Philippine E-Journals

Forms of Student Resistance in College Classes: A Critical Classroom Discourse Analysis

Maria Cristina P. Bustamante

Discipline: Teacher Training

 

Abstract:

Students’ resistance is a crucial component in understanding the power dynamics in the classroom discourse. Similarly, students’ resistance is characterized differently according to the context where this is exercised. Employing McCroskey and Richmond’s (2012) Active and Passive forms of resistance framework and Kumaravadivelu’s (1999) Critical Classroom Discourse Analysis, this inquiry described the forms of student resistances that manifest in the Philippine classroom discourse. With the aid of semi-structured interviews and consecutive classroom observations in a purposively selected college class, the findings of this inquiry provided solid consideration of the importance of the in-depth understanding and consciousness of students’ resistances going on in the classroom discourse as a vital component of learning. Significantly, the inquiry findings showed that the most evident form of students’ resistance is passive and mainly manifested through ignoring the teacher. Thus, identifying the student’s resistances evident in the classroom discourse has contributed to achieving the primary goal of Critical Classroom Discourse Analysis (CCDA), which allows students to concentrate on and cope with the social contexts that explicitly or implicitly shape their behavior in the learning environment.