Essay On Popular Culture

Contemporary education promises for a student-centered environment where the learner’s learning needs are taken into account in forming pedagogical approaches. The study of the learners’ psychology aims to have a better understanding of how a student may learn best – which then entails for teachers to be responsible in providing motivation for their student as it is deemed necessary. With this shift in educational paradigm as modern educational research took place, the need for teachers to innovate pedagogical approaches arises, and it is where popular culture may serve as one. With this type of pedagogical mind set, it is then appropriate to capitalize on popular culture as a good source of learning materials. With the attempt to use popular culture in the field of education, it is initially imperative to define the term to draw the limitations of its applicability. According to Raymond Williams, as cited by John, there are actually four definitions of the term ‘popular’ that can complement the definition of the word ‘culture’: “well-liked by many”; “inferior kind of work”; “work deliberately setting out to win favour with the people”; “culture actually made by the people themselves”. Therefore, the combination of the different meanings of the word ‘popular’ with ‘culture’ offers four different meanings to ‘popular culture’ in general. However, in the integration of popular culture with education, as this paper attempts, the first suggested meaning will be used. This is because the other meanings of popular culture do not fit the context of education when ‘popular culture’ is treated as a source of learning materials. The second

With this in mind, the capitalization of pop culture as a source of learning material is contextualized. Furthermore, it can be utilized as a learning material in a variety of subject