On the Incorporation of Critical Pedagogy in the Context of ESP Classes: The Case of an Iranian ESP Class of Teacher EducationProgram

Critical pedagogy (CP) which is deeply rooted in the philosophy of education rests upon a consideration oflanguage learning and teaching as a sociopolitical event, taking place in educational institutions that are not viewed asneutral and value free sites but as sociopolitical arenas in which values, ideologies, and power are in struggle. Throughthis process, teachers as transformative intellectuals are required to educate and emancipate oppressed students, raisetheir critical consciousness, and transform them into critical thinkers who challenge and question status quo, notaccepting and believing anything in the form of taken-for-granted information, deep rooted knowledge, andassumptions. CP as an approach to ESP also runs counter the idea that the purpose of teaching is to enhance students’pragmatic competence and capabilities to uncritically accept communicative norms in real life contexts. While CP asan alternative approach to teaching and learning has found comfortable home in ELT courses, little attention has beenpaid to its implementation in ESP courses, especially in EFL contexts and Iran is not an exception. Therefore, this studyis an attempt to operationalize CP practices and theoretical principles in an ESP class in one of Teacher EducationUniversities of Iran. Thirty-two undergraduate female student teachers of Educational Science participated in theresearch. During 16 sessions of this ESP course, the researcher as the instructor devoted 8 sessions to teach based onthe theoretical underpinnings and practices of CP to raise students’ critical consciousness to look through a criticallens at everything and try to alter the situation for betterment and improvement. Then, some provocative and hot topicsrelating to their field of study were selected and taught with the aim of linking students’ worlds and lived experiences tothe larger society. The researcher used observation, reflective journals, and semi-structured interview as theappropriate data collection tools of qualitative study. The emerged themes through the analysis of triangulated dataillustrated that the student teachers saw themselves as the agents who could transform the education and society, notaccepting any normativity and status quo. They also had positive attitudes towards their future job as teachers whocould create change in the next generation and equip them with critical thinking skills. However, this study also wasconfronted with some constraints such as the ethos of Teacher Education University, lack of students’ freedom ofspeech due to their job considerations and sociopolitical conditions, some students’ lack of tendency and interest in theparticipation, and prevalence of banking education.

Keywords:

Iranian ESP course , Transformative intellectuals , Status quo , Critical consciousness , Critical pedagogy , Communicative norms