reza khani; Mahmood Samaie; Ali Khadivar
Volume 11, Issue 24 , December 2019, , Pages 155-176
Abstract
Despite appealing notion of research based language teaching, we argue that scientific way of conducting research on English language teaching (ELT) is problematic since it ignores language learners’ subjectivity, instructors’ professionalism, practitioners’ culture and learning particularity. ...
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Despite appealing notion of research based language teaching, we argue that scientific way of conducting research on English language teaching (ELT) is problematic since it ignores language learners’ subjectivity, instructors’ professionalism, practitioners’ culture and learning particularity. Positivists pedagogical arguments neglect the social nature of meaning making instructional practices and emphasize objectivity and measurability criteria which lead to instrumental rationality. A critical discourse analysis of practical arguments proposed in pedagogical implications section of empiricist research articles revealed that positivists assumptions manifest themselves as the rules and regulations of carrying out scientific research. These yardsticks give power to the neoliberal tendencies to present reasons as premises of arguments to restrict and control the agency of ELT teachers as well as to deprofessionalize them. Since there is a close affinity between this paradigm world views and neoliberal policies, positivists research articles lead to the domination of neoliberalism on TEFL discourse. This indicates the ideological function of the article genre and awareness of that is crucial for the sake of democratic and fair education.
Esmaeel Abdollahzadeh; Somayeh Baniasad
Volume 2, Issue 217 , October 2010, , Pages 1-17
Abstract
imported instructional English textbooks in Iran and the learners’ attitudes towards English. Further, the instructors’ awareness of these ideologies was examined through a questionnaire. To find the ideological values, a content analysis of conversations, texts, and pictorial prompts ...
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imported instructional English textbooks in Iran and the learners’ attitudes towards English. Further, the instructors’ awareness of these ideologies was examined through a questionnaire. To find the ideological values, a content analysis of conversations, texts, and pictorial prompts in Spectrum and True to Life English textbook series was conducted and the extant ideologies were categorized and statistically analyzed. The results showed that imported textbooks tend to represent particular ideologies and cultural values. The most prevalent ideologies were hegemony of English, sexism, and cultural stereotypes. To discover the learners’ attitudes towards English, a 35-item questionnaire was developed, piloted and distributed by the researchers. The results showed that institute learners and high-school students have different attitudes towards English. Finally, language teachers’ awareness of ideologies in the textbooks was also examined. It was found that institute teachers are aware of the ideologies but they were not very much concerned with teaching or raising awareness about them.
