Multimodal Narratives in Brazilian Preservice Language Teacher Education: Criticality and Reflexivity as Counter-Post-Truth Discourses

• In Event: 35.035 - Bilingual and Language Teacher Education in a Post-Truth Era: Critical Perspectives From Brazil and the United States

Abstract

a. Objectives: This paper aims at analyzing multimodal narratives authored by pre-service language teachers as part of a critical multi-literacy pedagogical proposal in a Brazilian teacher education program. Based on a Freirean tradition which envisions the classroom as the place to engage in ‘pedagogies of hope’ (Freire, 2001), and move towards social transformation, we focus on the search for understanding issues related to our post-truth era, considering the multi-hyper-diverse universe in which we live (Blommaert & Rampton, 2011). 

b. Theoretical Framework: The paper is theoretically supported by the non-technicist, ethical, humanistic, inclusive, critical, and reflexive framework of “exploratory practice” which has oriented our initial and continuing teacher education work (Allwright, 2008). We believe in the urgent need for pre-service language teachers to move towards criticality and reflexivity and pay attention to the “quality of classroom life” (Gieve & Miller, 2006), to the interactional construction of emotions in educational settings (Boler, 1999; Zembylas, 2003) and to the social lives experienced inside/outside schools (Zeichner, 2008). Within this counter-hegemonic model, future language teachers are encouraged to become practitioner-researchers by adopting a permanent reflective, agentive, and investigative attitude about themselves as future professionals and about the markedly diverse educational settings characterizing the context of their current and future practices. In attempting to better equip future language teachers to face contemporary post-truth pressures, the desired epistemological transformation is to (re)conceptualize language teachers as “knowledge-makers” in the field (Allwright, 2006). Taking a political and critical view of multi-literacies and multimodality (Gee, 2000; Street, 1995), we understand language use and language education as a social practice (Fairclough, 1989). In our concern with issues of cultural diversity, we believe it is crucial for schools of language teacher education to consider how contemporary digital communication practices have transformed social interaction, as a way of educating competent and responsible users, who can live in the post-truth era critically, reflectively, creatively.

c. Mode of Inquiry: We employ critical multimodal discourse analysis (Cameron & Panović, 2014) to analyze the discourse of multimodal narratives produced by future language teachers who engaged in practitioner-research on their own teacher-education lives and practices, parallel to their experiences at the schools where these completed their student teaching assignments. The analysis has been conducted in collaboration with the student teachers themselves.  

d. Data Sources: Data analyzed pertain to illustrative multimodal narratives co/authored by pre-service language teachers, as well as inquiry posters co-constructed, in an inclusive manner, with school teachers and their students. 

e. Conclusions: Counter to current reductionist language teacher education dynamics in Brazil, the paper argues in support of a teacher education paradigm that is informed by an ethical, reflexive and inclusive stance, as well as by a multi-literacy and multi-modal approach to language teacher education that serves as democratic counter narrative to post-truth discourse of teacher education in our neoliberal era.

f. Scholarly Significance: In our contemporary post-truth era, aspects such as understanding, mutual development, criticality, reflexivity, agency, and inclusivity need to become widely fore-fronted in language teacher education practices, especially in contexts of predominant violence. 

Authors

• Inés K. Miller, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro

• Adriana N. Nóbrega, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro

• Liliana C. Bastos