Social Sciences and Humanities Open (Jan 2024)
Language teacher's pedagogical transformation through a critical autoethnographic lens
Abstract
The present critical autoethnography explores a language teacher's personal experiences of overcoming her resistance to change and transforming herself into an adaptive teacher through the practice of regular self-reflection. The subject of this study, Dar has been working in Japanese university English as a foreign language settings for over three decades. Dar had long identified as a language teacher with a strong sense of self-efficacy which helped her establish long-term teaching habits. However, as her autoethnographic narratives suggest, these habits promoted overdependence on the same pedagogical methods and approaches and gradually impeded her ability for creativity and pedagogical innovation in the classroom. One day she realized she needed to look inward and examine herself from a critical lens. As she unpacked her backpack, she acknowledged that being a white English-speaking American gave her a major advantage in the job market and thus, she was able to instantly secure a stable job. On the other hand, living in a foreign country as a single mother, which has one of the lowest levels of gender equality in the world (Lukyantseva, 2023; Nakamura et al., 2021), working in a predominantly male environment, having to learn a new language, and dealing with the challenges of raising a biracial child in a homogeneous environment helped her become more empathetic towards people with disadvantages. This empathetic lens allowed Dar to see the world through the lenses of her students. As she continued to engage in the practice of regular self-reflection, she also recognized her personal and pedagogical biases, which gave her an objective understanding of her position of authority in the classroom and enhanced her willingness to accept input from students and peers. As a result, Dar restored her curiosity for creativity and pedagogical innovation and regained her passion for teaching in the continuously evolving landscape of education.
