Teaching in Challenging Circumstances in the workplace? In this case, hedging language (suggest) is used to soften the question, and students base their answers on the text rather than their own opinion. • Ask students to fact-check textbook contents. They can do this in class (if electronic devices are available and permitted) or else after school. They can present alternative sources of information, or even information which contradicts what is in the textbook. • Be more tolerant to discussions in L1 – or in a mixture of L1 and L2; see Chapter 8 for more information about translanguaging. Students may not be able to say exactly what they want about a text in the target language. • Don’t take class feedback on some questions if you think it might cause students problems. Whilst they may feel comfortable to say what they really think in a pair / small group situation, they may be reluctant to do this in open class.
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21.3 Bias in reading and listening texts Challenge: If you don’t do anything to challenge this bias, many low-status groups feel marginalized, or even ignored, by the materials they are using. Students are unable to find ‘anyone like them’ in the books. In such cases, education doesn’t appear to provide opportunities for people to improve their situation – rather, it serves to maintain the existing hierarchies. The message which they get from school may reinforce the message they are getting, directly or indirectly, from their own family or wider community. This contributes to poorer learning experiences and lower learning outcomes. This can result in increased drop-out rates, especially at the secondary level. This may be especially problematic for students who may feel ‘doubly stigmatized’ (e.g. they are female and disabled, or from a minority ethnic group and blind). Solutions: Some ideas about how you can support students in challenging bias in general terms are given in 21.1. Three ways in which to specifically address text bias are given below. Your particular context and teaching situation will determine which of the option(s) are applicable.
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1 Changing the material As noted in Chapter 20, you may not have a choice about the textbooks which you use, even if they are biased. This may be the case if you work in formal education. However, if you work in informal or non-formal settings, you may be able to change the textbooks which you use. The school management may only be using the textbooks because nobody has ever suggested using different ones. You may be able to find textbooks which are more appropriate and representative of your class.
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2 Challenging and deconstructing the material Even if you can’t change what is taught, you may be able to change how it is taught, and the particular discussions which you have with your class. Once you have done the textbook material, you can then critically discuss (either as a whole class or in groups) questions such as: • What does this text say about your community / society? • Do you agree? Why / why not? • What are the problems of portraying your community / society in this way? • What does the text not say about your community / society? • Why do you think these facts have been omitted? • What would be a more accurate way of portraying your community / society? 136