Revising identities as writers and readers through critical language awareness

• Published in: English teaching : practice and critique 2013-12, Vol.12 (3), p.65
• Main Author: Huang, Shin-Ying
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: College Freshmen; Critical Literacy; Critical Reading; Critical thinking; Discourse Analysis; Discourse Communities; English (Second Language); English as a second language; Foreign Countries; Foreign language instruction; Language Proficiency; Language teachers; Metalinguistics; Qualitative Research; Reading Materials; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Self Concept; Student writing; Taiwan; Teaching Methods; Writing (Composition)
• ISSN: 2059-5727; 1175-8708; 1175-8708

This study investigated how the critical language awareness (CLA) framework can be implemented with an emphasis on writing and how English-language learners respond to CLA. The findings suggest that the students directed their attention away from the sole emphasis on reading for learning vocabulary and grammar to other dimensions of texts and identity possibilities as readers. In addition, the students responded favorably to the identity positions of writers made available through the writing implemented in this research. Furthermore, they were able to understand linguistic features as more than vocabularies and grammatical structures but also serve ideological purposes. However, the results also showed that the students considered the constructed nature of texts in relation to author intentionality and ignored how writers and readers both function within Discourse communities. These findings reveal the necessity for a more explicit discussion with students of the consequences of a critical awareness of texts for them as writers. The pedagogical implications from the research are discussed.