Teachers promoting advocacy through social justice English language education
A collaborative action research study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17366407 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Darío Luis Banegas (0000-0003-0225-0866, Moray House School of Education and Sport University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK, corresponding author), María Gimena San Martín (0009-0003-7506-2054, Facultad de Lenguas Universidad Nacional de Córdoba Córdoba Argentina), Fabiana Sacchi (0000-0003-2772-8600, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto Río Cuarto Argentina), Melina Porto (0000-0002-9159-171X, Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (Institute of Research in the Social Sciences and the Humanities) Universidad Nacional de La Plata and CONICET (National Research Council) La Plata Argentina) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Modern Language Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0026-7902 • E-ISSN: 1540-4781 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/modl.70034 |
| OpenAlex | W7123364225 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 58 |
This article reports on a 2‐year collaborative action research project carried out in 2022–2023, which investigated the intersection of social justice and advocacy in English language teaching. The aim was to describe how English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers working at state secondary schools in two Argentinian cities harnessed their agency to mobilise advocacy among their secondary school students. Theoretically grounded in social justice language education, advocacy in language education, and teacher agency, participants were seven in‐service EFL teachers, five pre‐service teachers, and 220 secondary school students, of whom 30 were adult learners. Research instruments comprised open‐ended questionnaires, teaching artefacts, lesson plans, classroom observations and interviews. Reflective thematic analysis was used. Findings indicate that the teachers enacted a set of principles as their identity as advocates for social justice through situated pedagogical practices: (a) teachers’ reflexivity, (b) shift from a focus‐on‐form teaching approach to critical approaches to language teaching, (c) localisation, (d) social responsibility and action cultivation and (e) synergy between teachers’ and students’ agency. Teacher agency, mobilised through reflection and action, became a driving force and an organising device. Implications for language teacher education for social justice and advocacy are considered
Action (physics) · Action research · Agency (philosophy) · Foreign language · Identity (music) · Language assessment · Language education · Situated · Social justice · Thematic analysis · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Multilingual Education and Policy
Language Teacher Agency
A model for study of teacher agency for social justice
Focus on form
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Teacher Activism
The role of beliefs in teacher agency
Talking about education
Thematic Analysis
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Evolving the Tesol Teaching–Research Nexus
Naturalistic inquiry
Teachers’ and student teachers’ conceptualisations and enactment of social justice in English language teaching
From academic language to language architecture
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |