Exploring social justice dialogues in EFL conversation clubs: discursive moves and affordances

Abstract

There has recently been a growing interest in social justice language education, with the goal of challenging entrenched social, cultural and economic hierarchies within educational institutions and the society at large. Contributing to this line of research, the present study focused on an online conversation club that aimed to develop EFL learners’ communicative skills and critical literacy through the discussion of social justice issues which have traditionally been deemed ‘taboo’ and ‘controversial’. Data were collected online via demographic information survey, the recordings of the conversation club sessions, facilitator’s field notes and reflective journals, and student interviews. The results revealed several discursive moves adopted by EFL learners, which mostly revolved around that's our responsibility vs others in relation to environmental issues; and that’s the government’s-job when it comes to themes related to immigration. The findings illustrated the potential of social justice-oriented conversation clubs to foster diverse perspectives and authentic conversation in language classrooms, and to cultivate EFL learners’ critical literacy. The study provides insights into how language educators can integrate social justice issues into the language curriculum in ways that help language learners question their already-existing beliefs and take action for a socially just world.