ERIC Number: EJ1101043
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1611-9665
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Available Date: N/A
Iranian EFL Teachers' Voices on the Pedagogy of Word and World
Safari, Parvin; Rashidi, Nasser
Journal of Social Science Education, v14 n4 p39-52 Win 2015
Critical pedagogy (CP) with the eventual aim of creating changes in society towards the socially just world rests upon the premise that language learning is understood as a sociopolitical event. Schools and classrooms are not merely seen as the neutral and apolitical sites or oxymoron of transmitting taken-for-granted knowledge and common sense to students but rather as the political and democratic sites in which teachers, through praxis-oriented activities, furnish opportunities for students to critically question oppressive systems, hierarchies, and sociopolitical inequalities. Through the connection of word to the world, or the relationship between classroom learning and students' lived experiences and worlds, teachers can create social transformation and empowerment in the marginalized students' lives. However, teachers as the transformative intellectuals can facilitate this transformative process only if they are equipped with the critical theories, theoretical underpinnings and practical implications of CP. A brief look at the CP literature reveals that most of the researches center on its theories and conceptual dimensions without presenting any pragmatic discourse or practical realizations to critical pedagogues. In fact, this study intends to investigate the problems, concerns, and frustrations that Iranian EFL teachers encounter while enacting this alternative pedagogy. So, the researchers adopted purposive sampling to choose thirty-four EFL teachers from private English language institutes in Tehran, Yazd and Shiraz, Iran; and focused interview as the appropriate data gathering instrument of qualitative research. Finally, the researchers unearthed the relevant themes concerning the practical dimensions as the supplementary components of CP in EFL context of Iran.
Descriptors: English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Teaching Methods, Critical Theory, Social Justice, Social Change, Disadvantaged, Foreign Countries, Transformative Learning, Interviews, Qualitative Research, Pragmatics, Language Teachers, Teacher Attitudes
Journal of Social Science Education. Bielefeld University Faculty of Sociology, Universitätsstraße 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany. Tel: +49-521-106-3985; Fax: +49-521-106-153986; e-mail: info@jsse.org; Web site: http://jsse.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/index.php/jsse
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Iran
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A