Critical literacy in teacher education: Analyzing insights from EFL pre-service teachers in a Colombian public university

This qualitative study aims at examining pre-service EFL teachers’ insights into the use of a critical literacy approach at a public university in Colombia. Taking an action research design, audio recordings of class sessions, class workshops with students’ writings, and focus groups were conducted with 17 participants during a 15-week coursework. Emerging findings uncovered student-teachers’ insights into the activities developed and the use of readings with a critical literacy approach. Data also revealed participants’ views and positions on social and educational issues and on some teaching practices in their experience as undergraduates at a public university and as future teachers. This study suggests that language teacher education programs in Colombia be planned and designed considering student-teachers’ contexts, realities, interests, and needs since this may be the way to bring about valuable opportunities to foster reflection and dialogue, to engage in active readings of texts and current realities, and to share voices freely in the classroom.