When Education Becomes an Empowering Act: Learning Fallacies Analysis

Brahim Hiba^1,

¹English Department, Faculty of Arts & Humanities, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco

Cite this paper:
Brahim Hiba. When Education Becomes an Empowering Act: Learning Fallacies Analysis. American Journal of Educational Research. 2020; 8(9):731-738. doi: 10.12691/education-8-9-16

Abstract

In this paper the author argues that education in the Moroccan context, either in high schools or in universities, is rarely used to empower students by arming them with the basic critical-thinking skills to cope with the challenges of the modern world. Many researchers and teachers complain that schools are becoming like "exam factories" and that the prevailing model of education in schools, especially in the developing world, is banking education. In banking education, the teacher is a bank of knowledge and their role consists in filling their students¡¯ heads with information. Students are rarely given the chance to question the input they receive from their teacher. Thus, in this paper the author calls for an alternative mode of education. This mode of education is problem-posing education [1]. By problem-posing education the author means education which makes students think critically about the knowledge and the discourses they receive from school and from society as a whole [1]. As Freire [1] suggests, problem-posing education is an alternative to the banking model of education; it is an empowering education which can lead students to acquire critical consciousness. In this paper, the author will depict how problem-posing education can be carried out through teaching Argumentation Theory, especially the teaching of fallacies analysis. In a study conducted in a Moroccan university, 25 students in an English master's class were given a course of critical reading which lasted for one semester. A pre- and a post-test were conducted before and after the intervention took place. Results suggest that students' critical-thinking abilities have developed at two levels. The first level is students' ability to detect fallacies in discourses and the second level is students' acquisition of a new meta-language to describe the argumentative structure of discourses.

Keywords:
banking education critical consciousness critical pedagogy empowerment fallacies analysis

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum Publishing.
[2]	Miller, J.P., & Seller, W. (1990). Curriculum: perspectives and practice. Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman.
[3]	Kincheloe, J. L., & Steinberg, S. R. (1997). Changing Multiculturalism. Temple Yniversity Press, Philadelphia.
[4]	Giroux, H. (2010). Lessons from Paulo Freire. Retrieved on April 13th, 2014 from http://chronicle.com/article/Lessons From-Paulo-Freire/124910/.
[5]	Freire, P. (2005). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York & London: Continuum Publishing.
[6]	Apple, M. (1990). Ideology and Curriculum. New York: Routledge.
[7]	Shor, I. (1992). Empowering Education. Chicago, Il: Chicago University Press.
[8]	Giroux, H. (1988). Teachers as Intellectuals. New York: Bergin & Garvey Publishers, Inc.
[9]	Wallace, C. (2003). Critical Reading in Language Education. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
[10]	Lewison, M., Flint, A., & Van Sluys, K. (2002). Taking on critical literacy: The journey of newcomers and novices. Language Arts, 79 (5), 382-392.
[11]	Van Eemeren, F.H., Garssen, B., Krabbe, E. C. W., Henkemans, A. F.S., Verheij, B., & Wagemans, J. H.M. (2014). Handbook of Argumentation Theory. New York & London: Springer Reference.
[12]	Tindale, C. W. (2007). Fallacies and Argument Appraisal. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.
[13]	Van Eemeren, F. H. (2001). Fallacies. In F. H. Van Eemeren, (Eds.), Crucial Concepts in Argumentation Theory (pp.135-64). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
[14]	Hamblin, C. L. (1970). Fallacies. London: Methuen.
[15]	Dowden, B. (2017). Fallacies. Retrieved on February 28th, 2017 from http://www.iep.utm.edu/fallacy/#H2
[16]	Lynn, P. (1996). Principles of sampling. In T. Greenfield (Eds.), Research methods: Guides for postgraduates. London: Arnold Publications.
[17]	Nunan, D. (1992). Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[18]	Howitt, D., & Cramer. D. (2011). Introduction to SPSS: Statistics in Psychology. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
[19]	Pinker, S. (2007). The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature. Penguin Books.