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| Subject: argumentative essay | |
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Author: Ludmila |
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Date Posted: 17:11:26 09/07/10 Tue Hey people! Here is our essay. If somebody wants to change or add someting, feel free. But remenber that we only have until tomorrow. Also give your feedback and comments. The Argumentative Essay Brazilian English Language teachers should be more familiar with Critical Literacy (CL) theory, in order to teach beyond communicative competences. There is a tendency for English teachers to create activities which main goals are to entertain students and to stimulate the communicative abilities such as: reading, writing, listening and comprehension. Although this is part of an English teacher’s job, it should not be limited to only that. It seems that English language teachers in Brazil are very open-mind to explore other cultural context in their classroom, but they usually tend to concentrate in the superficial differences of other cultures and avoid exploring issues which are also part of those cultures, like for example: gender differences, social inequality and racism. In fact, what happens in Brazil’s reality is that the role of an English teacher is often not associated with the objectives of Critical Pedagogy. Even when English teachers know about CL and when they have an opportunity to apply a more critical approach towards their practices, they often persist in teaching the communicative skills of the language, because they are not aware that those two theories can be connected in practice. Regards to that, Matos and Valério (2010) mentioned that Communicative Approach and Critical Literacy are distinct theories but complementary for the English practice in Brazil. Before clarifying the meaning of Critical Literacy, it is important to review the concept of the term Literacy. For Soares (1998) and Kleiman (1995), who have common ideas about this subject, Literacy refers to the capacity that one has to interact with written texts in different genres and to participate effectively in literacy practices shared by the same members of a community in which one is inserted. Thus, if the very notion of Literacy suggests that one is able to participate in various types of experiences which reading and writing are involved, Critical Literacy on the other hand requires that one is able to use language in a critical way. In other words, in a way that he or she is able to do a reinterpretation of his or her reality, but free of ideologies imposed by others. Norton and Toohey (2003) attribute the term Critical Pedagogy to a collection of contributions of scholars who advocate that critical language education is essential for building a fair society, where anybody can use the knowledge received through education to transform their conceptions and reality. In accordance with Critical Pedagogy, Freire (1970) supports that the learning process has the power to free any individual from an oppressive situation and through that he or she is able to take action to change his or her social position. According to Scholes (1985) the pedagogical practice which adopts the principles of Critical Literacy, enables students to have their own way of reading the world, and trough that teachers also change their roles. In CL teachers become helpers and encouragers of the learning process. For Freire (1991) critical literacy implies a less naïve reader, and a reader who has the power and ability to choose and criticize what is offered. In Critical Literacy the context and the aims of teaching English can be shifted from teaching a language for expression and communication purpose only, to teaching the communicative aspects of a language to promote social change. REFERENCES FREIRE, P. A educação na cidade. São Paulo: Cortez Editora, 1991. FREIRE, P. Pedagogia do oprimido. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1970. KLEIMAN, A. B. Os significados dos Letramentos. Campinas, SP: Mercado das Letras, 1995. MATTOS, A. M.; VALÉRIO, K. M. Critical Literacy and Communicative Teaching: gaps and intersections. Belo Horizonte: Faculdade de Letras da UFMG; Revista Brasileira De Linguística Aplicada. Vol. 10, n.1, 2010. NORTON, B.; TOOHEY, K. Critical Pedagogies and Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. SOARES, M. B. Letramento: um tema em três gêneros. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 1998. SCHOLES, R. Textual power: literary theory and the teaching of English, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 1985 [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |