Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals in Post-Conflict Reconciliation: A Study of Sri Lankan Language Teachers’ Identities, Experiences and Perceptions by Sreemali Herath A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto © Copyright by Sreemali Herath 2015 Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals in Post-Conflict Reconciliation: A Study of Sri Lankan Language Teachers’ Identities, Experiences and Perceptions Sreemali Madhavi Herath Doctor of Philosophy Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning University of Toronto 2015 Abstract The UNDP (2005) notes the twentieth century as one of the bloodiest in human history. It has been defined by wars between countries and regions, as well as conflicts within countries. As members of the global community, it is hard for educators not to encounter the effects of violence and war in different forms in local and professional contexts. Set against the aftermath of one of the longest civil wars in recent times, this study explores what three Sri Lankan teacher education programs in the National Colleges of Education (NCOE) are doing to prepare prospective English language teachers to teach in a time of post-conflict reconciliation. This qualitative study was conducted in three teacher education programs in the Western, Central and Northern Provinces of Sri Lanka and includes the voices and perceptions of culturally and linguistically diverse teacher candidates and teacher educators. Most of the war zone was located in northern Sri Lanka. In particular, this study focuses on teacher candidates’ identities, their experiences within the program and with diversity, their understanding of diversity as well as their roles and responsibilities when teaching socially and culturally diverse learners. This qualitative research inquiry utilizes a blend of narrative and case study methodologies, and includes a variety of traditional data sources such as semi-structured face-to-face interviews, ii formal and informal observations, and document analysis, as well as non-traditional methods such as picture descriptions, identity portraits and mind maps generated by the teacher candidates. The research is informed primarily by a group of focal participants comprised of 12 teacher candidates (4 from each program). Their voices are complemented by a peripheral group of 16 teacher candidates and 9 teacher educators from the three teacher education programs, thus providing a rich understanding of how Sri Lankan English language teachers experience the process of becoming teachers. An integrated conceptual framework based on notions of pedagogical orientations (Cummins, 2009; Miller and Seller, 1990; Miller, 2007, 2010) support the analysis of teacher candidates’ diverse perspectives and experiences relevant to curricular practices in their teacher education program. Additional concepts and theories are considered to allow for a more textured understanding of the prospective teachers’ identities, the nature of their experiences in the program and their perceptions of their own roles as future teachers. These include post- structuralist identity theory (Clarke, 2009; Norton Pierce, 1995; Norton, 2000), social justice teacher education (Cochran-Smith, 2004; Zeichner, 2009, 2011) and culturally relevant pedagogy (Gay, 2000, 2002). The findings of the study highlight the promise of language teacher education programs to create conditions for teacher candidates to become transformative intellectuals (Giroux, 1985) in the larger post-conflict reconciliation process underway in Sri Lanka. iii Acknowledgments My doctoral journey has been a collaborative endeavor in every possible way. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people who contributed to this study during the different stages of this journey. My deepest gratitude goes to my participants, the teacher candidates and teacher educators from Northern College, Central College and Western College in Sri Lanka. You shared with me your stories, obliged my many requests and let me into your professional and personal lives. Without your positive participation, trust, openness, and commitment to being a part of my study until the end, I would not have been able to carry out this inquiry. I was very fortunate to get to know you and your work. Thank you also to the Presidents of Northern, Central and Western Colleges for granting me permission to carry out the study in your institutions. I would especially like to thank Kanthi Liyanage from Mahaweli National College of Education for responding to my countless questions and for sharing your time, knowledge, insights and enthusiasm. Your dedication to your students will always be an inspiration for me. I would also like to thank S. Mugunthan from Kopai National College of Education for helping me during my visit to Jaffna. A special thank you is also in order to the participants from Northern College for your hospitality and generosity during my stay in Jaffna. My dissertation committee has been another source of collaboration for which I am truly grateful. I especially wish to express my gratitude to Professor Antoinette Gagné, my advisor and supervisor, for her unconditional support, guidance, and trust in my work. Antoinette, I truly appreciate how you scaffolded my academic, professional and personal growth during my doctoral journey. By taking courses, teaching, working on projects, traveling and delivering conference presentations with you, I have learned in countless ways. Thank you for your endless patience, motivation and for your exemplary mentorship. I am also indebted to my other committee members, Jim Cummins and Mark Evans, whose support, wisdom and professionalism helped me immensely in conducting this study. Jim, your iv work on critical pedagogy and multiliterecies in particular and commitment will always be influential for me. Mark, your attention to detail and constructive responses regarding the pedagogical orientations underlying my conceptual framework made a huge impact, especially during the latter stages of this journey. I am particularly thankful to my external examiner, Lynn Davies of University of Birmingham, UK. Thank you for agreeing to serve in this role and for joining in for my oral defense via video conferencing. I was very fortunate to be able to get an external, like you, who is not only an expert in the field of post-conflict education and social cohesion, but also an expert on Sri Lanka. Your deep insights, valuable commentary and constructive criticism have helped me to tie together many loose ends of my study and consider ways of expanding this work beyond a doctoral dissertation. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions of my internal examiners, Sandra Styres and Sarfaroz Niyozov, for taking time off their busy schedules to look at my work and provide valuable feedback. I gratefully acknowledge the McLeod Scholarship, the University of Toronto, School of Graduate Studies, Research Travel Grant, and the OISE Doctoral Completion Award that funded my research in Sri Lanka and funded the last two years of my doctoral studies. I am also grateful for the numerous conference grants that enabled me to attend conferences throughout my doctoral studies. At OISE, I would like to acknowledge overall the collaborative efforts of the diverse community of great friends, colleagues, scholars and mentors who supported me in numerous ways during my doctoral studies. Thank you in particular to Marlon Valencia for being a wonderful person and helping me to stretch gently. Thank you also to Heejin Song and John McGaughey for being simply amazing. During our time together at UofT Family Housing, you were not just friends, you were family. Thank you to Gail Prasad and Robert Kohls for being there from the beginning of this journey. To Yecid Ortega, Monica Shank and Angelica Galante, thank you for making our office such a welcoming place, full of encouragement and stimulating conversations. Thank you to Megan McIntosh for undertaking the final editing. As well, many thanks to Antoinette’s “Thesis Support Group” for providing very strong support, even at times when I was not physically present in Toronto. v There are also people from York University who have stood by me all throughout this journey. A very special thank you to Annemarie Gallaugher, who has for years been a very dear friend, a mentor, a critic and a truly amazing colleague and a scholar. I am particularly grateful for your careful and tireless editing that helped me shape this dissertation. Thank you also, Jessica King, for being a good friend from my MA days at York University and always being available to listen to me voice my narrative of the ups and downs as a graduate student. Thank you, Bruno Ritacca, for your friendship and for helping me in numerous practical and professional ways. Thank you, in general, to my colleagues at the York University English Language Institute (YUELI) for being great people to work with. I would also like to thank Brian Morgan, Carrie Chassels, Eve Haque, and Suhanthi Motha for being a part of this journey. Back in Sri Lanka, I would like to thank Dr. Hemamala Ratwatte, Director of the Post-Graduate Institute for English (PGIE) of the Open University of Sri Lanka for welcoming me to the PGIE as a Visiting Scholar during my stay in the country. I would like to thank the friends and family who hosted me and took me sightseeing as I traveled to conferences around the world during my doctoral studies. Finally, none of this would have been possible without my family, who have stood by me and encouraged me all along the journey. I am particularly grateful to my parents, Sreema and Nihal Herath, my role models and my wisest and most committed teachers. I was able carry out this study in Sri Lanka in a timely and efficient manner because of your years of modeling hard work and goodness and your lifelong commitment to Sri Lankan public education. I know that a few lines of gratitude of this nature cannot match a lifetime of support.