The Witnessing Community: Cultivating Face-Attentive Learning Environments for In-Class Sermon Feedback
Abstract
Preaching courses customarily involve elements of public performance and evaluation that stir deep feelings of anxiety and dread among student preachers. This article considers a concept from intercultural communication theory called facework, which is concerned with mitigating perceived face threats for the purpose of optimizing student receptivity to critical feedback. This article explores facework in relation to the development of classroom environments and proposes an ethic of bearing witness as a means by which instructors can shape classroom relationships and tend to the theological formation of preaching students. The article concludes with a review of a student survey, reflecting on the implementation of face-attentive pedagogical practices during in-class sermon feedback.For articles: All articles published in Homiletic are the exclusive property of the Journal. All copyright rights to the article shall be owned by and be in the name of the Academy of Homiletics. The Academy of Homiletics in turn grants all authors the right to reprint their articles in any format that they choose, without the payment of royalties, subject to giving proper credit to the original publication with Homiletic. The Academy of Homiletics also permits articles to be copied for non-profit educational use provided proper credit is given to Homiletic. Authors may self-archive their articles in an institutional repository or other online location, provided proper credit is given to Homiletic.
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