Paulo Freire's Critical Pedagogy in the Classroom: Promotion of Critica Thinking in South African English First Additional Language (FAL) Students
Abstract This study investigated the use of Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy in an English (FAL)classroom andits implications in order to promote students' critical thinking skills and to improve English (FAL) lecturers'teaching practice. A qualitative approach with open ended questionnaires and unstructured interviews were used tocollect data. The research population of this study included eight first year English (FAL) students and eight finalyearstudent teachers whose home language is Xhosa, Zulu or Sesotho, with English as their medium of instruction, as well as four lecturers with the home languages of Xhosa, Zulu or Sesotho, majored in English at teacher training.Results indicate that cooperative learning, students' questions, and problem posing methods as instructional cuesplay a significant role in stimulating students' participation in the discussion of the topic and problems related tothe content. This study recommends that lecturers should ensure that teaching and learning objectives manifestcollaborative activities inclined to a social constructivist approach.