Discourse, Ideology, and Power: A Case of Iranian Teacher Learners

With the gradual intensification and augmentation of the tenants and assumptions of the sociocultural theory and it’s now seemingly lingering grasp over prevailing traditions of thought and patterns of behaviour, the classroom discourse is sought as a potential valuable source of information which can shed light on the well-disguised underlying power relations and ideological underpinnings that shape, reshape, and/or direct actual pedagogical practices and are in turn influenced by it. Implementing a critical discourse analysis approach, the present study intended to unpack some of the most sophisticated holding power relations and ideological underpinnings that shape the perceptions of Iranian student teachers about what constitutes good teaching and who could be referred to as a good teacher. To this end, nine female student teachers studying English at the Farhangian University were recorded while talking about effective and ineffective teachers in groups. The findings obtained from the application of conversation analysis indicate that prevalent underlying power relations and ideological underpinnings have a great impact on forming one’s belief system and their use of language. Reference has also been made to how different prevailing discourses in turn shape powerful power relations and ideological underpinnings to point out the pedagogical implications of thinking critically.