In the climate of shifting language policies and constant influx of native English-speaking teachers to South Korea, the question of what constitutes a “good” language teacher (GLT) arises. To this end, the present study examines how 577 young English learners (K-6th grade) come to demonstrate their understanding of GLT by making use of visual images and written narratives. A social semiotic, multimodal approach to analysis is employed to scrutinize how these textual and visual narratives construct and/or presuppose a certain image of teacher identity and, as a result, display societal ideologies (Jewitt 2009). The findings yield two dimensions with regard to the objects associated with GLTs, an emotional/abstract dimension and a teaching-related dimension, and the differing use of these objects in relation to teacher gender indicating students’ awareness of teacher roles and gender. Moreover, the ways in which learners place themselves in the storied worlds seem to provide evidence for how teacher identity is, in fact, co-constructed with the notion of learner identity. Thus, the study underscores the complex nature of GLT identity construction and further highlights the benefits of using both textual and visual methods to gain better insights into learners’ beliefs about, attitudes towards, and perspectives on teachers, students, and language learning.
Unexpected conflicts, or eruptions, in class during discussions of controversial issues are not uncommon in the field of English language teaching (ELT). This can be especially true for critical English language teachers who hope to address social justice issues in their classrooms. Existing literature of these events often mentions emotional responses of teachers and students, without fully analyzing the ways in which emotions are processed and constrained around these eruptions. This article examines a homophobic incident during an in-service English language teacher course taught by the author to illustrate ways in which emotions shaped the response to the incident, and how social justice aims can be achieved for critical language teachers in emotionally challenging environments, where there may be competing claims of injustice and narratives of oppression. Drawing on feminist theories of emotion, the case is made for a conceptualization of emotions not as private, individual experiences, but rather as public, socioculturally and materially mediated experiences. Social justice is theorized as an active fight against injustices that cannot be seen as an individual, isolated effort. Implications for critical language educators are shared.
This study examines a series of government textbooks used to teach Korean language and culture to spouses of South Korean nationals living in Korea. A multimodal analysis of textbook images and narratives explores how strictly defined gender identity discourses are constructed and circulated through these government textbooks in ways that not only seek to reinforce gender conventions, but also advance a conservative, assimilationist curriculum for these immigrants. The analysis reveals ways in which female marriage immigrants are positioned primarily as housekeepers; how they are subordinately positioned vis-à-vis in-laws and their husbands; and finally, how intercultural miscommunications are presented as the fault only of the immigrants. In this, the burden for intercultural communication and learning is placed solely on the immigrants in the multimodal narratives presented in the textbooks, without reciprocal burden ever placed on the spouse or spouse’s family, or effective ways of negotiating intercultural miscommunications being shared. Images and text work together in multimodal ensembles to craft narratives that position immigrant women in ways that textual or visual analysis alone would not fully capture. Thus, the study argues the use of multimodal analytical approach in examining language textbooks as a way of deconstructing broader discourses and disrupting problematic discourses.
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