Critical Literacy Performances in Online Literature Discussions

Abstract

In today’s media-laden environment, the ability to read text from a critical literacy perspective is imperative, particularly for librarians who influence children’s reading choices and behaviors. This study examines the critical literacy performances of students in an online, asynchronous, graduate-level children’s literature course using a qualitative approach to content analysis. The findings indicate that students performed critical literacy in four ways: (1) they unpacked the social identities and norms evident in the books, (2) considered characters and events from multiple viewpoints, (3) interrogated issues of power, authority, and agency and (4) analyzed the historical, cultural, and sociopolitical contexts of the books. While the findings reveal critical literacy can be enacted in the context of online courses, students’ critically literate thinking was sometimes limited and superficial, suggesting students’ understanding of critical literacy could be deepened with additional instruction and scaffolding.