In my shoes
Empathy and Critical Emotional Literacy in EFL Lessons
Keywords:
English language teaching, empathy, politics, emotions, critical literacyAbstract
Part of an autoethnographic research project, this article reflects on two English lessons in which my undergraduate students were invited to discuss empathy in times of Covid-19 pandemic. I begin by arguing for the relevance of empathy and contextualizing my interest in the investigation of emotions in ELT, as well as my theoretical framework, which draws on the convergence of emotional and critical literacy theories. Next I provide an account of my lessons, based on an art installation entitled “The Empathy Museum”. My analysis of the lessons seeks to investigate the extent to which they were able to promote what Boler (1997) has termed a “semiotics of empathy”. I conclude by stressing the importance of emotional and critical literacy theories for formulating educational policies committed to political and social changes.
Downloads
References
AHMED, S. The cultural politics of emotion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004.
ANDREOTTI, V.; SOUZA, L. M. T. M. de. Learning to read the world through other eyes. Cambridge: Global Education, 2008. Available at: https://developmenteducation.ie/resource/learning-to-read-the-world-through-other-eyes/. Access at: 14 Feb. 2022.
BARCELOS, A. M. F. Letramento emocional no ensino de línguas. In: TOLDO, C.; STURM, L. (org.). Letramento: práticas de leitura e escrita. Campinas: Pontes Editores, 2015. p. 65-78.
BENESCH, S. Considering emotions in critical language teaching< Theories and praxis. London: Routledge, 2012.
BENESCH, S. Emotions and activism: English language teachers’ emotion labor as responses to institutional power. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, [London], v. 17, n. 1, p. 26-41, 20 Jan. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2020.1716194.
BOLER, M. The risks of empathy: interrogating multiculturalism’s gaze. Cultural Studies, [London], v. 11, n. 2, p. 253-273, 1997. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09502389700490141.
BOLER, M.; DAVIS, E. The affective politics of the “post-truth” era: feeling rules and networked subjectivity. Emotion, Space and Society, [Amsterdam], v. 27, p. 75-85, May 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2018.03.002.
CARR, N. The shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011.
COPE, B.; KALANTZIS, M. Literacies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
DELEUZE, G.; GUATTARI, F. A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. Translation and foreword by Brian Massumi. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013.
EMPATHY MUSEUM. In: WIKIPEDIA, the free encyclopedia. [San Francisco, CA: Wikimedia Foundation, 2022. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy_Museum. Access on: 14 Feb. 2022.
FROM where I’m standing. Empathy Museum, [S.l.], 2020. Available at: https://fromwhereiamstanding.empathymuseum.com. Access on: 14 Feb. 2022.
GÉNÉRATION écrans, Génération malade? Réalisateur: Raphaël Hitier. Producteurs: Simone Harari Baulieu, Ted Anspach, Laurent Robert Thibierge. Paris: ARTE France: Palmyra Films, 2020. 1 video (53 min).
JANKS, H. The importance of critical literacy. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, [Bingley], v. 11, n. 1, p. 150-163, May 2012. ISSN: 1175 8708.
MILE in my shoes. Empathy Museum, [S.l.], [20--?]. Available at: https://www. empathymuseum.com/a-mile-in-my-shoes/. Access on: 14 Feb. 2022.
SOUZA, L. M. T. M. de. O professor de inglês e os letramentos no século XXI: métodos ou ética? In: JORDÃO, C. M.; MARTINEZ, J. Z.; HALU, R. C. (org.). Formação “desformada”: práticas com professores de língua inglesa. Campinas: Pontes, 2011b. p.279-303.
SOUZA, L. M. T. M. de. Para uma redefinição de letramento crítico. In: MACIEL, R. F.; ARAÚJO, V. de A. (org.). Formação de professores de línguas: ampliando perspectivas. São Paulo: Paco Editorial, 2011a. p. 128-140.
TAGATA, W. Letramento crítico, ética e ensino de língua inglesa no século XXI: por um diálogo entre culturas. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada, Belo Horizonte, v. 17, n. 3, p. 379-403, jul./set. 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/1984-6398201710973.
TAGATA, W. M. Letramento crítico no ensino de inglês: em busca de uma ética contemporânea. In: HASHIGUTI, S. T.; BRITO, C. C. de P.; RIBAS, F. C. (org.). Escuta crítica: formação docente em Letras, presencial e a distância. Uberlândia: EDUFU, 2019. p. 83-113.
ZEMBYLAS, M. Beyond teacher cognition and teacher beliefs: the value of ethnography of emotions in teaching. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, [London], v. 18, n. 4, p. 465-487, July/Aug. 2005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390500137642.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 William Mineo Tagata
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Autores de artigos publicados pela RBLA mantêm os direitos autorais de seus trabalhos, licenciando-os sob a licença Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0, que permite que os artigos sejam reutilizados e distribuídos sem restrição, desde que o trabalho original seja corretamente citado.
