The use of pop culture: A case study of a TESOL classroom

Abstract

This qualitative research focuses on the use of pop culture in a ninth grade TESOL classroom. To understand pop culture as a system of symbols, this research framed the use of Vygotsky’s (1978) view on speech and how pop culture can become a symbol system for individuals. In an effort to understand how English teachers are using pop culture to motivate and create safe spaces to students, the researcher decided to investigate this classroom through a case study design. This research collected data through a teacher interview (TI), focus group (FG), documentation (D), and field notes (FN). Taking into consideration that the process of data analysis incorporates storage, segmentation, coding, developing categories, and identifying relationships between said categories, I segmented each category on the research questions themselves to lead the analysis in a straight line without deviating from the goal. This research revealed that the teacher used diverse spheres of pop culture to motivate and create safe spaces for students. Nevertheless, the investigation also revealed that using pop culture in a classroom is an arduous task and must be researched prior to its incorporation. One of the numerous conclusions reached by the researched focused on how pop culture is advantageous to students when the pop culture being used is relevant to the students in the classroom.