Summary: | 碩士 === 中原大學 === 應用外語研究所 === 99 === ABSTRACT
It is believed that literacy (ways of using written language) is not merely the ability to read and write but rather is a social practice (Barton, 2007; Fairclough, 1992, Ivanič, 1998; Street, 1984 &1995), shapes and being shaped by different social contexts. Literacy is not about texts but also about practices around texts (Ivanič, 1998). Language users do not only decode the text but also engage in interactions with the text and other social actors. Guided by this perspective of literacy, researchers and educators argue that an effective literacy practice involves critical evaluation of the text and social actions embedded in the literacy event. However, EFL teaching of literacy mainly focuses on teaching four skills, i.e. speaking, listening, reading, and writing at the discrete level. This study is thus aimed to fill the gap in the existing literature by exploring the use of critical literacy (CL) program in an EFL university class in Taiwan. Drawing upon a case study approach, participants of the study are three Taiwanese EFL learners, sophomores majored in English in a research-oriented university in Northern Taiwan, and their English proficiency is between the intermediate level and the upper-intermediate level. CL program is implemented in one academic writing course for one semester. The main data sources include critical literacy worksheets, students’ learning logs, students’ writing, and transcripts of the interviews with students and the instructor. I draw upon Fairclough’s (1992) three-dimensional model of text as the analytical framework, integrating both the linguistic analysis and contextual analysis. Data analysis reveals two research findings. First, the implementation of CL is proven to promote EFL students’ English literacy learning and to stimulate their critical thinking. Second, although EFL students’ awareness of English language-in-use is strengthened, the instructor is suggested to provide more pedagogical facilitation in the process of re-constructing ideas through written texts.
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