Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices, Vol 5, No 2 (2011)

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Bringing the self into the process of exploring the global: opening spaces for “open spaces for dialogue and enquiry”?

Neda Forghani-Arani

Abstract


This paper offers a case study on creating open, safe and engaging spaces of dialogue conducive to independent, self-reflective enquiry in the context of university courses on global issues in education. The first part of the paper describes the setting, the perceived obstacles, the need to renegotiate the rules of the academic seminar space, and above all the necessity to find a language to relate these objectives. The second part discusses the survey conducted to elicit students’ perceptions in relation to the OSDE methodology which was piloted to depict, characterize and communicate the space proposed. The paper concludes with a preliminary analysis of the data, which suggests the significance of language in general and of a common foreign language, a lingua franca as the working language of the course, to create a space receptive to negotiating roles and rules of space.

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Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices is a non-commercial initiative committed to the ethical dissemination of academic research and educational thinking. CLTP acknowledges the thoughtful dedication of authors, editors and reviewers to develop and promote this open journal initiative. The journal receives copy-editing sponsorship from the Faculty of Education at the University of Oulu, Finland. CLTP has previously received  copy editing support from the Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice at the University of Nottingham, UK.