Abstract:

After the recognition of the shift from a marginalized, centralized, transmission mode of education to an equitable, de-centralized, and transformation mode of education, critical pedagogues asked for the notion of critical language teacher education (CLTE) to pave the way for a critical appraisal of teacher education. Indeed, the notion of critical in CLTE is directly related to critical applied linguistics which relates micro-relations of applied linguistics to macro-relations of social reality. CLTE empowers teacher-learners to see the inequitable relationships of power and social reality and recognize that language is not neutral. In this domain, three critical perspectives are central including: critical self awareness, critical self reflection, and critical pedagogical relations. However, this domain does not limit itself to these factors and other principles are also at play such as dialogic engagement, reflectivity, post-method conditioning and identity. With the shift from cognitive SLA perspective to sociocultural framing, discourse and identity are at the heart of language teaching and learning. As for identity, self-knowledge is the key for successful teaching. If a teacher does not know himself, he could not know his students. The task of the postmethod teacher educator is to create conditions for prospective teachers to acquire necessary authority and autonomy that will enable them to reflect on and shape their own pedagogic experiences in a dialogic interaction. However, CLTE suffers from proposing a one-size-fits-all framework and also within institutions of education, there are traditional power hierarchies that are not easily disrupted. Impracticality is also another criticism leveled against CLTE which brings out difficulties for teachers to engage in critical works.

Keywords:

Critical pedagogy, critical language teacher education, Critical awareness, Identity and practices.