Dankook MA TESOL in Korea

Critical Pedagogies

 

TESOL practitioners and researchers are increasingly focusing on the implications and consequences of the spread of English. It is becoming clear that 21st century TESOL faces important questions of how to develop effective, responsible, and ethical teaching practices. This course seeks to engage with these trends in our field by exploring the potential of critical approaches to English education in Korea. Critical pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that assumes all educational processes to be political in nature. English education in Korea is certainly no exception. We will take a broad approach to critical pedagogy and explore numerous social and educational theories which conceptualize the political nature of education in a variety of ways. The course seeks to evoke questions of ideology, hegemony, and power with the ultimate goal of helping each of us develop teaching practices that confront such questions. While there will be extensive theoretical discussion, the course objectives are practical in nature. The course will challenge participants to develop and implement lesson plans, reflect on teaching practices, critique teaching materials, and connect practical experiences in English education to larger political and social themes. Classroom discussions, readings, and assignments will be designed to support critical inquiry and the development of critical practices.