Is it ‘Critical Literacy’ or ‘Personal Growth’ or a bit of both? What do English teachers in England believe in about the purpose of English as a mother tongue?
Submitted by:
Andy Goodwyn
Abstract:
Key words: English/mother tongue teaching, teacher identity, teacher beliefs, theories of English
As 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the Dartmouth seminar and of ‘Growth Through English’, John Dixon’s extraordinarily influential report about the UK’s reflections on the purpose of English based on the seminar, it is timely to consider what lasting influence there has been of so called ‘Growth pedagogy’. Based on research in England and the USA over 25 years, this paper argues that PG has remained central to English teachers in the UK and also has been highly influential in the USA. In both those countries neither the term ‘Literacy’ nor ‘Critical Literacy’ have become accepted within the professional discourse of teachers. This seems something of a paradox given the emancipatory beliefs of teachers in both countries. What does all this say about those teachers and what comparisons, contrasts or commonalities might be found with mother tongue teachers across the world?
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Goodwyn, A. 2017 ‘From Personal Growth [1966] to Personal Growth and Social Agency [2016] – proposing an invigorated model for the 21st Century, English in Australia, Issue ?,. accepted, final revisions November 2016]
Goodwyn, A. 2016, Still growing after all these years? The Resilience of the ‘Personal Growth model of English’ in England and also internationally
English Teaching, practice and critique, Vol 15. Issue 2, pp. 7-21
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