Negotiating Gender and Sexual Diversity in English Language Teaching: ‘Critical’-Oriented Educational Materials Designed by Pre-Service English Teachers at a South African University

Abstract

Chapter 7, by Navan N. Govender, considers how the author used a critical literacy course in a South African university to engage Bachelor of Education students in issues related to sex, gender, sexuality, and the conflations inherent. It further argues that confronting controversial topics in the classroom requires that both teachers and learners enter risky spaces in order to deconstruct, disrupt, and reconstruct relations of power in context. The pre-service English teachers were required to produce educational materials that used critical literacy to teach about gender and sexual diversity. The author begins by discussing what it means to do critical literacy before analysing the materials. His analysis unpacks the kinds of risks students were prepared to take and the slippery landscapes that come with confronting real and uncomfortable conversations, identities, and ideologies.