Developing Good Citizenship in EFL
Instruction: Strengthening Civic Education
Inside Classrooms
Ms. KHAOULA BELOUNIS
Outline
o Introduction
o Components of Civic Education
o Teaching Civic Education
1. Appropriate Content
2. Teachers and Students’ Roles
3. Classroom Activities
o Conclusion
o References
Introduction
• In the time of globalization, the world
witnesses noticeable economic, political,
educational, and social changes. Foreign
language teaching and learning and civic
education are among the issues that gained
waves of interest in the last two decades.
Components of Civic Education
• In its broadest definition, civic education means “all the
processes that affect people’s beliefs, commitments,
capabilities, and actions as members of communities”
(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• It has three essential components:
Civic knowledge
Civic skills
Civic dispositions
Teaching Civic Education
“Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and
I will understand” (Chinese proverb)
Teaching Civic education is not simply the inclusion of some concepts in
the lesson, rather it is to directly engage students in the creation of their
own civic values and virtues. This cannot be achieved without taking into
account the following elements: appropriate content, teachers and
students’ roles, and classroom activities.
Teaching Civic Education
1. Appropriate Content:

Includes topics that reflect good citizenship.

Evokes the cultural component of society.

Allows serious discussions and debate about substantive social
and global issues.

Creates a democratic environment.
Teaching Civic Education
2. Teachers and Students’ Roles:
“Teachers need to create an environment that is conducive to
learners’ practice of different participatory and intellectual
skills. When teachers relinquish the controlling role and
recognize students’ contributions to the learning process,
teachers and students become collaborators in the learning
process” (Lynch 1996).
Classroom Activities
 Pair work activities
 Group work activities
 Problem solving activities
 Role play and simulations
 Opinion gap activities
 Information gap activities
Conclusion

“As citizens of this democracy, you are the rules and the
ruled, the lawgivers and the law abiding, the beginning and
the end” (Adlai Stevenson)

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you
can do for your country” (John Kennedy)
References
• Branson, M. S. 1999. Project citizen: An introduction.
Calabasas, CA: Center for Civic Education.
http://www.civiced.org/papers/articles_ branson99.
Littlewood
• Lynch, T. 1996. Communication in the language classroom.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Plato.stanford.edu/entries/civic-education/
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
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