers‟ and students‟ identities are entwined. Through dialogue and negotiations among teacher and students, critical language pedagogy provides an innovative approach to teaching English language skills that enables students to challenge inequality, since language is a powerful tool, often used to control, persuade or exclude. I chose a critical ethnographic case study as the most appropriate methodology for uncovering the multiple ways ESL students make meaning of a pedagogical process that has to date received little practical guidance. My study, which took place over one academic year, offers an introspective and detailed portrait of the pitfalls, practicalities and possibil...
Linguistics and Education, 2021
Linguistic styling is an important component of the language ideologies teachers communicate to their students. This study explores the of role identity and intent in shaping teachers' language use in the classroom, and considers how students receive teachers' linguistic style. Three high school English Language Arts (ELA) teachers' linguistic style is explored through three sources of data: a Dialect Density Measure, discourse analysis of marked instances of linguistic styling by each teacher, and interviews with the teacher and their students. The social meaning of differences in teachers' styling of language is examined in relation to each teacher's social identity and the context of their teaching. Findings show that teachers use their style to model academic norms, to counter academic norms, to develop relationships with students, and to complicate ideas about what kind of person can use what kind of language. The marked differences in each teacher's styling reveal the pedagogical and relational work that language use enacts in classrooms. Implications for further study of teachers' styling, and for supporting teachers' critical language teaching are considered.