Revisiting the Issue of Knowledge in English Language Teaching, a Revision of Literature

Abstract

In the following literature review, I set out to show an analysis of the main developments regarding the study of in-service English teachers’ (IELTs) knowledge. In the first part, I trace scholarly work regarding the topic at the national and international levels. I bring up both poststructuralist and decolonial perspectives to problematize the concept of teacher knowledge base (Shulman 1987, 2005). By means of research profiling and data base search, articles and trends related to the issue of teachers’ knowledge were found. The analysis suggests that there are two core trends in the study of English teachers’ knowledge in Colombian publications. The first shows that there are studies which revolve around backing up the concept of knowledge base. The second one shows that few studies take up a different perspective towards the study of English teachers’ knowledge.

Language Pedagogy and Teacher Identity: A Decolonial Lens to English Language Teaching From a Teacher Educator’s Experience

“…Lastly, discourses about elp and eltis have maintained the colonial architecture in elt. Although these discourses construct pedagogy as a colonial political praxis (Madge et al, 2009) and identity as a monolithic disciplinary-based category, a final conclusion drawn in this study suggests that Andrey's critical stance echoes other teachers in the field (see, Castañeda-Londoño, 2019;Granados-Beltrán, 2016;Ubaque-Casallas & Castañeda-Peña, 2020). They all seem to agree on elp as a path for teachers to configure "horizons of theorizing, thinking, doing, being, feeling, looking and listening-individually and collectively-towards the decolonial" (Walsh, 2013, p. 67); a path only possible if English language teachers choose to transgress the colonial legacy.…”

“…In elt, much of the related literature, mostly published in English, covers the term knowledge from its singularity (Castañeda-Londoño, 2019). This corresponds to a universalized understanding of knowledge that has become not only standard but also normative and legitimate.…”

Mentoring Language Student-Teachers: A Narrative Perspective to Mentors’ Experiences From Borders and Cracks

“…According to Castañeda-Londoño (2019), this episteme "stems from the European modernity, " hence "does not leave room for other forms of knowledge" (p. 226).…”

Inquiring into the Coloniality of Knowledge, Power, and Being in EFL Textbooks

“…This action of generating localised materials and methodologies acknowledges teachers as historical thinkers and transformers of the world (Freire, 1998), and subjects of knowledge (Foucault, 1980;Quiceno, 1988) since they possess not only 'content, pedagogical, curricular, learners, and educational purposes' knowledge (Shulman, 1987), but also "empirical, experiential, normative, critical, ontological, and reflective-synthetic domains" (Kincheloe, 2004, p. 51). In the Colombian context, Castañeda-Londoño (2018) argues both a traditional and universal as opposed to a critical and emancipatory teachers' knowledge base. Teachers are also regarded as "agents of permanent change" (Núñez & Téllez, 2009, p. 184), "subaltern intellectuals" (Kumaravadivelu, 2014, p. 76), and public and transformative intellectuals within their communities.…”