A Pedagogical Framework for Critical Cosmopolitan Literacies

Abstract

ABSTRACT Understanding global perspectives and international cultures is important because of increasing global mobility, digital connections, and national chauvinism. As students engage with diverse others in schools and online, they need global, critical, and ethical understandings of language, literacy, and culture. From a critical cosmopolitan lens, language and literacy educators guide students to develop a cosmopolitan worldview; dismantle hierarchies through reading, writing, and thinking; and take action for justice worldwide. The purpose of this article is to converge cosmopolitanism, critical pedagogy, and teacher perceptions to construct a framework for teaching critical cosmopolitan literacies. The findings suggest five dimensions of critical cosmopolitan literacies: proximal stance, reflexive stance, reciprocal stance, responsive stance, and praxis. Overall, participants held positive views of infusing cosmopolitan dispositions and global perspectives in their classrooms and reported success with integrating global literature, structuring discussions to promote empathy, and implementing inquiry to connect local and global issues.