Integrating Critical Multiliteracies Pedagogy in ESL/EFL Teaching

This article argues for enacting a synthesis of English language teaching (ELT) and critical pedagogy into what we call critical multiliteracies pedagogy (CMP) in the context of ESL/EFL teaching. CMP challenges and expands language and literacy instruction beyond a skills-based pedagogy to be inclusive of diverse modes, voices, and identities to address critical issues across local, global, and transnational contexts in ESL/EFL classrooms. Particularly, we share how an international professional development program has promoted CMP for 20 Korean English teachers working with adolescent multilingual learners in South Korea. Findings show how participating teachers critically reframed their vision of ELT, enacting and envisioning new ways of teaching English through CMP despite challenges at the systemic level. Implications discuss how TESOL professionals can integrate CMP into diverse ELT contexts, responding to the call to uptake powerful new ways to communicate and create knowledge and ideas for a more just society