Beyond progressive liberalism and cultural relativism: Towards critical postmodernist, sociohistorically situated perspectives in classroom studies

Abstract

In this paper we propose that classroom studies in the TESOL field tend to subscribe to either of the following two normative orders: (a) progressive liberalism, and (b) cultural relativism, without reflexively recognizing and meta-analysing these normative frameworks and their social, historical, and political situatedness. Drawing on Foucault's (1981) methods of historical excavation, we attempt a critical analysis of the socio-historical situatedness of these modernist normative orders. By building on relational analysis from critical educational studies (Apple, 1999), critical ethnography (Canagarajah, 1993; Chick, 1996; Kumaravadivelu, 1999; Pennycook, 2001), and the theory and method of articulation from cultural studies (Slack, 1996), we propose critical postmodernist, socio-historically situated perspectives in classroom studies and educational research as alternatives that break away from the modernist determinism of reproduction theories on the one hand, and radical postmodernist relativism on the other. We illustrate how such perspectives can contribute to our understanding of classroom practices with two classroom examples from Hong Kong schools, and we attempt to show the potential of these perspectives for contributing to the opening up of possibilities for change.