Promoting Dialogue about Current Issues in the Media in Secondary English Classrooms: A View from Australia

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Promoting Dialogue about Current Issues in the Media in Secondary English Classrooms: A View from Australia
Language: English
Authors: Kirk Weeden, Graham Parr, Fleur Diamond
Source: Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education. 2026 33(1):31-45.
Availability: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 15
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Descriptors: Secondary School Students, English Instruction, Foreign Countries, English Teachers, Secondary School Teachers, Mass Media, Current Events, Dialogs (Language), Teacher Attitudes, English (Second Language), Second Language Instruction, Language Teachers, Private Schools, Public Schools, English Learners
Geographic Terms: Australia
DOI: 10.1080/1358684X.2025.2537642
ISSN: 1358-684X
1469-3585
Abstract: As young people engage with the media landscape around them, they encounter a deterioration in public discourse relating to contemporary social, political and cultural issues. To address this breakdown, and to help their students become critical and informed citizens, English teachers are utilising classroom dialogue. The aim of our study was to understand how secondary English teachers in Victoria, Australia, promote dialogue in their classrooms about current issues in the media in the course of their teaching. The study's findings suggest that English teachers who promote classroom dialogue about current issues in the media have a socially and democratically empowering vision of their work. The findings also point to the ways that teachers facilitate a dialogic space and navigate the challenges with conversations about difficult and controversial issues. The study demonstrates the unique and powerful democratic and ethical work teachers perform in spite of neoliberal attempts to narrow and de-politicise the scope and nature of their work.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1500770
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:As young people engage with the media landscape around them, they encounter a deterioration in public discourse relating to contemporary social, political and cultural issues. To address this breakdown, and to help their students become critical and informed citizens, English teachers are utilising classroom dialogue. The aim of our study was to understand how secondary English teachers in Victoria, Australia, promote dialogue in their classrooms about current issues in the media in the course of their teaching. The study's findings suggest that English teachers who promote classroom dialogue about current issues in the media have a socially and democratically empowering vision of their work. The findings also point to the ways that teachers facilitate a dialogic space and navigate the challenges with conversations about difficult and controversial issues. The study demonstrates the unique and powerful democratic and ethical work teachers perform in spite of neoliberal attempts to narrow and de-politicise the scope and nature of their work.
ISSN:1358-684X
1469-3585
DOI:10.1080/1358684X.2025.2537642