Developing Teacher Critical Language Awareness Through Narrative (Funds of) Knowledging

Abstract

This paper examines how in-service teachers enrolled in an MA in TESOL program demonstrated critical language awareness (CLA) as they designed and implemented ethnographic action research projects anchored in funds of knowledge. The action research project aimed to introduce teachers to school-based ethnographic research and to provide an opportunity to incorporate community funds of knowledge into their unit plans. Drawing from program documents such as the in-service teachers’ research proposals, papers, and unit plans, the study highlights how awareness of the intersections of language and local power dynamics in their schools informed their decision-making about their research and curricular designs. At each stage of the research process, the teachers narrated how they restructured their interactional roles within established classroom routines, school-playtime, community, and family-school events for purposes of inquiring about student and family funds of knowledge. By integrating theories of funds of knowledge and CLA, the analysis shows how teacher understandings of sociopolitical and sociolinguistic contexts shaped which, how, and whose knowledge became resources (or not) in their curricular plans. The study suggests the benefit of professional development that includes CLA for purposes of supporting teachers as they aim to incorporate and leverage funds of knowledge of students, families, and communities in their curricula.

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