Critical Pedagogy in Chinese College English Class

Abstract. This paper reflects on the drawbacks of traditional Chinese college English learning and teaching： too much focus on text analysis. Also it analyzes why students lose interests in learning English and the way to switch the situation. Finally， it introduces the concept of what critical pedagogy and discusses why critical literacy is necessary to develop in ESL class.

Key words： critical thinking， critical literacy， critical pedagogy， college English teaching

Introduction

Critical literacy aims at developing learners to critically receive the information besides acquiring basic literacy skills such as decoding， predicting， and summarizing. As they read， they can question the texts， figure out the author’s intent， understand the sociocultural influences， and to build up the connection between their old knowledge with the new knowledge. Critical literacy can thus help teachers and students expand their reasoning， seek out multiple perspectives and turn to be an active thinker.

Many educators in the US and European countries have long advocated the teaching of English critical thinking skills such as reasoning and problem solving. No action was generated， however， until 1980， when the Rockefeller Commission on the Humanities recommended that critical thinking be included in the U.S. Office of Education definition of basic skills. Three universities now offer a Master of Arts program in teaching critical thinking； the California State University system requires a course in critical thinking； and the College Board has made it one of the six basic skills needed for college （Educational Testing Service 1984， 8； Ennis 1985， 28） .

Critical thinking is not the same as， and should not be confused with， intelligence； it is a skill that may be improved in everyone （Walsh and Paul 1988， 13）. However， it is not something that necessarily develops with maturity and so should be taught to all ages. In the US， The New Jersey Test of Reasoning Skills， for example， found that the mean scores of college freshmen tested were less than one point above the mean scores of sixth graders （Lipman 1980）

However， Chinese situation is worse than that. Chinese university has not offered any degree in the critical thinking fields even though more and more educators admit the necessity of cultivating the critical literacy in higher university for the following reasons： In today’s information age， students can get more access to various sources of information through surfing Internet， watching TV and reading magazines and articles. It is apparent that the information they receive is not necessarily accurate and unbiased. Therefore， mere comprehensions can no longer satisfy the demand of modern reading. The readers have to distinguish the author’s purpose and the justification of the author’s position. However， Chinese students are accustomed to learning passively and they usually take it for granted that what is heard and read is always accurate and unbiased. And this complete acceptance of the information without reservation will mislead the readers inevitably. Learners need to develop skills to identify and work with this non-neutral facet of language （Hull， 2000）. It is high time for Chinese teachers explored the effective strategies in the subject teaching and learning to switch the reading from the traditional linguistic stance to the critical stance and cultivate the students’ critical literacy.

Why can critical literacy can be taught in ESL class

In China，the all the Chinese colleges and universities require the freshmen to take the two-year EFL course once they are enrolled and start their university study. According to the statistics released by the 2003 International Foreign Language Pedagogy Conference， 19 millions college students in China are studying English as a second language （EFL）， which ranked No.1 all over the world， and the numbers are still increasing.

Meanwhile， as English is the foreign language for the students and they are thus more easily misled due to the language barrier. Also because the students have spent six years in their middle and high school English studies， they have developed their proficient skills in English reading， and the course provides an appropriate opportunity for the students to develop their critical thinking skills through the critical reading.

Furthermore， the traditional language teaching makes the students nearly lost their interests in college English course which mainly focused on intensive English reading. Critical thinking skills lit up their new hope for the language learning in the college level？ It is high time for Chinese EFL teachers explored the effective strategies in the EFL teaching and learning to switch the reading from the traditional linguistic stance to the critical stance.

Application of critical pedagogy in the ESL class

Grounded on Confucianism， Chinese education is a typical banking education as described by Freire， which has always been focused on the teacher-centered style and students passively believe in what they learned and rarely challenge the learning materials. The learning experience proves to be a depositing process， in which students acted as an empty bank account and the teachers are the depositors who deposited knowledge into the students’ empty account on a daily basis. This bank concept of education attempted to fulfill the students’ mind with the established knowledge system and the conventional rules of the society and transform the students’ behavior as an oppressed individual to better adapt to actual situations and be dominated by the oppressor with greater ease. The students never questioned why they need to learn this or that and its relation to with their life since they regarded all the knowledge learned as necessary.

However， as independent thinkers and talents， college students have their strong desire to explore the unknown world and to build up the connection between their old knowledge with the new knowledge and nothing can stop their inquiry. Despite the enormous past and present creativity found in Chinese scientific， technological and artistic innovations， there is a strong call for the Chinese EFL to switch from the traditional linguistic stance to the critical stance and change as a mutual process and the students should be encouraged to liberate themselves and to “Tear down the wall” of conformity in education and express their individuality.

Also， they never challenged what they learned since they believed what they have learned is the truth. In such educational system， the students became passive in learning and thinking， and what is worse， the more passive they are， the greater extent they will adapt to the social reality， and the more their creativity will diminish. Meanwhile， the relationship between the students and the teachers is the oppressed and the oppressor and the students are supposed to obey the teacher’s orders and follow the teacher’s guides with no doubts at all. As a result， there is rare opportunity for the learners to challenge the educators’ teaching materials， teaching methods， and assessment system.

Good listeners and readers should make use of their background knowledge to evaluate what they are hearing or reading. Because texts often presuppose cultural knowledge， social attitudes， or the views of a particular segment of society，English language learners can benefit from instruction that helps them look critically at texts. Learners can be encouraged to question the social， political， and ideological elements in what they hear， say， read， and write. In this way， they can more fully explore the issues that affect their lives and consider the consequences of taking action to address these issues （Auerbach， 1999； Brown， 1999； Hammond & Macken Horarik， 1999；Hull， 2000）. Lessons that incorporate critical literacy perspectives can help learners examine the source of a text， including its biases and purposes； question the veracity and applicability of the information being provided in terms of their own lives； assess the broader societal messages about values， attitudes， and power relationships that are being conveyed through the text； and consider their own biases， reactions， and realities in relation to the text. Thus， these lessons will contribute to learners’ more comprehensive understanding of texts and the larger society （Brown， 1999； Hood， Solomon， & Burns， 1996； Lohrey， 1998）. Regardless of the form in which critical literacy is practiced in the classroom， there is recognition of the need for English language learners to take critical stances toward reading， writing， speaking， or listening. Variations on critical literacy practices can be found in standards efforts such as Equipped for the Future （Stein， 2000） and in the list of skills and competencies identified by the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills （SCANS） （U.S. Department of Labor， 1991）.

As for ESL teachers， besides their fundamental duty of facilitating the development of communication skills in English， providing substantive content， such as cultural information and English-speaking countries’ history， they must also take into consideration the combination of materials development or selection， lesson planning， curriculum development， assessment and evaluation with effective pedagogical strategies to cultivate the students’ critical literacy beyond language instruction.

For example， depending on the ideas， approaches， and pedagogies embraced by those using it， critical literacy can take different forms in actual pedagogical practice. Students can recognize that language use is not neutral by examining the interaction of language and power relationships with critical literacy. Students can critically evaluate the language and text which are intended to persuade， justify or entertain by identifying the writer’s or speaker’s purpose and for eventually using the language oneself for such purposes. In order to implement the knowledge with the practice， students need to decipher the issues that drive society， empower themselves， and ultimately take social action with critical literacy. （Auerbach， 1999； Brown， 1999； Hammond & Macken Horarik， 1999； Hull， 2000）.

The oppressors （teachers） deserve the oppressed’s （students’） respect naturally and challenging the teachers is believed to be an aggressive behavior. Therefore， such banking educational system restricts the students’ creativity. Especially for the ESL learning and teaching， which to great extent involves the western ideologies and the contradiction between the two cultures is unavoidable and it is quite often and easy for the students without the critical reading ability to be misled by the biased content or the ill-indented authors.

Therefore， Chinese college ESL teachers should concentrate more on motivating the students to challenge the authority： the author and the teacher as well. The basis is to build up a harmonious learning atmosphere in class and switch the relationship between the students and teachers from the oppressed and the oppressor the equality. Once the students challenged the teacher， as a critical thinker， in order to protect the equal status instead of authority， the teacher has to try to encourage the behavior. Also the linguistic perspectives such as developing students’ reading and communication skills in English， informing the students of cultural and historical background knowledge and imparting the strategy of acquiring higher grades in the English-related exams， should be weaken. On the contrary， the focus should switch to group discussion， independent analysis， and free debate in class. Although the teacher will try novel teaching methods and find it hard to keep the class quiet as in the traditional teacher-centered class， the students’ demands will be better met and the situation that the students lack of motivation of learning English will be improved. So in critical literacy education， the teachers seem to try every means to stimulate individuals to fight for liberation and they will act as the powerful ones who can create the real harmony beneficial for teaching and learning and finally achieve the inevitable realization of freedom.

Conclusion.

Critical literacy practice as a combination of efforts goes beyond surface meaning of a text by questioning who， what， why， and how of its creation and eventual interpretation. Critical literacy believes that education and knowledge have power only when they help learners liberate themselves from oppressive social conditions. The concept of critical literacy encompasses a range of critical and analytical attitudes and skills used in the process of understanding and interpreting texts and a number of related theories concerned with the constant interplay of reader and text in the meaning-making process.

It is high time for Chinese EFL teachers explored the effective way in the EFL teaching to help the students interact with information and learn to switch the reading from the traditional linguistic stance to the critical stance. As for EFL teachers， besides their fundamental duty of facilitating the development of communication skills in English， providing substantive content and decoding letters and words， they must also take into consideration the combination of materials development or selection， lesson planning， curriculum development， assessment and evaluation with effective pedagogical strategies to cultivate the students’ critical literacy beyond language instruction. They should also build up a harmonious atmosphere to encourage learners to engage with information sources and to question the social contexts， purposes， and possible effects that they have on their lives， which will help them to look at their own opinions， biases， and perceptions of reality， and to consider those of others. ForESL learners， critical literacy can be a means of comprehensively exploring the new language and culture in which they find themselves. Despite the great cultural and social difference between China and western countries， Chinese educators can make way to effectively incorporate the critical pedagogy with their EFL class instruction.

References

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