Thesis

ESL international pre-service teacher development : intercultural education as the enacting of an anti-oppressive pedagogy

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Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2025
Thesis identifier
  • T17533
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 202356659
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • Teaching English as a second language in China has and continues to be both a lucrative business within the country, and an exciting opportunity for native English speakers to gain exposure to a different culture while gaining teaching experience at the same time. This endeavor presents wonderful opportunities for cross national and multicultural cooperation and collaboration, broadening the minds of all participants and enriching the lives of learners in China. Unfortunately, these opportunities have also come to be undermined by narrow bottomline thinking from a corporate perspective, which undercuts the potentialities mentioned above by positioning international teachers as commodities to be marketed and sold for financial gain at the cost of personal and professional dignity, and educational excellence. These are symptomatic of a deeper embedded set of psychological attributes which succeed in perpetuating an imbalanced landscape which manifests itself as oppressive in both form and function and thus requires progressive interventions to enhance the probability of such endeavors reaching their full potential for good. It is thus suggested that pre-service preparation and development courses ought to be made compulsory for new international participants travelling abroad to teach in China. This prescribed course sees cultural competence as a key learning aim to adapting, adjusting, and even transforming said problematic landscapes. The course is articulated as an intercultural education course and underpinned by anti-oppressive pedagogies which take seriously the need to explore the psychological and relational dimensions of all participants to better ensure an effective and lasting transformation within these spaces.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Roxburgh, David
  • Kenklies, Karsten
Resource Type
DOI

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