Innovation in Language Learning

Critical pedagogy adopts a sociopolitical perspective of teaching and learning with implications for methodological approaches (Groenke & Hatch, 2009). This paper has two aims: first, to convey an understanding of what these new views are, whose voices are important, what the chief functions are, what they criticize, and the likely methodological changes they may generate for Literature-in-English (LiE) education; and second to advance proposals for adopting and implementing critical pedagogy in the Ghanaian senior high school (SHS) LiE classroom. Critical pedagogy has been variously referred to as ‘transformative pedagogy,’ (Pennycook, 1999) ‘pedagogies of resistance,’ (Aronowitz & Giroux, 1985) and ‘emancipatory literacy’ (Wink, 1997). Ten elective LiE teachers were purposively selected across five senior high schools in Ghana. In addition to observing the kind of methods they utilize in their LiE classrooms, the teachers were also interviewed to ascertain what they make of these methods. The study made several significant findings. Firstly, instead of the traditional teacher-centered approaches to teaching LiE, which is proven to be not too effective, teachers should adopt the ‘loop input’ model which specifically teaches the tenets of critical pedagogy while allowing the students to experience critical pedagogy in the course. Secondly, this approach enhances students’ participation and understanding of content. Thirdly since this model confers a participatory role on learners by employing dialogic and problem-posing teaching methods, learners are made responsible for their own learning. This study contributes to research on the implementation of critical pedagogies in the LiE SHS classrooms in Ghana as it offers an exploration of critical teaching methods and how this facilitates effective teaching and learning. Finally, the study recommends that the teaching and learning of LiE in the SHS should not be treated as a ‘decontextualized cognitive skill’ but rather a means of empowering students with a model of critical behavior which is useful in life (Nkansah, 2021).