CriticalPedagogyandCollegeEnglishReading-2019年文档

1、Critical Pedagogy and College En glish Read ing :Critical Pedagogy is a teaching philosophy, an attitude to and a practice of teach ing and lear nin g. It situates Ian guage teach ing and lear ning in a socio-cultural con text and places power at the cen ter of teach ing and lear ning. In tegrati ng

2、 Chi na En glish is to apply Critical Pedagogy in an EFL con text to empower En glish lear ners in Chi na of the En glish they are closely conn ected to , China En glish, and to prepare them for critical thinking ability in read ing. 1 In troducti on 1 In troducti on Critical Pedagogy(CP), emergi ng

3、 in 1970s, flourish ing in L2 teach ing and lear ning around the late 1980s and early 1990s, is a teaching philosophy and a way of doing teaching and learning(Canagarajah , 2005 , p. 932) . According to Canagarajah(2005), it is difficult and actually dangerous to define Critical Pedagogy using any s

4、tatic theories ， because theories can narrow down the perspectives from which the learning activity should be interpreted ( p. 932 ) . This indicates that language teach ing and lear ning activities should be situated in a broader social con text rather tha n isolated classrooms, and that la nguage

5、lear ning and teach ing is more tha n learning and teaching Ianguage , Ianguage education is to connect the word with the world and to link the text to socio-culturalcon texts(Kumaravadivelu , 2006 , p. 70). Critical Pedagogy is neither a set of ideas nor another method for L2 teaching. It is a prac

6、tice motivated by a distinct attitude toward classrooms and society (Canagarajah , 2005 , p. 932) . CPchallenges students and teachers to think critically and to construct more reas on able , equitable social en vir onments for a better and more humane life. As Brown( 2007) conveys it might be in ap

7、propriate now if teachers skirt around sen sitive issues concerning power， religion and politics in language teaching practices(p. 513 ) . Therefore , the core characteristic of CP is to place issues of power at the cen ter of con siderati ons of educati onand social justice (McArthur , 2010 , p. 49

8、4 ). Kumaravadivelu (2001) conceptualizes postmethod pedagogy as a pedagogy of particularity , a pedagogy of practicality and a pedagogy of possibility , which are very importa nt prin ciples of the impleme ntati on of Critical Pedagogy. Particularity means any Ian guage teach ing programs or activi

9、ties must be se nsitive to a particular group of teachers teach ing a particular group of lear ners purs uing a particular set of goals within a particularin stituti onalcon text embeddedi n a particular sociocultural milieu(emphasis added , p. 538 ) . This particularity engages teachers and student

10、s in defining their goals , and it links classroom con text to the world. Practicality pertains to the relationship between theory and practice and it encourages teachers to be both a practiti onerand a theorizer. On the one hand, thisno ti on liberates teachers from the passive knowledge-consumer r

11、ole , and on the other , it gives them a sense of responsibility to justify theories and to produce knowledge for theory development. Possibility is to stress participants ( teachers and students ) subject positions and to empower them to critically reflect on their situati ons.Critical Pedagogy con

12、 siders lear ners as the center of teaching practices and their life experiences as an important learning content. Teaching/learning materials should be authentic and related to learners cultural and linguistic background, such as Newspapers , magaz ines and TV n ews. In Chin ese college read ing co

13、n text , what stude nts read in En glish classes are materials from Inner Circle coun tries, mai nly from the US and the UK. Accordi ng to He and Miller(2011),75.4% of the participants in their research have reported that American English and British English are the varieties of English used in thei

14、r textbooks (p. 434 ) . Whose voice is missing in this con text? Is this mono-model of En glish teach ing sensitive to the particularity of students , teachers and the situation ? 2 Integrating China English into College English Reading Heand Li (2009) define China English as a performanee variety o

15、f English , which is based on standard Englishes and has Chin ese characteristics in terms of phono logy, lexis , syntax and discourse pragmatics , which appropriately express Chinese culture and things of China by meansof transliterationand loan translation(p. 83). Today, even though there is no co

16、difiedreference of China En glish , it is an undeni able fact that China En glish does exist and it is spoken by a large number of Chinese people. Several scholars and researchers (e.g , Kirkpatrick He & Li , 2009 ) have documented disti nctive features of China En glish that prese nt pedagogical im

17、plications for teachers to integrate it into En glish teach ing and lear ning. On the one hand, Chi na En glish is the voice and ide ntity of Chin ese En glish learners ； on the other hand, it has not received official recognition yet. CP will play its role in addressing the issue of in equality of

18、lin guistic rights in an En glish reading course. Baumgardner (2006) contends , whether in Inner- , Outer- ， or Expanding-Circle classrooms ， students sensitivity toward the unprecedented spread and diversificati on of the En glish Ian guage should be one of all teachers goals (p. 668) . The goal of

19、 College English reading course is to expose learners to World Englishes to empower them the own ership of their En glish and mea nwhile to respect other English varieties. To do so， teachers should first adopt Kachrus (1983) polymodel approach to include China English while teaching dominant Englis

20、h variety/varieties based on curriculum( as cited in Baumgardner, 2006 , p. 667) . In order for the authenticity of reading materials , teachers can choose from local English magazines(e.g , China & The World Cultural Exchange, China Today) , newspapers (e.g. , China Daily , Beijing Weekly) and onli

21、ne news (e.g. , Xinhua Net) that discuss Chinese culture, politics , education , etc. Of course , learners are welcome to bring their own reading materials to the class. These authentic reading materials are full of lexis of China En glish, which are characteristics of Chin ese culture and life with

22、 their equivale nts hardly being found in America n or British English. Learning these vocabulary and sentence structures to express the unique culture and things that learners are familiar with endows them the right to speak English to express their identity and pride in their culture. Second, in s

23、tead of teach ing in a traditi onalway, ba nking education , teachers should create a dialogic environment for learners to negotiate meanings of lexis of both English varieties(America n En glish/British En glish & China English ) , appropriateness of syntax and discourse. While reading , encourage

24、learners to think critically by responding to such questions as Who is the writer and who are the readers ? What is the writers purpose and attitudes towards the issue ? What are your attitudes to and opinions on the issue ? Whe n will you use China En glish as an ide ntity marker ? and When may you

25、 need to make adjustment for appropriate ness in cross-cultural com muni cati on? etc. Meanwhile , learners have the right to pose their own questions to address their concerns and to share their ideas and life experie nces related to the topic with teachers and other learners. Third , integration o

26、f reading with speaking and writ ing will be ben eficial for lear ners developme nt of critical thinking. Teachers should try to include everyone in teaching/learning activities like group discussion and debate , teach them strategies to overcome breakdowns in com muni cati on , and make it clear to

27、 lear ners that in com muni cati on both sides take equal resp on sibility for mutual un dersta nding. Whe n writi ng, lear ners should always keep in mind their readers and choose a proper rhetoric pattern. Last but not least , it is esse ntial for teachers to en gage lear ners in the work of disco

28、veri ng, n egotiati ng and recording distinctive features of China Englishbased on their real life experiences. This bottom-up approach to Chi na En glish will make a great con tributi on to the codificationand recognitionof China English , and it will make a differe nee of En glish teach in g/lear

29、ning across Chi na. Conn ect ing teach in g/lear ning practices with theories , teachers and lear ners will dem on strate that Chi na En glish is not broke n, bad En glish , but it is a emerg ing variety of world En glishes in its own right. 3 Con clusi on Paulo Freire has claimed that educati on is

30、 the heart of a civil society and a society s potentialfor ethical development lay in the degree of awareness of education s potential to recreate rather than merely replicate society (as cited in Byrne, 2011 , p. 48) . The goal of education is to prepare learners for moral virtues and critical cons

31、ciousness of their environment , which enable them to influence others and the environment and to bring a more just and equitable society to all huma n beings through reflecti on and acti on. Critical Pedagogy in L2 is a new perspective of look ing at L2 teach ing and lear ning teach ing methods , r

32、oles of teachers and lear ners, fun cti onof Ian guage and educati on , relati on shipbetwee n teaching and politics , etc. Language is never neutral, but it is political and socio-cultural , therefore Ianguage teach in g/lear ningis resp on sible for address ing issues of power relations and for tr

33、ansformation of environment. Any sensitive topics related to politics , power, race , gender and social status should not be shied away， but they should be on the age nda of Ian guage teach ing and lear ning. Reading plays an important role in education.We do not only read to know, but we also read

34、to reason , to question and to create. Integrating China English into College English Reading is to apply critical pedagogy in an EFL context in order to empower lear ners of the En glish they are using, Chi na En glish. To do so , En glish teachers should be sensitive to the complex identities that

35、 learners bring to the classroom , be eclectic whe n choos in g/tailori ng teaching methods, be open-minded for a new teacher-learner relationship and be critically aware of cultural difference and linguistic diversity. Additionally， teachers should be capable of choos ing authe ntic and meaningful

36、reading materials and be competent for designing effective reading tasks by posing questions that encourage learners to be critical readers. References : 1 Baumgardner , R. J. Teaching World Englishes. In B. B. Kachru , Y. Kachru & C. L. Nels on (Eds.) J.The Handbook of World Englishes(pp. 661-679 ) .Oxford : Blackwell.2006. 2 Brow n, H.Teach ing by Prin ciplesAn In teractive Approach to Language Pedagogy (3rd ed. ) J. New York Pearson Education.2007. 3 Byrne , C.Freirea