Teacher Identity and Language Ideology via Critical Pedagogy

Abstract

This qualitative research aims to determine how language teachers' ontological beliefs on critical pedagogy build teacher identity and language ideology. Participants included 18 public junior high school teachers. Results revealed that critical language pedagogy (CLP) constructed teacher identities against its trajectory. These identities include the lack of familiarity and misunderstanding of CLP, resistance to a critical teaching approach, dependency on the official textbook or learning modules, and confidence in their traditional practices. Similarly, distorted critical language ideologies were also determined, such as language as an apolitical entity, CLP as a threat to social and cultural harmony, L1 as a threat to L2 learning, and the perceived dominance of American English. Both identities and ideologies are attributed to social conflicts and sociopolitical activities that produce oppression and marginalization. Hence, it is recommended that the education sector provide an opportunity to fully understand the role of criticality through dialogue, reflection, and praxes.