Implementing Critical Pedagogy in EFL Classes: Pre-Service Teachers’ Experiences

Abstract

The application of Critical Pedagogy (CP) based on strengthening and valuing the
identity of each person to educate them in diversity and achieve social equity
becomes key to helping learners identify themselves as agents of change to
contribute to the creation of social solutions. The study reports the experiences of
pre-service teachers of the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)
undergraduate program while implementing CP to teach English to children and
teenagers who are beneficiaries of a Charity Foundation in Cuenca, Ecuador. The
findings show that pre-service teachers were able to implement the principles of
CP not only to teach English but also to foster in students a sense of self-identity
and social justice, achieving the goals of using this approach.