Developing a reading course model for pre-service English language teachers within the framework of critical pedagogy

Abstract

Today’s global world brought significant changes to our learning and teaching habits, skills, and competencies we need to gain to deal with and make decisions on challenging global issues. One of these essential skills we need to improve is critical thinking skills. Enhancing critical thinking skills and developing an in-depth critical consciousness on challenging issues can be achieved through the improvement of two essential literacy skills, reading and writing. This paper presents a reading course model developed to improve pre-service English language teachers’ critical reading skills within the framework of critical pedagogy. Many English reading courses in higher education level are designed with traditional approaches that aim to improve the basic reading comprehension skills of second language (L2) readers. Unlike these courses, the course model reported in this paper aims to develop pre-service English language teachers’ critical reading skills as well as consciousness on critical global issues by creating a context they experience reading in English as a social act by having a deeper level of engagement with critical global issues such as social justice, gender equality, refugee problems, human rights, and environmental challenges. The paper first provides a detailed description of the theoretical framework behind the design of the course and then presents the course with a focus on learning objectives, course procedure, reading text selection and assessment of students’ works. The pedagogical considerations and implications are provided in the conclusion for instructors who are interested in implementing a reading course enriched with critical pedagogy.