Relevance, Representation, and Responsibility: Exploring World Language Teachers’ Critical Consciousness and Pedagogies

Abstract

Critical pedagogical work hinges upon teachers' critical consciousness about students' identities that constitute 'diversity' and how they are situated within systems of oppression and privilege. In this study, survey data were collected from practicing world language teachers' (WLTs) to explore their beliefs about the extent to which dimensions of students' identities played a role in their language teaching practices. Additionally, these data captured their beliefs about the extent to which teachers, administrators, curriculum developers, and schools should be responsible for addressing identity dimensions, such as ethnoracial status, gender, socioeconomic status, and faith. Results from cluster analyses indicated that teachers' orientations varied systematically: a first belief orientation locates neither teachers nor schools as responsible, and that student 'diversity' may be irrelevant to education; a second orientation locates both teachers and schools as having shared responsibility, but that some identities might be irrelevant to teaching and learning; a third orientation wherein teachers viewed some identity dimensions as more relevant to their teaching practices than others, suggesting that, although teachers may be critically conscious about identity, that consciousness may not translate to critical pedagogical practices; and a last orientation that suggests critically conscious language teachers who also endorse learner-centered teaching practices. Findings from this study illuminate new theoretical and conceptual spaces about WLTs' sense of responsibility and advocacy for both students and the ways they position their classrooms as sites of critical pedagogies. These findings have implications for teacher leaders and teacher educators as they work to build teacher capacities for engaging in critical pedagogies that examine systems of oppression and privilege in language classrooms.

Equity, Access, and Inclusion in K-12 World Language Education: A System of Failure or Work in Progress?

“…Similart to earlier research on culturally relevant curriculum and pedagogy in WL education (Baggett, 2020;Dion, 2020;Osborn, 2006;Parker;, many WL educators in NJ and MN perceived their curriculum and instructional resources to be lacking a diverse array of voices and perspectives, particularly those from historically marginalized groups. Others cited time, support and resources as obstacles to enacting culturally responsive pedagogy, as was the case for the K-12 WL teacher participants in Wassell et al's (2019) study study.…”

Positioning responsible learning analytics in the context of STEM identities of under-served students

“…Critical consciousness can be understood as "reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it" (Freire, 1970, p. 51). In the context of education and for teachers, Baggett (2020) understands critical consciousness as a person's understanding of relevance of and responsibility for categories, for example gender and race, in combination with acting accordingly.…”

The presence and absence of race in world language education literature

“…Finally, the literature included in this systematic historical analysis centered WL teaching and learning by selecting journals published by WL professional organizations where scholarship and classroom practice most often meet. While this decision served to delineate the field of WL and eliminate overlaps with related fields, it is also limiting because important work related to equity in WL has been published in broader journals (e.g., Baggett, 2018Baggett, , 2020Glynn & Spenader, 2020). Future work can cultivate interdisciplinary connections across fields such as applied linguistics and bilingual education where important equity work is taking place (see Charity Hudley et al, 2020).…”