“But When do I do Critical Literacy?” Perspectives for Designing Critical Literacy Activities in EFL Classrooms

Abstract

This paper aims to present a set of principles for the design of critically grounded activities for English classes in regular school settings. Such principles are based on the pillars of critical literacy according to renowned linguists and scholars of the area, as well as pre-established criteria proposed by Richards (2001) and adapted by Rashidi (2011) for critical-pedagogical practice. A brief contextualization will be presented, as well as theoretical foundations for the organization of such criteria. Following this moment, two practical examples, based on the Brazilian context, will be presented in order to demonstrate the applicability of these theories in language classes at regular schools. The directions hereby proposed are aimed at guiding ELT teachers’ reflections as they try to implement critically based activities in their classrooms.

Instagram, fast food and Historical-Critical Pedagogy: ingredients for the discourse in favor of healthy eating in the context of teaching English

“…Considering all this, when observing the dissemination of these discourses in a wide-ranging social network, it is possible to state that students both broaden their interlocutors beyond the more immediate context of the English language class (teachers and classmates) and commit to contribute to a society that is more aware of its eating habits, showing that the relationship between HCP and the teaching of English can contribute to increase the body of knowledge that reflects critical teaching of English, as perceived in previous research (URZÊDA -FREITAS, 2012;COSTA, 2019;CAETANO, 2020;MULICO, 2020, among others). Next, some considerations are presented on the pedagogical and methodological implications of the research carried out.…”

“…However, the conception adopted is the one that assumes that critical teaching emerges from "research of Brazilian English teachers-researchers who relate the teaching-learning of English to social problems" 3 (LIMA, 2021, p. 141) is adopted. Thus, in the field of Brazilian Applied Linguistics (AL), there are already records of what has been conceived as critical teaching of the English language (URZÊDA-FREITAS, 2012;COSTA, 2019;CAETANO, 2020;MULICO, 2020, among others). In this wake, this topic is productive, although it needs to be expanded in order to build a body of knowledge that reflects a set of systematic practices to promote criticality in English classes in public schools.…”

Creating Critical Literacy Praxis: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice

“…Some researchers even disagree whether critical literacy can provide models for language teachers and practitioners to follow as “many have attempted the distillation of critical literacy into a single-step method or a commodity for publishers” (Luke, 2000: 454). What teachers should do is to understand the tenets of critical literacy, consider students’ needs and interests, and develop their own instructional models of critical literacy in a local nexus (Caetano, 2020). In this section, there will be a review of previous studies on teachers’ examples of critical literacy in EFL contexts with a focus on engaging with (multimodal) texts, developing multiple perspectives and producing counternarratives, and taking action to promote social justice.…”

Ensino de inglês na escola pública em perspectiva INdisciplinar e dialógica

“…A autora ainda estabelece uma aproximação entre a teoria sobre o letramento crítico e a prescrição dos documentos oficiais para ensino de línguas estrangeiras no Brasil, mais especificamente as Orientações Curriculares para o Ensino Médio, contexto de aprendizagem de inglês objeto de sua reflexão. O diálogo teórico proposto porCaetano (2020), articulado ao discurso oficial sobre o ensino de inglês, isto é, as orientações curriculares, reivindica um tratamento especial para a compreensão sobre as identidades dos participantes do processo de ensino-aprendizagem de inglês.AutoresRevista da Anpoll, Florianópolis, v. 52, n. 2, p. 138-156, jun.-out., 2021 | 144 Com base nessas pesquisas, flagramos concepções de ensino crítico de inglês no Brasil. De modo geral, sob o rótulo da criticidade, as pesquisas articulam o ensino de inglês a discussões sobre cidadania, participação social e desigualdades, em perspectiva de interseccionalidade com raça, gênero social e sexualidade.…”