Drissat, Abir (2022) Teaching more than English : exploring possibilities for critical intercultural pedagogy in Algerian EFL contexts. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This interpretive and exploratory study looks at an eight-week pedagogical intervention carried out by the researcher which sought to respond to calls for more context-based pedagogical practices which challenge essentialist assumptions about culture and identity categories through reflexive and critical thinking (McConachy, 2018; Liddicoat, 2019; Baker, 2017; Holliday, 2018; Devin & Clark, 2014). Drawing on the theoretical contributions of Mezirow (1978), Bakhtin (1986) and Freire (1993), the study specifically aims to understand the ways in which a group of eight EFL Algerian students developed critical consciousness in relation to constructs of culture, identity, stereotypes, and ethnicity through dialogic classroom interaction. Analysis of audio-recorded classroom interactions, semi-structured interviews, and teacher/student reflective jouarnals, provide insights into the students’ views of these key constructs and how these were challenged, defended, and questioned in accordance with the dynamic trajectories of classroom dialogue. In sites of contention and difficult dialogue, students questioned social myths, reflected on their accuracy, and (re)read these as part of wider ideological structures that function to legitimise processes of oppression and inequality. The teacher’s role in cultivating spaces for critical learning was also found important in this study. Specifically, the findings have shown that factors such as negotiating authority, scaffolding reflection, and providing brave spaces were all conducive to the promotion of critical consciousness in the classroom. The thesis argues that the work of stereotype deconstruction is necessary, even vital in order to de-stereotype and decolonise the learner’s mind, through raising a type of consciousness that challenges the borders which surround normative assumptions of self and other and undermines the diversity of identities. The findings of this study add to a limited but growing body of research investigating the inclusion of critical intercultural pedagogies in ELT settings.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education L Education > LC Special aspects of education > LC5201 Education extension. Adult education. Continuing education P Language and Literature > PE English
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Critical pedagogy, Reflective learning, Culturally relevant pedagogy -- Algeria, English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers, English language -- Study and teaching -- Algeria
Official Date:	January 2022
Dates:	Date Event January 2022 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Applied Linguistics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	McConachy, Troy, 1980- ; Pinter, Annamaria
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	x, 313 pages : illustrations
Language:	eng

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