A Review of Critical Pedagogy-Informed Collaborative Professional Development Practices in English Language Teaching

Una revisión de las prácticas de desarrollo profesional colaborativo de docentes de inglés basadas en la pedagogía crítica

Serhat Başar serhatbsr94@gmail.com

Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey

İrem Çomoğlu irem.kaslan@deu.edu.tr

Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey

Earlier dominance of conventional language teacher professional development (PD) programs and policies, which neglected the complex nature of English teachers’ cognition and their developmental pathways (Borg, 2006), positioned teachers as passive technicians and transmitters of predetermined pedagogical knowledge and theories generated by other parties (Freeman, 2001; Granados Beltrán, 2009; Richards & Farrell, 2005). Such a positioning alienated language teachers from their knowledge and experiences that can be the basis for constructing their personal theories of teaching (Castañeda-Londoño, 2021; Kumaravadivelu, 2003). This kind of conventional PD practices, delivered as one-shot seminars or training, deprived teachers of accessing sustainable PD opportunities (Burns et al., 2022). Likewise, the lack of opportunities to uncover the sociopolitical roots of dominant ideologies behind language teaching and learning practices (Crookes, 2015; Cruz-Arcila et al., 2023; López-Gopar, 2016; Pennycook, 2004) contributed to this passive positioning of language teachers who were expected to soak information from mainstream theories and practices and transfer them to learners, who were conceived as “empty vessels” to be filled through the banking system of education (Freire, 1970).

With a sociocultural and critical turn in teacher education and development, however, there has been a shift in the positioning of the teacher from a mere technician to an agent of change (Freire, 1973; Kincheloe, 2009). This new outlook on the teaching profession considers teachers as agentive practitioners who can generate personal theories and practice them in their educational contexts (Griffiths, 2000; Kumaravadivelu, 2003). Even though the theoretical positioning of teachers does not necessarily match their actual self-positioning due to a plethora of individual, social, cultural, and institutional factors, there has been an increased interest in transformative PD in English language teaching (ELT) in forms of reflective practice (Farrell, 2004, 2019), collaborative and dialogic teacher learning (Johnson & Golombek, 2016), teacher research (Burns, 1999; Dikilitaş & Griffiths, 2017), and critical pedagogy (Kincheloe, 2011a).

Of these transformative tools for teacher PD in ELT, critical pedagogy (CP) pinpoints the fact that language teaching and learning practices have been inequitably shaped for the advantage of some dominant ideologies so that these practices reproduce themselves to maintain the status quo of the advantageous groups and their dominant power over the oppressed members of society (Giroux, 1997; Hawkins & Norton, 2009). In this sense, CP strives to encourage teachers and learners to unravel that language teaching and learning practices have yet to be constructed neutrally by deciphering the historical, social, political, and economic agenda behind traditional educational practices and materials. Hence, CP aims to reconstruct teaching practices by developing transformative, socially, politically, and culturally responsive educational practices (Freire, 1970; Giroux, 1983; McLaren, 2015). Drawing on the collective nature of CP and the power of collaborative work in creating social change (Audrain et al., 2023; Drury et al., 2015), this systematic review aims to provide a comprehensive appraisal of CP-informed collaborative PD practices in ELT conducted in Asian, South/Central/North American, European, and the Gulf countries.

CP originates from the critical theory affiliated with the Frankfurt School (Foucault, 1972; Habermas, 1976), which suggests that reality and knowledge are not objective, neutral, and natural, yet fragmented and indoctrinated by socially, culturally, economically, and politically privileged groups. Oppressing the people who are not in power by maintaining and reproducing the knowledge and reality through a hidden curriculum (Giroux, 1988), these privileged groups accumulate systematic power and advantage in society since our actions—such as language use, interaction, and learning—are shaped and persisted in a non-threatening way to their accumulated power and authority with the help of implicit indoctrinations of the hidden curriculum (McLaren, 1989). Given the power distance between privileged and oppressed groups, CP offers a theoretical and pedagogical framework to transform educational practices by increasing the consciousness of teachers and their learners (Freire, 1973).

Since English is undoubtedly the most important communication tool worldwide, language teachers are essential in raising learners’ consciousness to express their voice globally through the language asset (Hawkins & Norton, 2009). As such, language teachers can aim to be more critically aware of the disregard of multicultural local varieties (Pennycook, 2006), the linguistic and methodological nativism that underestimates the role of non-native learners and world Englishes (Bayyurt & Sifakis, 2015; Canagarajah, 2007), and the indifference to inequalities and cultural needs of learners in ELT teaching materials. This improved awareness could help English learners reconstruct their identities and equip themselves with liberatory actions to minimize societal power distance (Giroux, 1988).

Introducing critical pedagogical practices to language teachers at pre- and in-service levels can raise their awareness of current sociopolitical inequalities and the hegemonic effects of dominant educational practices. Furthermore, teachers may prefer transforming these dominant oppressive ideologies through critical collaboration with their colleagues (Kincheloe, 2009). In this regard, language teachers as transformative intellectuals (Giroux, 1992) have a prominent role in enforcing dialogical actions with their colleagues and learners to reach socially constructed transformative knowledge in a non-transmission-based yet egalitarian and intersubjective process (Freire, 1970; Kincheloe, 2011b).

Although it is unrealistic to expect that collaborative CP alone will change teachers’ views and practices mainly shaped by individual, institutional, and sociocultural traditions and constraints, enacting a critical and collaborative dimension in language teacher education can help teachers co-construct knowledge that is responsive to their individual, local, and cultural needs (Kincheloe, 2011b; Kohli et al., 2015). In this sense, several forms of action research, including critical (Kincheloe, 2011a), participatory (Santos, 2016) and collaborative (Burns, 1999; Ceylan & Çomoğlu, 2023); teacher study groups (Francis et al., 1994); lesson study (Lewis & Hurd, 2011; Uştuk & Çomoğlu, 2021); critical friends groups (Andreu et al., 2003); reflective practice groups (Aydın & Çomoğlu, 2023); and professional learning communities (Hord, 1997) can function as emancipatory instruments leading to an educational and social change.

Since the PD of English language teachers through critical collaboration is important, this systematic review aims to investigate the empirical research conducted in Asia, South/Central/North America, Europe, Australia, and the Gulf countries to shed light on the role(s) critical collaborative PD practices play in teachers’ immediate environments and society overall.

As there is a growing interest in using research evidence to inform educational practices, systematic reviews serve as secondary research, conveying a broad and synthesized view of a particular research topic, which could otherwise not be possible by single studies (Newman & Gough, 2020). Hence, in this study, we conducted a systematic review to analyze and synthesize previously conducted critical collaborative PD research and develop new perspectives for the future of critical collaborative PD (Nye et al., 2016). We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flow chart diagram (Figure 1) to portray the study selection process (Haddaway et al., 2022).

Figure 1
PRISMA Flow Chart

Data Analysis

Following Newman and Gough’s (2020) interconnected stages for a systematic review, we first coded the studies, evaluated their quality, and synthesized their findings. We recorded the information about the research topic, methods used for PD, the role of collaboration and CP, and the findings for each study (Newman & Gough, 2020). The initial coding process enabled us to form a comprehensive table presenting each study’s key characteristics. Using the table, we re-evaluated each study regarding appropriateness for the review (Gough, 2007). Eventually, we synthesized the studies by mapping them to one another and looking for common patterns to reach overarching themes (Newman & Gough, 2020). The insights we gained from the earlier stages of the review process helped us get familiar with the studies and identify the common patterns in their findings (see Table 1). In line with Newman and Gough’s (2020) synthesizing phases, we read the original texts individually, came together several times to identify the common patterns, and finally agreed upon the three overarching themes.

Table 1
Illustrative Examples of Codification for the Third Theme

The thematic analysis of findings in our dataset yielded three major themes: (a) Developing a Critical Stance as Teachers, (b) Pedagogical Projections onto the Classroom, and (c) Social Change Within and Beyond the Classroom. We discuss each theme below, focusing on various national and regional contexts through relevant examples.

Our synthesis of the selected studies in this review revealed that ELT teachers’ experiences of CP-informed collaborative PD practices enabled them to develop a critical stance on their everyday practices and reconstruct their pedagogies in a transformative way (Freire, 1973; Gray, 2019). In this sense, ELT teachers were able to use the theoretical and pedagogical framework offered by CP-informed collaborative PD to transform their pedagogical practices. In most of the studies reviewed, this resulted in increased consciousness and empowerment for teachers and their learners, as supported by Freire (1973) and Kincheloe (2011a).

The critical standpoint adopted helped teachers to reposition themselves as intellectual practitioners who are consciously aware of the indoctrinated hegemonic educational views that constantly reproduce the accumulated power of hegemonic groups monetizing education to the detriment of disadvantaged groups (Kincheloe, 2008). Shifting the teacher positionality to transformative intellectualism (Giroux, 1992), CP-informed collaborative PD practices democratized educational perspectives and practices by deconstructing the universally standardized and centralized educational views and prioritizing the local and cultural epistemologies and ontologies (Bartolomé, 2004). Having developed a critical and enriched perspective into macro-level world issues impacting micro-level educational actions through CP-informed collaborative PD, ELT teachers in the studies we reviewed collaboratively unlocked new ways to democratize the language learning process and empower themselves and their learners globally through the language, as suggested by Hawkins and Norton (2009).

In this regard, CP, as a consciousness-raising framework, offered emancipatory lenses to deconstruct the hidden curriculum of the status quo and empower oppressed groups (Bourdieu, 1991; Giroux, 1988; McLaren, 1989) by drawing attention to the macro-level issues impacting educational decisions and actions such as social justice and power (Kincheloe, 2011b), multicultural varieties (Pennycook, 2006), and the hegemonic nativism that disregards non-native ELT teachers (Bayyurt & Sifakis, 2015; Canagarajah, 2007). Besides, the collaborative nature of critical PD activities had a vital role in the consciousness-raising process of teachers since they collaboratively reflected on each other’s perspectives (Başar, Kuzu, & Çomoğlu, 2023) and progressed in a supportive and safe environment (Murray, 2015).

Even though the studies in our dataset show that ELT teachers could become more critical in perspective and more transformative in their instructional practices, we found that teachers’ expected role to become social change leaders was confined to their immediate classrooms. This situation did not result from language teachers not wanting to promote large-scale societal change or engage in leadership or activism. Rather, their broader contexts did not allow them to do so.

To illustrate, the challenges faced by teachers in the Gulf and Eastern countries (see Alateeq, 2020; Al Riyami, 2016; Sperrazza & Raddawi, 2016) show that country dynamics resulting from anti-democratic governance and cultural passiveness prevented ELT teachers from implementing CP in its complete sense. Besides, it is seen that ELT teachers in democratically advantageous countries such as the US and Canada could be more prepared to freely engage with CP with the support of non-governmental, international professional learning organizations. Thus, considering the impediments we detected in our dataset, reconsideration of theoretical and practical aspects of CP, particularly within CP-informed PD programs, to offer more comprehensible and tangible materials for ELT teachers can facilitate the conceptualization and implementation of CP more efficiently (Lin, 2004; Yulianto, 2015).

As for the teacher, learner, and institution-based constraints, the studies in our review revealed that the way teachers experience CP-informed collaborative PD practices might vary because of their existing knowledge, beliefs, pedagogical habitus, and willingness. In this sense, prioritizing teachers’ previous habitus and practical theories (Bourdieu, 1977) and customizing CP-informed PD through responsive mediation (Johnson & Golombek, 2016) without indoctrinating CP principles in a transmission-based way can enrich the potential impact of CP. Foregrounding teachers’ willingness to plan PD practices and steps is also a prerequisite to fostering sustainable PD outcomes (Burns et al., 2022). As some learners’ linguistic performance and their tendency to dominate critical discussions (Nuske, 2014; Pessoa & de Urzeda Freitas, 2012) can disrupt the critical atmosphere of CP-based lessons, the adaptation of course materials and preparing classroom discussion protocols might alleviate the potential challenges that may occur in the classroom. Also, institution-based constraints such as curricular obstacles, workload, and lack of institutional support (Nuske, 2014; Safari, 2017) hindered teachers from reaching the critical objectives of CP-informed collaborative practices. Hence, administrative support seems vital in sustaining the continuous cycle of CP-informed collaborative PD practices in language teacher education (Burns et al., 2022) and creating a more impactful social change.

Furthermore, CP-informed collaborative PD practices may increase their potential to create a more considerable social change despite the impediments mentioned above by extending their scope into the larger community (Junaidi, 2019) and disseminating the outcomes with other stakeholders of the educational ecosystem (Başar, Çomoğlu, & Dikilitaş, 2023). As Junaidi (2019) reported, conducting advocacy research collaboratively as a critical PD tool for the benefit of a non-profit organization in the community can promote the praxis to bridge the critical theory and culturally informed practices for transformation. Likewise, as Başar, Çomoğlu, and Dikilitaş (2023) addressed, disseminating the takeaways of a CP-informed collaborative PD program through a research seminar can make teachers’ work more visible and influential to ignite institutional social change by displaying that teachers can take the initiative to transform pedagogical conventions. Such actions to socialize CP and make it more visible in the community can enforce the opportunities to build inter-institutional partnerships, leading to more sustainable projects to maximize the scope of social transformation (Noffke & Somekh, 2009). Enlarging the scope of collaboration and enriching the collaborative dynamics within an educational ecosystem can also increase the possibilities for social change. Consequently, collective action can be succeeded through non-hierarchical collaboration among community members, which reciprocally contributes to each community member’s agency and potency. This generates collective consciousness, emancipating the members’ new position within the community (Brutt-Griffler & Samimy, 1999; Drury et al., 2015).

In light of the findings from our review, we see that CP-informed collaborative practices have a substantial role in the professional growth of ELT teachers across the globe since they are provided with emancipatory PD tools to initiate a conceptual and pedagogical transformation in their educational settings. The reviewed studies reveal that CP is a fundamental and contemporary framework continuing to impact research studies on language teachers’ PD through collaborative practices based on non-hierarchical teacher partnerships and/or communities to take collective action (Drury et al., 2015). Despite the context-bound challenges language teachers might face, CP-informed collaborative PD practices have the potential to enable them to reconstruct their perspectives and pedagogies and ignite a new pathway for possible social change within and beyond the classroom. Hence, future research could explore the sustained impact of CP-informed collaborative practices on ELT teachers’ professional growth to advance understanding in this area further. Additionally, further studies in diverse educational contexts could provide insights into the adaptability and effectiveness of CP frameworks in fostering pedagogical transformation and promoting broader social change.