Abstract

Critical pedagogy (CP) is a new educational approach that aims to remove social and political injustice and tries to help learners question and challenge oppression. This approach that derives its interest from critical theory has entered the field of research in recent years. In line with this trend, the present study aimed at investigating Iranian EFL teachers’ attitudes towards the application of critical pedagogy, taking into account teachers’ teaching experience and academic background. To this end, a Likert scale questionnaire developed by Tabatabaei (2013) was administered to 99 Iranian EFL teachers teaching at different institutes in Shiraz. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were recalculated. As far as the validity of the scale was concerned, it was established through factor analysis and the reliability of the questionnaire was checked through Cronbach’s alpha. Statistical procedures, namely, descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, and two-way ANOVA were applied. The findings of the study revealed that the EFL teachers mostly agree with the application of critical pedagogy. No significant difference was found between novice and experienced teachers' attitudes towards the principles of critical pedagogy. Furthermore, the results indicated that there was no significant relationship between teacher's academic experience and their views regarding critical pedagogy. However, as their teaching experience increased, they developed positive attitudes towards CP.

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