Stepping Into the Scene: Invoking Critically Reflective Practice Through Performance

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:45 am - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Arts based educational research and dance/movement

Abstract

This study explores how Boalian (1979) theater supported critically reflective practice among TESOL educators. Five white female teachers from the U.S. participated in a one-week immersive empathy experience in Guatemala, which included two performance-based focus groups in which they reflected on moments of injustice in their school contexts. Preliminary thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022) of the data illuminated how the experience enabled participants to perform, challenge, and change situations pertaining to advocacy, experience embodied emotional responses, and discuss systemic inequities. This study contributes to the literature on critical language education, positioning performance as a political and pedagogical tool that supports transformative possibilities (Beltramo et al., 2020) in teacher education.

Authors

• Felipe Trevisan Ferreira, University of Tennessee

• James Coda, University of Tennessee

• Liv H. Detwiler, East Tennessee State University