This document outlines the role of teachers in enhancing critical language awareness through English as a foreign language (EFL) reading in Japanese agricultural university settings. It discusses how teachers can make reading a social practice by selecting texts that engage students in critical reflection on power, identity and ideology. The document describes a lesson where students critically analyzed newspaper articles about eating dog meat from different cultural perspectives. It found that having students "talk back" and "write back" on the topic allowed them to express unique experiences and reflect on different cultures in EFL reading. The conclusion is that critical reading can be carried out in Japanese settings with some modifications to suit the local context.

1. Teachers’ role in enhancing critical
language awareness through EFL
reading in the settings of a Japanese
agricultural university
Takeshi SATO
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
tsato@cc.tuat.ac.jp
Presentation for Asian EFL Journal Conference
Pusan, 11th of April, 2009

2. Contents
1) Background
2) Aim
3) Critical Language Awareness(CLA)
4) Teacher’s roles for EFL critical reading
5) Critical Reading in Japanese EFL setting
6)Conclusion

3. English class in Japan
1.negative attitude of learners in
EFL reading class in Japan.
2.reading as a way to get linguistic
knowledge
3.uncritically accept the contents of
the texts.

4. 2. Aim
1.to consider EFL teachers’ roles
2.to make reading social practice
through CLA (Fairclough, 1992)
3.as a result, to make learners lively

5. 3. Definition of CLA
1.Pedagogic arm of Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA)
2.CDA refers to efforts to go beyond
surface meaning of a text by questioning
who, what, why and how of its creation
and interpretation (Lohrey, 1998)

6. Detail of CLA
1.CLA means the application of Critical
Discourse Analysis in teaching contexts.
2.CLA deals with
power, identity and
ideology.
3.“Critical” is
used not negatively but to
“draw attention the ideological bases of
discourses (Wallace, 1999: 98)”.

7. Definitions of CLA
(Wallace, 2003)
1. Views of Society:
2.CLA deals with social and political
issues
3.CLA is committed to the pursuit of
social justice.

8. 1. Views of pedagogy:
2.CLA is dialogic in process or
means towards outcome
3. Views of text:
4.no texts are ideologically neutral;
5.texts arise out of social
relationships, in particular
relationships based on power.

9. 1. Views of reading;
2.reading is a social process:
3.interpretation are negotiated within
communities;
4.interpretations may or may not
correspond to the model or
expected reading.

10. 4. EFL teachers’ role
✓Reading materials
✓Tasks
✓Communication with
learners

11. EFL teachers’ role (1)
➡Deliberate selection of reading
materials.
1. We should pose problems and
engage students in dialogue and
critical reflection. (Auerbach, 1995)

12. EFL teachers’ role (2)
➡Making tasks and questions based
on critical interpretation of the texts:
•
•
•
•
•
On what basis is it selected?
Who wrote it and for what purpose?
Whose voice does it represent?
How is its content related to the reality of students’
lives?
What kinds of responses are expected? (Auerbach
1995, Wallace 1993)

13. EFL teachers’ role (3)
➡Providing the students with more chance to
“dialogic inquiry (Wells, 1999)”
➡Encouraging the students to “talk back
(Wallace, 2002)” and “write back
(Pennycook, 1994)”.

14. 5. Critical Reading
1.Class name: Advanced Reading
15
classes in a semester.
2.Students: 36 sophomore Japanese
students in the department of veterinary
3.Level: intermediate to advanced
4.Age span: 19 to 49 years old.

15. Lesson plan
1. Warm-up
2. Reading texts
3. Discussion
4. Talking back
5. Writing back

16. Reading materials
1.A certain topic from 3 English
newspapers
2.About “eating dog meat”
3.Cited from South Korea, Japan and
the U.K.

17. Reading Tasks (1)
1. Who wrote each article?
➡Korean butchers will stop this
puppy being man’s best friend.
➡Dog Meat Thrice A Day?
➡A Traditional Dish: Dog Meat

18. Reading Tasks (2)
1.Reading these articles
2.Finding out which is suitable for
each title
3.from what expression or content
of each article you can recognize it

19. Talking back
1. Discuss with your neighbor(s) and then
make a short speech
Do you have the right of criticizing
others for eating the food we
never eat?

20. Writing back (1)

21. Writing Back (2)

22. Examples (1)
1. We use many animals for various
purposes such as food, pet and
experimental animal, some of which are
sacrificed by our lives without even our
noticing it. Because these include dogs
or primates, we cannot criticize eating
dog meat. (written by Japanese)

23. Examples (2)
1. Honestly, it is not very exciting to
imagine dogs being slaughtered but the
Koreans are just doing the same things
we do when we eat beef and pork. I
believe no matter what animals are, our
life never outweighs another. (written
by English)

24. Examples (3)
1.We have the right to criticize, not to force. (J)
2.It is impossible to completely understand the
cultures of other countries. (J)
3.We cannot deny culture. It is the case with
eating whales in Japan. (J)
4.Although there are many opinions on eating
meat, it is very good to begin this argument
by criticizing it. (J)

25. The availability of writing back
Kramsch and Lam(1999;71)
1.…the written word offers [non-native
speakers] the possibility of expressing
the reflecting upon their unique
experience as immigrant and
foreigners.

26. 6. Conclusion
✓Students didn’t accept the voice from
an English-speaking country.
✓It would be possible to carry out
Critical Reading in the Japanese settings.
✓Modifications are needed according to
out local settings (Canagarajah, 1999).

27. References
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Choices. In J.W. Tollefson (ed). Power and Inequality in Language Education. Cambridge
University Press.
Brown, H. D. (2004) Some practical thoughts about student-sensitive critical pedagogy. The
Language Teacher, 28(7), 23-27.
Canagarajah, S. (1999) Resisting Linguistic Imperialism in English Teaching. Oxford University
Press
Fairclough, N. (1992) Critical Language Awareness. Pearson Education.
Kramsch, C.,and Lam, W, S, E. (1999). Textual Identities: The Importance of Being
Nonnative. In George Braine (ed), Non-Native Educators in English Language
Teaching.
Lawrence Erlbaum.
Pennycook, A. (1994) The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language. Pearson
Education.
Lohrey, A. (1998) Critical Literacy: A Professional Development Resource. Language Australia.
Wallace, C. (1993) Reading. Oxford University Press.
Wallace, C. (2002) Local Literacies and Global Loteracy. in Block, D., and Cameron, D. (eds)
Globalization and Language Teaching. p.101-114.
Wallace, C. (2003) Critical Reading in Language Education. Pelgrave Macmillan.
Wells, F. (1999) Dialogic Inquiry: Towards Socio-cultural Practice and Theory of
Cambridge University Press.
Education.