Abstract
ABSTRACT This paper discusses a collaborative action research project integrating a focus on ideological awareness with genre-based pedagogy in the university literacy classroom. Through explicit instruction on the argumentative genre and reflection on the linguistic correlates of neoliberal ideology, we guided students in developing enhanced awareness of neoliberalism and its influence on environmental policy. In the independent writing stage, students’ argumentation revealed critical stances towards neoliberalism and adequate command of the target genre. The paper closes with general reflections and recommendations for the adoption of an explicitly critical approach in university literacy education.
Highlights
We discuss and critically reflect on a collaborative action research project oriented to fostering university students’ critical awareness of neoliberal ideology and its linguistic manifestation in argumentative texts
Spaces for critical awareness and democratic citizenship construction face the constraints of a shrinking humanistic curriculum and undergo stern pressures from the pervasive measurement paradigm (Davies & Bansel, 2007). Such changes in the aims of university education are inscribed in the broader social dynamics of neoliberalism, an ideological paradigm instituted towards the later decades of the 20th century and characterized by the extension of market and free trade
The second position; which Lukin associates with Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1989, 1992), (Socio-) Cognitive Linguistics (Van Dijk, 1990; Hart, 2014), and Pragmatics (Verschueren, 2012); holds that language is ideological under specific circumstances (e.g.: when used to legitimate or promote views on the social political order)
Summary
We discuss and critically reflect on a collaborative action research project oriented to fostering university students’ critical awareness of neoliberal ideology and its linguistic manifestation in argumentative texts (analytical expositions where writers defend a thesis statement by providing arguments based on different types of evidence). Spaces for critical awareness and democratic citizenship construction face the constraints of a shrinking humanistic curriculum and undergo stern pressures from the pervasive measurement paradigm (Davies & Bansel, 2007) Such changes in the aims of university education are inscribed in the broader social dynamics of neoliberalism, an ideological paradigm instituted towards the later decades of the 20th century and characterized by the extension of market and free trade. The 2018 World Inequality Lab report alarmingly finds that inequality has continued to climb steadily since the 1980’s and, by 2018, 1% of individuals amassed twice as much of global wealth as 50% of the world’s population (Alvaredo et al, 2018) Pedagogical proposals bringing these shocking social realities to the fore and implementing replicable practices in raising learners’ awareness of them are of prime importance. We go on to elaborate on to describe and reflect on the pedagogical interventions implemented
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