Critical pedagogy

What and why?

Language teaching is increasingly being seen as a part of education, and as such has a responsibility towards the studentsÕ whole personality and educational and social development. Some teachers have taken this idea further and argue that teaching should try to develop the studentsÕ ability to QUESTION, to think for themselves and ultimately take more control over their lives. To do this, these teachers choose topics which will provoke discussion and thought, and encourage students to criticise. They also try to bring about more STUDENT INVOLVEMENT and try to develop the studentsÕ sense of AUTONOMY. Many of these ideas have been built into CEWw. A number of topics require students to think about wider social issues Ð the environment, the effects of television, ethnic minorities and so on. The methodology of CEWw also aims to develop the studentsÕ ability to think for themselves and organise their own learning through such things as the HELP YOURSELF section in the Workbook, the DECIDE É exercises and the EVALUATION sections.

Practical ideas

• ¥Many of the topics in CEWw can be used as a starting-point for students to think about and investigate their own society. Students can work in small groups on a project and report back to the class, or you can allow time for DISPLAYING STUDENTSÕ WORK.
• If you think that most of the students are likely to have the same opinion about something, you can ask some of them to prepare an argument against it. You can then involve them in class DISCUSSIONS or get them to prepare POSTERS with their ideas.
• You can involve the students in planning some part of the work they will do in class over the next few weeks. For this you can require that they make decisions and plan what they will do. See DO IT YOURSELF for more ideas.
• Critical pedagogy also encourages students to be aware or critical of their own attitudes, values and prejudices. A text or situation may provoke reactions in the students which you can encourage them to question and discuss.