Critical global citizenship education in the EFL classroom
- The objective of the present paper is to explore the potentials and challenges inherent in con- ceptualizations of global citizenship education (GCE) in the context of foreign language edu- cation. Specifically, we argue for a critical approach to GCE that emphasizes the significance of language as symbolic power by drawing on the concepts of critical literacy (e.g., Freire 1983; Janks 2014) and symbolic competence (Kramsch 2006; 2011; 2021). To illustrate the necessity of such a critical approach to GCE, we critically analyze teaching materials designed for the English language classroom as provided by the curriculum framework (KMK/ BMZ 2016). The analysis reveals how reliance on dominant Western liberal and neoliberal epistemologies, norms, and discourses might inadvertently reinforce the very inequalities that GCE actually seeks to address. By foregrounding the relationship between language, symbolic power, and GCE, we further redesign these teaching materials and incorporate pedagogical and methodological principles which are inThe objective of the present paper is to explore the potentials and challenges inherent in con- ceptualizations of global citizenship education (GCE) in the context of foreign language edu- cation. Specifically, we argue for a critical approach to GCE that emphasizes the significance of language as symbolic power by drawing on the concepts of critical literacy (e.g., Freire 1983; Janks 2014) and symbolic competence (Kramsch 2006; 2011; 2021). To illustrate the necessity of such a critical approach to GCE, we critically analyze teaching materials designed for the English language classroom as provided by the curriculum framework (KMK/ BMZ 2016). The analysis reveals how reliance on dominant Western liberal and neoliberal epistemologies, norms, and discourses might inadvertently reinforce the very inequalities that GCE actually seeks to address. By foregrounding the relationship between language, symbolic power, and GCE, we further redesign these teaching materials and incorporate pedagogical and methodological principles which are in line with a critical literacy and symbolic competence.…
| Author details: | Irene Heidt, Britta Freitag-HildORCiDGND |
|---|---|
| ISBN: | 978-3-98940-005-4 |
| Title of parent work (English): | Rethinking Cultural Learning: Cosmopolitan Perspectives on Language Education |
| Subtitle (English): | developing critical literacy and symbolic competence |
| Publisher: | Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier |
| Place of publishing: | Trier |
| Editor(s): | Ricardo Römhild, Anika Marxl, Frauke Matz, Philipp Siepmann |
| Publication type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Year of first publication: | 2023 |
| Publication year: | 2023 |
| Release date: | 2024/02/22 |
| Number of pages: | 15 |
| First page: | 99 |
| Last Page: | 114 |
| Organizational units: | Philosophische Fakultät |
| Philosophische Fakultät / Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik | |
| DDC classification: | 3 Sozialwissenschaften / 37 Bildung und Erziehung / 370 Bildung und Erziehung |
| 4 Sprache / 42 Englisch, Altenglisch / 420 Englisch, Altenglisch |
