Teachers’ pedagogical competence in the freedom writers’ movie

Pedagogical competence is an imperative basis for teachers in teaching and responding to diverse and tough class settings. This research undertakes an analysis of the pedagogical competence levels portrayed by Erin Gruwell in the Freedom Writers movie. Through qualitative content analysis, this paper explores particular scenes, talks, and classroom interactions presented in the movie. In this analysis, the study utilizes the framework outlined by Muñoz Carril et al. that comprises five dimensions. These dimensions include the role of an instructional designer and developer, a content expert, a tutor, an organizer and facilitator, and finally, a professional. From the results, it has been revealed that Gruwell exemplifies the five dimensions cumulatively, with the role of a tutor being the dominant particular. On the contrary, the role of content expert has emerged as the last dominant role considering that the movie did not focus on that area. Through Gruwell’s pedagogical qualities, it has emerged that she cumulatively values a context-responsive approach that highlights sensitivity, decision-making, and moral role responses in diverse learning settings. The study offers implications for English Language Teaching (ELT), suggesting that teachers in diverse classrooms can benefit from adopting Gruwell's context-responsive and empathetic pedagogical approach to address both the linguistic and affective needs of language learners.