The integration of ‘critical’ and ‘literacy’ education in the EFL curriculum: expanding the possibilities of critical writing practices

Despite the increasing recognition of the need for critical perspectives in teaching English to speakers of other languages, critical literacy remains very much a marginalised practice. The implementation of critical literacy is still limited in English-as-a-second-language classrooms and is almost non-existent in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) contexts. To address this gap, this study explores an EFL writing curriculum that aimed to integrate both critical education and literacy education. The study examines students' critical writing practices that resulted from this implementation and considers its implications for the EFL curriculum. The study demonstrates that critical writing enabled the students to understand their lives in relation to the world. It became a means of transforming and creating knowledge, and allowed them to become socially relevant and locally/globally involved. It provided an example of the power of critical writing to affect the writer's understanding of society and to enable the writer to rethink and revision the possibilities of a better world. The study also exemplifies the potential of critical literacy in an EFL curriculum where students gain a global perspective as equal participating members on personal, cultural, social, economic, and political levels.