Transformative Pedagogies for English Teaching: Teachers and Students Building Social Justice Together

Abstract

Abstract This reflection article reports on an eight-month critical ethnographic study in Bogotá, Colombia. I visited the classrooms of three English teachers and their secondary students from a diverse and marginalized community in the southwest part of the city. Data collected in the form of student focus groups and teacher interviews revealed how students and teachers attempted to transform their difficult living conditions. Teachers’ pedagogies provided the linguistic skills to discuss issues of injustice experienced by students in their communities and gave them hope to gain access to postgraduation academic opportunities. In this research process, I discovered that teachers create safe spaces for students to engage in meaningful English learning embedded in social justice and personal transformation pedagogies. Classroom tasks and projects developed social awareness in addressing community problems, which motivated students to change their socioeconomic conditions. Teachers hope that their pedagogical approaches inspire other teachers working in marginalized contexts to create lessons and projects that humanize relationships with communities.