Examining silences in an English teacher inquiry group focused on critical conversations: A facilitator's reflexive analysis
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Amy Vetter, Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: Facilitating critical conversations includes helping students unpack dominant ideologies, interrupting stereotypes, creating a context for marginalized voices, and strategizing ways for taking action. Oftentimes, that means that teachers must recognize what silences are occurring, interpret why those silences are happening, and figure out the best moves to make to either interrupt or protect that silence. As facilitators of critical conversations with teachers, we explored the silences that occurred in a teacher inquiry group focused on improving the facilitation of such dialogue in high school English classrooms. Critical discourse analysis and reflexive analysis were used to examine transcripts from those inquiry discussions. Findings suggest that privileged and veiled silences circulated, and indirect silences disrupted, race-evasive discourses with a diverse group of teachers. Implications discuss how teachers and teacher educators can engage in reflexivity, specifically in relation to how they may inadvertently support white-centered discourse, to improve their facilitation of critical conversations by using an expanded notion of silence as a tool for critical discourse analysis.
Examining silences in an English teacher inquiry group focused on critical conversations: A facilitator's reflexive analysis
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Created on 8/22/2023
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Linguistics and Education, 68
- Language: English
- Date: 2021
- Keywords
- silence, critical discourse analysis, critical conversations, teacher inquiry groups