1 research outputs found
(Co)constructing critical pedagogies: Expanding on our departmentâs approach to language teaching
In this report, weâthe members of a curriculum working group (CWG) in Penn Stateâs German departmentâdescribe our efforts to decenter our German language sequence by integrating critical pedagogies into our departmentâs existing communicative language teaching (CLT) approach. We trace our process towards this goal, beginning with an exploration into and analysis of two critical pedagogies, namely Antiracist Pedagogy (ARP) and Social Justice Pedagogy (SJP). We ultimately adopt SJP because we find it to be a better fit for our purposes in German language instruction. We offer a framework to evaluate and didacticize existing as well as newly created course materials, guided by social justice (SJ) learning objectives. To illustrate our work, we describe the creation and implementation of an instructional unit in an intermediate German language course. Reflections from this courseâs instructor and student reactions concerning this unitâs instructionâas well as SJP in the language classroom in generalâmake evident the importance of critical perspectives regarding curricular development in fostering equitable classrooms