Practicing Feminist Pedagogical Approach in Pakistani Literature Classroom: Possibilities and Challenges.

The current pedagogical approaches prevalent in Pakistan are largely teachercentered which do not encourage students as active learners in the teachinglearning processes. The current study attempts to explore the effectiveness of feminist pedagogical approach for the enhancement of critical skills o...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities (1994-7046) Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 19 - 37
Autores principales: Hussain, Sofia, Yaqoob, Munazza
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Allama Iqbal Open University Spring2022
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:The current pedagogical approaches prevalent in Pakistan are largely teachercentered which do not encourage students as active learners in the teachinglearning processes. The current study attempts to explore the effectiveness of feminist pedagogical approach for the enhancement of critical skills of students of literature by utilizing contemporary Pakistani Anglophone fiction as a pedagogical tool. The novels selected for the current study include Bapsi Sidhwa's Ice-Candy Man and Kamila Shamsie's Broken Verses. The feminist pedagogical approach emphasizes the active participation of the learners, and the revision of the entire teaching-learning paradigm from a feminist standpoint. Furthermore, it also insists on the inclusion of marginal perspectives as a significant means of knowledge - making through interaction, collaboration, and negotiation (hooks, 1994; Weiler, 1988; Gore 1991; Mohanty, 1991). Using feminist pedagogical approach's conceptual framework, a mixed-method approach comprising of a quantitative and qualitative phase was used for the current study. Four normally distributed classes of BS (English) and MA, (English) in the Department of English, Female Campus (IIUI) were selected for the current study. A pretest, posttest design was used, and the students of the experimental groups were taught according to feminist pedagogical approach whereas the students of the control groups were taught according to the traditional lecture method for a period of three months. The results of the pretest posttest of the experimental groups and the control groups were analyzed using t-test to measure the impact of the treatment. The students were also assigned reflective journals for the entire treatment period and at the end of the experiment, semi-structured interviews were conducted to further understand the impact of feminist pedagogical approach. Findings of the pretest posttest data and students' reflective journals and interviews show that the experimental groups performed better than the control groups, in terms of enhanced critical skills, increased collaboration, improved relationship with the teacher and increased respect for diverse perspectives. Henceforth, this paper argues that feminist pedagogical approach as an alternative instructional model can become an important means to develop critical skills of young learners and make them agents of positive social transformation.