Leveraging Critical Dialogic Education to Support Preservice Teachers’ Developing Advocacy Orientations through Online Asynchronous Discussions

• In Event: Criticality, Dialogism, and Advocacy in Online Teacher Education: Exploring Avenues and Intersections Toward Equitable Futures

Abstract

This study examined how framing online asynchronous discussions in language teacher education through critical dialogic education (CDE) can support preservice language teachers’ readiness for advocacy. Using discourse analysis, we analyzed discussion data from 71 participants across three semesters to understand how intentional curricular design through CDE promotes critical engagement and advocacy-oriented teaching stances. Findings demonstrate how critically and dialogically framed discussion prompts encouraged participants to draw on personal experiences, connect content to broader educational contexts, and envision future teaching applications more effectively than discussion prompts that did not align with CDE. These findings demonstrate that purposeful online pedagogical design based on CDE principles can foster advocacy-oriented discourse essential for developing transformative teaching practices that advance educational justice for multilingual learners.

Authors

• Amber N. Warren, Vanderbilt University

• Fares J. Karam, University of Nevada - Reno