A participatory process toward a critical discourse: English second language teachers in South Africa

Abstract

This study involves six English Second Language Teachers working in two different Education Departments responsible for the education of Blacks in South Africa. The teachers participated in a Participatory Research process towards developing a critical discourse in materials development for classroom use. -- This thesis is divided into two parts. The first describes an exploratory process in which the participants responded to specific research questions through a procedure of general reflection on teacher work and environment and a more specific investigation of language in education and teachers in society. At the end of this process, the participants were asked to focus on particular models of materials development. -- The research is located within the National Education Coordinating Committee in South Africa which was established to investigate and develop a People's Education which would respond to the educational needs of all the people in the country. -- The second section of the thesis evaluates and reflects on the extent to which the participants were able to develop a critical discourse. It comments more generally on the use of Participatory Research as a research methodology and considers short-term and long-term implications for further research. This thesis contributes to notions of participatory research and to the analytical capacity of the participants.