QISI GUO (MORAY HOUSE OF EDUCATION AND SPORTS)
EVALUATING CRITICAL LITERACY ON ELT READING MATERIALS: ENGLISH MINOR STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS IN A CHINESE UNIVERSITY : CREATIVITY AND CRITICAL LITERACIES
Critical education, particularly critical literacy practices, remain to be investigated within Chinese contexts due to political and educational restrictions. Few empirical studies have explored critical literacy practices in relation to materials evaluation from learners’ perspectives. This qualitative case study investigates how English minor college students in Mainland China viewed the effectiveness of reading materials as well as the teacher’s adaptation and supplementation in relation to critical literacy promotion. The analysis of data collected from semi-structured interviews of eight participants demonstrates students’ positive attitudes towards critical literacy and their needs for the update and adaptation of the existing reading textbook. The results reveal that students attached great importance to critical literacy and extended the importance of critical literacy to academic experiences and real-life scenarios. Appropriate EFL reading texts and tasks relevant to learners’ lives and experiences, overt instruction in decoding and meaning making and critical investigation are found to contribute to effective critical literacy practices. The findings also highlight that students’ awareness of critical literacy was strengthened by teacher’s appropriate teaching practice and an open and equal learning environment. Drawing on the key findings, this study proposes improvements in reading materials, teaching practice and a more balanced curriculum incorporating critical literacy to advance the agenda of critical literacy education in China and beyond.
Qisi Guo has achieved her Master in TESOL in Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh. She has been working as a lecturer in English at chengdu college of arts and sciences for 2 years. Her research areas include critical literacies and EFL materials development.