A Qualitative Case Study on Critical Teacher Education: The Experience of Preservice English Teachers in Korea

Objectives This qualitative case study explored a semester-long experience of six preservice English teachers in Korea enrolled in a critically oriented teacher education (TE) course, aiming to understand how they perceived the critical approaches to English language teaching (ELT) and in what ways the class was related to their professional identity development as critical language teachers. Methods Data were collected through class discussions, semi-structured interviews, and reflection papers, and were analyzed qualitatively. Results The findings illustrated that the preservice teachers thought highly of their experience in the class as they began to approach English and ELT completely anew, understanding them as situated within the larger sociocultural and political context and in relation to power and inequality. Becoming aware of disempowering discourses surrounding ELT and their ramifications in the contemporary world, the preservice teachers argued for the need for critical ELT approaches in Korean educational contexts, while carefully considering the practicality of such approaches given the exam-driven educational practices prevailing in Korea. Not only did the critical TE class assist them to develop critical consciousness but it also served as a site for them to redefine their role as agents of social change. Conclusions This study draws our attention to the importance of critical TE in the field of ELT, while underscoring the need for further research on critical language TE across diverse contexts, employing various research methodologies and, if possible, incorporating longitudinal studies to deepen our understanding of the possibility of critical pedagogy in language TE.