Commentary on Pedagogical Stance as Mediated by the Textbook in

Classroom A &B

In both classes, when the teacher implemented the textbook, he aligned the textbook exercises with the examination practices. However, in doing so, some differences in pedagogical stance as mediated by the textbook in the two classrooms were seen. In classroom A, the teacher narrowed down the “textbook curriculum”. As an evidence, he ignored some textbook practices, e.g. answering to the questions in pre-reading activity because they were not asked in the national high-stakes examination. Indeed, the teacher was only focused on examination relevant parts of the textbook. In effect, his pedagogy was reduced and framed in an “exclusive” pedagogy in which culturally sensitive and real-life issues of the students were excluded.

Indeed, in classroom A, English language literacy teaching for something except the examination was seen as irrelevant. This was ironic as the FRDE and the NCD explicitly called for “achieving a critical engagement in [English Language] Education”

(See, for example, the FRDE, p.18 and the NCD p.14). Still, the teacher in classroom A continued to comprise examination relevance. This is reflected in the following excerpt from an interview with him:

“As I said earlier, in this school, my performance is merely seen in terms of the students’ scores in the examination, based on their passing rate on the examinations. Therefore, I see myself highly responsible for these students. I see myself under pressure here because rank of the school, the board members from the perspective of ministry of education is dependent on the passing rate of the students in the examination. Therefore, I always try to adjust my teaching based on the examination even when I am using the textbook to ensure my performance” (Teacher Interview,TJ-June 2013).

The higher stakes nature of the examinations in classroom A seemed to create some tensions between the teacher’s epistemology and the purpose of schooling. As Mr. Shayan mentioned:

“I know the goal of the textbook and even education is something beyond the examination. It is to make the students for dealing with their issues in their real life, but here when I am always reminded of significance of the Konkoor, how I can meet these aims. Therefore, in this class the best way is to focus on the sections in the textbook which are questioned in the actual examination. I attempt not to get away from what I am asked. This let me save my time and ensure as well.” (Teacher Interview-TJ,June 2013)

His words reminds me of how the teacher, Mr. Shayan has to strategically renegotiate his own beliefs on English language teaching in the examination-oriented setting of classroom A in favor of the national high-stakes tests to cope with the contextual challenges and to ensure the students’ success in these examinations.

Likewise, in classroom B, the teacher attempted to align the textbook exercises with the examination question types. However, in classroom B, his pedagogy went beyond the examinations. In effect, the teacher attempted to link those non-examination relevant parts with the students’ and his real life experiences. He valued non- examination curriculum content and allowed for the students’ active participation to develop examination as well as non-examination curriculum that was triggered by the textbook. Furthermore, he not only focused on linguistic knowledge but also on

content knowledge in the textbook which acted as a springboard for critical engagement.

It is possible to characterize Mr. Shayan’s pedagogy as mediated by the textbook in the two classroom settings as comprising what we might call a low road and a high road. The low road, which found expression in classroom A was narrowly examination- oriented. Curriculum relevance on the low road was determined solely by examination relevance. The high-road by contrast went beyond the examination although it did not deny the examination requirements. Curriculum relevance was determined by relevance of the content to students’ needs. Part of the students’ needs was determined by success in the examination; but the pedagogy also went beyond the examinations to deal with questions and concerns that students had in their lived experiences.

By travelling along the high road, as Freire and Macedo (1998) also argue, the teacher helped the students to make connections between their lives and the new knowledge. To do so, he not only helped the students to construct new knowledge but also got engaged in their learning.

To summarize the findings on the pedagogical stance mediated by the textbook, Table 5.9 below presents the characteristics of the two pedagogical stances along three dimensions: focus of the teacher, role of context, and role of the students.

Table 5. 9: Pedagogical Stance as Mediated by the Textbook in Classroom A & B

Pedagogical Stance as mediated by the textbook

Classroom A (Low Road)

Classroom B (High Road)

Focus of the Teacher

 The teacher is very

focused on the textbook.

He neglects irrelevant

examination parts in the textbook.

 The teacher dominantly

focuses on linguistic

knowledge in the textbook

rather than content

knowledge and critical literacy.

 The teacher is not very focused on the textbook. He goes beyond the examinations although he

does not deny the

examination requirements.

 The teacher not only

focuses on linguistic

knowledge in the

textbook but also on content knowledge and

engaging the students

with their real-life issues. 

Role of Context

The class provides less Discursive Latitude which

makes classroom

interactions being directed towards the examination discourse.

The class provides more

Discursive Latitude

where the teacher and students, although are

still examination-

oriented, explore critical questions and literacies.

Role of the Students

The students’ participation is contingent upon the time when the teacher called up them or invites them to debate. As a

result, the students

became passive in

classroom interactions.

The students participates in classroom interactions even they are not called up by the teacher. As a

result, the students

become active in