EDUCATION FOR CONSCIENTIZATION: CULTIVATING A LOCAL ELT COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE THROUGH A CRITICAL PEDAGOGY PERSPECTIVE ON ACTION RESEARCH
EDUCATION FOR CONSCIENTIZATION: CULTIVATING A LOCAL ELT COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE THROUGH A CRITICAL PEDAGOGY PERSPECTIVE ON ACTION RESEARCH

Summary/Abstract: Although an ever-increasing amount of intercultural communication takes place in the cyberspace, local practice has not yet developed language teaching materials and methodologies geared towards preparing EFL learners to perform effectively in virtual intercultural encounters, where asymmetric relations of domination and subordination loom large. Empowering EFL learners and enabling them to assert more agency in intercultural communication in today’s increasingly hyper connected world demands the involvement of EFL teachers in a coordinated reflexive practice centered on conscientization, a concept introduced by Freire (1970) to refer to a principled process for instilling critical awareness about social reality. To foster an English language teaching (ELT) community of practice which is more attuned to Algerian EFL learners’ conscientization needs, the present conceptual article argues that action research should be assigned a pivotal role. It also contends that Critical Pedagogy –one of the four major perspectives on action research—possesses an enormous potential in the maintenance of such a community through inculcating the bottom-line critical attitude among its members. The paper closes with some suggestions for organizing and sustaining an ELT community of practice in the Algerian context.

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