Participatory action research in a listening-

speaking class in second language teaching:

towards a critical syllabus

Eser Ordem
2021
Background
Political, social, economic arrangements and discourses that prioritize
neoliberalism can be regarded as performative acts that are constantly
practised and reinforced in each sphere of life, particularly in education

Phillipson (2017) emphasizes that there is a strong relationship

between the emergence of neoliberalism and the global spread of English.

The curriculum was composed of only anodyne topics, which severely

limited the opportunity to negotiate various issues on a social and political
level, and excluded socio-political issues.
Problems on socio-political problems such as extreme authoritarianism, suppresing
dissidents, silencing civil servants, and politicizing higher education. These aspects were
not included in the quizzes and exams.

This study is a personal reflection around a participatory research activity to create

meaningful change through reflection and action.
Research Objectives
This aimed to show how critical pedagogy could be used in a classroom,
and to bring the researcher as well as instructor, and learners together to
create a critical syllabus in a transformative manner.

This also entailed a participatory activity that actively engaged the

participants in the learning process of producing a small change in
collaboration with each other.
Method
This study is based on a participatory action research within the paradigm of
critical science.

In this study, the standard syllabus imposed by the school of foreign languages
was problematized. This syllabus included only anodyne topics and excluded
socio-political issues. However, it was clear that Turkey had serious socio-
political problems, such as extreme authoritarianism, suppressing dissidents,
silencing civil servants, and politicizing higher education.

The researcher decided to share the changing the syllabus with his four
colleagues, so that not only the students but also we, the instructors, could discuss
authentic socio-political issues freely in the classroom
Research context and participants
Setting Program
The program is
The setting is a public a translation and interpreting
university situated in the program in humanities,
South of Turkey training students as
translators,
interpreters, and English
teachers
Participants
a lecturer-researcher, four
instructors (10 & 6 six years of
experience) as ESL instructors in a
public university
The students
majoring in translation and
interpreting were studying English
at an upper intermediate
level, based on the results of the
national placement exam that
measured only the
receptive skills of grammar,
vocabulary, and reading.
(8 students)
Procedures
Main purpose

The changing of a critical syllabus for LS

Program

it comprises three stages.

1st stage: sitting in semi-circle in the class, facing the projector screen, collaborative
environement, watching movie and relate to the existing curriculum.
2nd stage: browsing for topics in the main textbook and the standard syllabus as prepared
by the school instructors in charge of the syllabus design and material development.

3rd stage: sharing the reflections among the instructor and students about the problems,
solutions, recommendations, and missing points regarding the process.
Findings
First, both the instructors and and learners admitted
avoiding expression of their radical ideas at a macro
level
Second, producing a critical syllabus at the micro
level only for the immediate settings.

The findings indicate that a critical syllabus

could be developed through group interaction,
negotiation, and collaboration in line with
Freire’s conception of teacher-student and student-
teacher relations.
 There are a six- stage recommendation for a critical
Findings action syllabus for LS, in line with the framework
of critical pedagogy.
• Introduce participatory approach to learners
• Familiarize learners with professional debates
and in-depth interviews
• Warm-up activity
• Show procedures that teachers and learners will
follow
• Produce and take action
• Give feedback to teachers and use of a
participatory approach
The incorporation of socio-political issues into the existing syllabus can help
teacher-students and student-teachers emancipate themselves from what is
imposed on them by those in power.

The findings also show that the participants and the researcher were anxious
about articulating their radical ideas because of the current political atmosphere.
Meanwhile, they reported to have developed a positive attitude
towards the preparation of a critical syllabus.
Critical comments
The study proposes in listening-speaking context; however, there is still limited
discussion on such aspects.

This study is a personal reflection around a participatory research activity to create

meaningful change through reflection and action; thus, it could be more obtained from
the selected participants with the specific criteria.