The Content of the Form: The Linguistic Ideological Roots of the Transmission Model of Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: Positioning Language, Identity, and Content in the Classroom

Abstract

Despite frequent critiques of the transmission model of education over the past 30 or 40 years, this model has remained the dominant way that teachers understand their pedagogical practice. This paper argues that one of the main reasons why this model has remained so prominent is that even though it has been roundly criticized multiple times over, it is supported and held in place by a linguistic ideology that presumes a fundamental distinction between form and content. In this paper I present evidence from a tutoring session that demonstrates how form becomes content in this situation. This suggests an alternative language ideology in which the act of teaching is seen as a highly creative act - an act of poiesis.

Author

• Greg Thompson, Brigham Young University