Learner Autonomy through Smartphone Applications Vis-À-Vis Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of The Oppressed
I Ajit · International Journal of Scientific Research · 2012
Paulo Freire's classical book Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968), written in Portuguese, calls for a pedagogy that would assume a new relationship between student, teacher and society. Freire christens traditional peda- gogy a banking system, for it considers the student an empty shell waiting to be filled with knowledge, like a piggy bank. He argues strongly for education to treat the student a co-creator of knowledge. The younger generation need not meekly accept society's status quo and education should help them to deal with reality critically and creatively so that they can transform their worlds. This paper explores how a tech savvy student can learn a new language, based on the dictum of Friere, using smartphone apps such as Mango and Mosalingua. It explains how a gadget like smartphone can offer learner autonomy which guarantees vocabulary enrichment, pronunciation models, visualization, and comprehension of cultural complexities in respect of a new language. Smartphones and Tablets have revolutionized our way of living. Initially, we were only aware of such applications as emails and search engines. But with the advent of new breeds of smart- phones, thousands of new applications are being uploaded into the Android and the iOS markets. Only the creme de la creme of the population knows about the benefits and the usage of these applications. A majority of students are unaware of the existence of these applications, which can be used as part of cus- tomized learning pedagogy where the learner can learn at his/ her own pace and convenience. In this context, the relationship between the power of smartphone applications and a theory of pedagogy meant for the support of the oppressed needs our keen attention. Pedagogy of the Oppressed Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed was written at the time of decolonization when former colonies like Africa, Asia, and Latin America became autonomous countries. Decoloniza- tion is an important subject of the book. This book is not about nation's transformation but about individual and collective hu- man development. The discussion is about the internal colo- nization which is nothing but being oppressed even after the colonial forces and the military forces have left the state. The colonization discourses still remain. Still there are such ques- tions around as, which culture, caste, or language is superior to other? Freire's book is about healing the self. The important issue in it is how the pedagogy of the oppressed helps people to coun- ter the internal oppression. It tells us about a pedagogy which can help people, especially students, from oppression. There are two propositions. The first one is to identify the subject dis- courses like the economic and social ties that keep people down. The second proposition is that transformation of the oppressed is possible when such people can liberate themselves from op- pression.