Research on Critical EFL Literacies: An Illustrative Analysis of Some College Level Programs in Taiwan

Abstract

In recent years, teachers and researchers have begun exploring the possibilities for critical English as a foreign language (EFL) education in Taiwan and other contexts. They have looked at the feasibility of critical literacy, a family of approaches to literacy education that first came to prominence in contexts where English is taught as a native or second/additional language or dialect. In general terms, the first generation of research has shown that critical EFL education is feasible. In this context, the present review looks at how issues relating to the emancipatory effects of critical EFL literacy programs and the pedagogic means by which these effects are achieved might be investigated by researchers. The review is conducted within a framework drawn from (1) the political philosophy of Nancy Fraser that enables a nuanced description of different forms of justice, and (2) the sociological perspective of Pierre Bourdieu as developed by Allan Luke to describe literacy education. Illustrative analyses are presented of some college level English programs conducted in Taiwan. Implications are drawn for classroom-based research to assist educators to create pedagogies that expand and deepen the emancipatory effects of critical literacy in EFL and other settings. A heuristic tool in the form of a set of analytic questions is provided to inform further research in this field.