First steps toward critical literacy: Interactions with an English narrative text among three English as a foreign language readers in South Korea

Abstract

Three Korean children, whose English reading test scores were comparably lower than their peers' and who showed a tendency to withdraw from class activities or resist texts, participated in a reading tutoring programme in South Korea. By reflecting on the three students' interactions with an English text, the current paper argues that resistant readers' mere understanding of texts can be deepened while they diversify their perspectives for viewing textual messages and beliefs. In the process, with a range of explicit scaffolding, the students' resistance could be harnessed as a meaningful opportunity to promote multiple perspectives regarding texts and sociocultural practices. This article suggests that letting students develop multiple perspectives based on critical reflections on texts and sociocultural practices, by being exposed to a variety of books and engaging in critical analysis, should be a vital component of literacy classrooms.