Why does critical literacy hit a snag in the Iranian EFL setting?

Abstract

This study sought to elucidate the challenges of critical literacy practice in an Iranian context. The objectives were twofold: (a) to find out what challenges teachers and students face in the practice of critical literacy and (b) to explore the state of critical literacy in language education. To this end, a sample of 12 English teachers and 120 students majoring in TEFL took part in the study. Data collection procedure was based on students’ reflective notes, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations. The analysis of the interviews revealed that factors including a) lack of the teachers' familiarity with the concept and tenets of critical literacy, b) students' poor English proficiency, c) lack of attention to critical literacy in curriculum and d) political issues were the major challenges. Classroom observations and students' reflective notes showed that teachers did not encourage students to become involved in ideologies imbedded in the texts.

Addressing challenges in the practice of critical literacy in EFL classrooms: A new framework

“…Although the notion of critical literacy has been around for a long time, it was only adopted into the context of EFL/ESL in the 1990s (Bobkina & Stefanova, 2016;Wallace, 1995) and flourished in the early of the twenty-first century (Fajardo, 2015). Its potential to address the social, political, and economic complexity of second/foreign language learning (Pennycook, 1990) has motivated many EFL teachers to practice critical literacy in their classrooms. The belated embrace of critical literacy by ESL/EFL education can be explained by a separation between the learning of English and critical literacy (Fajardo, 2015), teachers' primary focus on helping students become proficient in English (Keneman, 2016), and teachers' politically neutral standpoints (Gómez Jiménez & Gutierrez, 2019;Pennycook, 1990).…”

Investigating the Implementation of Critical Literacy Approach in the Middle-East Education Contexts: Three Main Constraints

“…Safari and Rashidi (2016) sate that activities such as small group conversations not only assist learners to develop their communicative language skills but also establish a peaceful environment for them to voice their viewpoints. Third, both teachers and learners should get familiar with critical literacy's principles and theories as well as communicative language skills through introductory training courses in the initial years of schools in order to develop their interactive and communicative skills for the higher education (Rahimi & Askari, 2015;Neophytou & Valiandes, 2013). Karadag (2014) determines that although recent studies have been conducted in primary and secondary schools, more rigorous surveys need to be done in universities and colleges.…”

“…According to Rahimi and Askari's (2015) study, having arguments beyond governmental and religious issues with the aim of enhancing critically student's literacy disturbs peaceful conditions of classrooms. Thus, teachers are cautious to divert learner's attentions away from such topics.…”

“…To throw light, Israeli authorities claim that students become rebellious by their teacher's instructions, as a results they closed down some of Palestinian kindergartens and schools. Rahimi and Askari (2015) report that textbooks and materials ratify by the authorities and academics are not suitable for negotiating inside the classrooms' boundaries because they repress and suffocate learners' skills. It means, such materials include safe topics and are socially and politically neutral and are full of new terms and long sentences that are hard to understand.…”

“…Based on numerous case studies undertaken in the Middle East contexts, policymakers disregard learners and educators from challenging and getting engaged with social issues in classrooms (Qanbari, 2011;Abednia & Izadinia, 2013;Rahimi & Askari, 2015;Neophytou & Valiandes, 2013;Zare-Behtash, Izadi, & Rezaei, 2017). The aim of this article is to investigate instinct literature in order to identify what challenges critical literacy faces upon its implementation in such contexts.…”