Development and application of an anti-racist approach in English language teaching: from theory to practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT South Koreans have long perceived their country to be an ethnically homogenous nation despite the rapidly growing inflow of migration workers and international marriage migrants. Such perceptions foster negative attitudes towards people viewed as outsiders. To counter such attitudes, English teachers acknowledge the need to nurture respect for cultural diversity and recognition of pluralism in a globalized world in their study and address anti-racism in their regular English class. However, what and how to teach anti-racist pedagogy to students are not sufficiently studied in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. In this regard, this study aims to provide English teachers with step-by-step guidelines on how to prepare for and implement anti-racist pedagogy to the English language teaching in a pre-service English teacher education course in Korea. To achieve these pedagogical goals, I discussed the need of an anti-racist approach at school and provided the rationales and pedagogical practices for involving pre-service English teachers in certain activities that can raise awareness about issues of inequality, oppression and marginalization. Moreover, I suggested anti-racist teaching strategies for English teachers to implement in their classrooms and provide an opportunity to design their course and develop their teaching skills through a teaching practice experience.