The technical and practical way that educators appropriated popular cinema
for pedagogical purposes, primarily with the technical interest driving the practical
application and under the orientation of the various combinations of
Speaker/Other/Intersubjective, demonstrates how Habermas’s framework can be helpful
in characterizing dominant trends of thought in this empirical area. The educators’
Technical/Practical reflection or instrumental rationality was captured in our study by
coding reflective moments regarding planning and implementing classroom use of film.
These moments appeared in the three expressive modalities: cinematic journals,
cinematic essays, and cinematic learning experiences. The educators saw popular film
as a tool that provides ways to control and manipulate one’s teaching environment.
Keywords: Habermas’s domain, discersive acts, intersubjectivity, communicative
action, discourse-centered acts, intersubjective, discursive acts, rational reconstruction,
discursive orientations, cinematic journal, cinematic essay, pedagogy, emancipatory,
expressive modalities.
