Abstract
This paper attempts to illustrate the impact of Canadian social, political, and academic discourses on second language writing pedagogy in Ontario schools. Building upon the views that regard teacher knowledge as teachers’ sociocultural interactions and lived experiences, and not merely intellectual capabilities gained within teacher preparation, this article proposes that the impact of dominant social discourses on classroom practice might be more profound than teachers’ creativity and initiative. This idea is demonstrated by examining the findings of a grounded theory study of frequently employed strategies that can deal with intercultural rhetoric in EAL (English as an additional language) academic writing. Guided by Foucauldian critical discourse analysis, this article approaches the experiences of five Ontario EAL teachers with intercultural rhetoric in order to show the significance of the influence of dominant Canadian social discourses on their practice. This report, in particular, explores possible connections between the popularity of strategies that employ students’ first languages in EAL academic writing and dominant social, political, and academic discourses in Canada over the past 50 years. This paper, finally, poses questions about the future of EAL writing pedagogy as anti-multiculturalism discourses gain more dominance in Canada.
Highlights
This article attempts to question the impact of EAL (English as an additional language) writing teachers’ creativity and knowledge of pedagogy on actual classroom practice
This paper argues that the knowledge of the teacher is an important factor yet with significantly less influence than usually assumed since classroom practice is mainly tailored by dominant social discourses
This idea is explored in this paper by examining the findings of a grounded theory study of the experiences of five Canadian teachers of strategies that can deal with intercultural rhetoric in EAL academic writing
Summary
This article attempts to question the impact of EAL (English as an additional language) writing teachers’ creativity and knowledge of pedagogy on actual classroom practice. This paper argues that the knowledge of the teacher is an important factor yet with significantly less influence than usually assumed since classroom practice is mainly tailored by dominant social discourses. This idea is explored in this paper by examining the findings of a grounded theory study of the experiences of five Canadian teachers of strategies that can deal with intercultural rhetoric in EAL academic writing. This paper, poses questions about the future of EAL writing pedagogy as anti-multiculturalism discourses gain more dominance in Canada
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