Abstract

Critical pedagogy, an approach which offers a means of combining a critique of previously unquestioned practices with concrete ways of introducing change, has become the focus of recent pedagogy research. The approach can help teachers analyze and act on their students' knowledge and experiences to challenge hierarchical social relations and power structures (Auerbach, 1995; Pennycook, 2001). Although many researchers are advocates of incorporating critical pedagogy into English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher education programs, it tends to be applied with a language focus as ESL teacher education programs are often part of language or linguistics departments with strong attachments to language education rather than general education, sociology, or cross-cultural studies. According to Crookes (1998), the moral and philosophical development of second language teachers has not been a focus of most second language teacher education programs. The research I report attempts to integrate a critical pedagogy and language focused approach into a pre-service teacher education program. Specifically, the student-teachers practiced three key principles of critical pedagogy: 1) draw from and validate what students already know: 2) focus on students' lived experiences and 3) question givens. The student-teachers were divided into three groups that received varying degrees of critical awareness raising through lesson planning, materials adaptation and supervised teaching during a 13-week course. My findings show that student-teachers incorporated the three critical principles into their teaching, albeit to a limited degree. Additionally, the student-teachers who received the most critical pedagogy feedback incorporated the three principles more readily than student-teachers who had less critical pedagogy focused feedback. From these results, I recommend that the three critical pedagogy principles be systematically integrated into general TESL pedagogy courses as well as practicum courses