Critical Literacy Practices Research Articles

Evaluating Students’ Final Text Production in Polyphonic Critical Literacy Practices: Combining Appraisal Theory with Qualitative Data Sources

Critical literacy practices have moved their interest from Freirean binary analyses (e.g. oppressor versus oppressed) to more complex perspectives, where in a text the author/speaker is (dis) aligned with different discourse communities. Despite the fact that these teaching practices that are based in multiple discources are gaining attention, little work has been done on the assessment of the teaching practices. During the last decades, the literacy activities researches have focused on the teacher-student interactions and the teacher talks (asking questions, types of questions), neglecting the final text production, which is also a significant factor in the evaluation of literacy practices. In this paper, after the implementation of polyphonic literacy practices in a rural junior high school in Crete, Greece, the teacher-researcher assessed the final student written products using the Appraisal Theory. Further qualitative methodological data gathering sources enhanced the identification of the contextual factors that can explain in depth the discourses the students (re)produced in their texts. These findings suggest that Appraisal Theory combined with such methodological choices, where the context is identified, is more supportive in the evaluation of these complex critical literacy practices and provides the teacher and students fruitful feedback concerning critical literacy awareness.

How Did We Engage Resettled Chin Youth in Critical STEM Literacy Practices?

Abstract Project RESET engaged resettled Chin refugee teens in critical STEM literacy practices in a community-based afterschool STEM enrichment program in the United States. Over the course of nine months, the participants multimodally and multilinguistically communicated their learning about weather, climate, and climate change, while also developing English proficiency. In this paper, we define critical STEM literacy drawing on current scholarship on critical science literacy and interdisciplinary STEM learning. We then present our four design principles of the learning environment for supporting critical STEM literacy and English learning and share examples from the program that demonstrate how the principles were enacted to engage youth. Drawing on our learning in this work, we will discuss implications for science educators who work with displaced or resettled youth in Asia and the Pacific regions that provide new homes for many displaced children and teens.

뉴베리 수상작의 비판적 분석 및 활용방안 -Merci Suárez Changes Gears를 중심으로-

As society becomes multicultural, researches in critical literacy education bringing different perspectives are increasingly emphasized. In this sense, research in the critical literacy of ESL(English as a Second Language) students have been constantly developed. However, there is a need for text development and research that takes into account the cultural characteristics of EFL(English as a Foreign Language) students. This study aims to emphasize the importance for EFL students’ reading through critical literacy practice. By analyzing the critical elements based on problem-posing questions in Merci Suárez Changes Gears, I have investigated whether it is suitable as content for promoting the critical literacy of Korean students. Through critical literacy analysis, social issues including gender, power, class and, beauty which have been accepted indiscriminately have been identified. Even though this book derived from Western culture, many multicultural elements that Korean students can sympathize with have also been identified. In this regard, it is assumed that this book is appropriate for a textbook to enhance the critical literacies of Korean students. Based on Jones’s three frameworks, this study also offers some practical suggestions that could be employed in Korean classroom settings.

Critical Affective Pedagogy as a Tool for Holistic Critical Literacy Practices

Critical Affective Pedagogy as a Tool for Holistic Critical Literacy Practices

Critical literacy practices with bilingual immigrant children: multicultural book club in an out-of-school context

ABSTRACT This study investigates how and to what extent critical literacy activities in an out-of-school context serves as a space for bilingual immigrant children in the United States to solve their conflicts and challenges in life. Using the contextual format of a multicultural book club and a critical dialogue, the qualitative case study discusses the children's experiences with critical literacy practices for 19 weeks. The data include field notes on book club meetings and critical dialogues, transcripts of book discussion, and written artefacts they produced in the book club. The data were analysed on a weekly/monthly basis with interpretative approaches. The findings showed that the focal student, a seven-year-old immigrant girl, consciously or subconsciously revealed her conflicts and struggles with the book club members by sharing her thoughts, ideas, and feelings about the multicultural books and her lived experiences. Notably, when the conflicts and struggles were shared in the book club, the book club members built a coalition and helped her to resolve them.

Missing the sociopolitical: examining discourses of writing in a US high-performing, urban middle school

PurposeThis paper aims to examine two teachers’ beliefs and practices on teaching writing at an urban, high-performing middle school to determine: What discourses of writing are being taught in an urban, high-performing US public middle school? What factors prevent or enable particular discourses?Design/methodology/approachDrawing on case study methods, this study uses a single-case design with two seventh-grade teachers at a high-performing urban school as embedded units of analysis. Data collection took place over one semester. Data sources included observations and interviews with the two teachers, an interview with an administrator and multiple instructional artifacts, including unit and lesson plans. Observational data were analyzed using a priori code for writing discourses (Ivanic, 2004) and interview data were analyzed for factors affecting instruction using open, axial and selective coding.FindingsBoth teachers enacted extended multi-discourse writing instruction integrating skills, creativity, process, genre and social practices discourses supported by their beliefs and experience; colleagues; students’ relatively high test scores; and relative curricular freedom. However, there was minimal evidence of a sociopolitical discourse aligned with critical literacy practices. Limits to the sociopolitical discourse included a lack of a social justice orientation, an influx of low-performing students, a focus on raising test scores, data-focused professional development and district pacing guides. Racism is also considered as an underlying structural factor undermining the sociopolitical discourse.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough generalizability is limited because of the small sample size and the unique context of this study, two major implications are the need to layer discourses in writing instruction while centering critical pedagogy and develop teacher beliefs and knowledge. To support these two implications, this study suggests developing university-school partnerships and professional development opportunities that create a community of practice around comprehensive writing instruction. Future research will involve continuing to work with the participants in this study and documenting the effects of providing theory and tools for integrating the sociopolitical discourse into middle school curricula and instruction.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the field of literacy education’s understanding of internal and external factors limiting the sociopolitical discourse in a high-performing, urban middle school in the USA, an understudied context.

“I am not Jasmine; I am Aladdin”: How Youth Challenge Structural Inequity through Critical Hip Hop Literacies

Abstract Previous research on Hip Hop Education has advocated for the inclusion of critical media literacy in schools and for the recognition of Hip Hop music and culture as a central component of young people’s literate and social identities (e.g. Hall, 2017; Kelly, 2020; McArthur, 2016). This article places critical Hip Hop literacy at the intersections of media education, social justice education, and culturally sustaining pedagogies by discussing the role of Hip Hop literature and culture as a form of text that can foster young people’s critical consciousness development in the secondary classroom. Through analysis of data collected in a high school Hip Hop Literature and Culture class, this qualitative case study examines how critical Hip Hop literacy practices can support youth sociopolitical development in racially diverse classrooms and schools. The results of this study reveal the need for schools to support students in identifying, analyzing, and challenging structures of oppression through the development of critical Hip Hop literacies.

Promoting Dialogic Talk in a Speaking Classroom: Rethinking Bakhtinian Pedagogy

This study sought to promote EFL learners' speaking ability drawing on Bakhtin’s notion of dialogic discourse pattern (DDP) and to explore their perceptions towards implementing dialogic teaching (DT) in a speaking classroom. To this end, from the population of students in different language institutes, 47 students were selected based on a purposive sampling method. The data were collected at two step-wise processes adopting a mixed-method approach. First, the researcher directed two EFL teachers to apply the DDP principles in a dialogic (DG) and non-dialogic group (NDG). The intervention lasted for 12 weeks. Then, a posttest of speaking was conducted to track the possible improvement. The findings attested that the dialogic talk could promote EFL learners’ speaking ability. Next, DG group was required to complete a written discourse completion task to determine the extent to which incorporating DT could promote learners’ speaking ability. To analyze the data, Thomas's (2006) inductive approach was adopted comprising the dominant themes. The results revealed different themes and sub-themes such as developing self-directed learning skills, disseminating critical literacy practice, fostering language learning, promoting motivation and affective factors, to name but a few. The findings propose some implications for classroom management, materials preparation, and language policy program.

Connections

Connections

Leveraging technology: how Black girls enact critical digital literacies for social change

ABSTRACT This study examines critical digital literacy practices among 390 Black girls, ages 13–17. Through a data sharing initiative with a community organization, we conducted a qualitative analysis of 3120 narrative responses describing their views of technology. Grounded in Black feminist epistemologies, our study found that the girls reconciled their views of technology with their existing standpoints and desires for social change. Our findings highlight how Black girls leverage technologies to account for their ways of knowing and existing in the world, including using technology to author activist identities and express feelings of agency. Our findings challenge researchers and educators to expand their understanding of critical digital literacy in ways that honor Black girls’ complex experiences and existing practices.

Addressing challenges in the practice of critical literacy in EFL classrooms: A new framework

The practice of critical literacy in EFL contexts answers the need for EFL pedagogy that considers the complex social and political dimensions of foreign language learning. Many teachers are still discouraged from practicing critical literacy due to the many challenges they encounter. In this paper, we outline a practical framework that can help teachers navigate the complexity of practicing critical literacy in EFL contexts. The framework consists of four resources of critical literacy practice, namely curriculum and standards, students’ experiences and background, local social issues, and text selection. The classroom activities include text analysis and critique, bridging the word and the world, and social action. Particular issues in EFL pedagogy are addressed with implications for the practice of critical literacy.

Voices and Choices: Critical Information/Media Literacy and Behrman’s Practices

ABSTRACT Studies on information and media literacy focus on describing activities and frameworks individually, and most of the time, connect within the field of library science. However, other frameworks and practices can be used. This case study presents the application of Behrman’s Critical Literacy Practices to information and media literacy to engage students to think critically about information within their field of study. The purpose of this research is to model the information behavior of education students through the perspective of constructivist learning. The study used a qualitative method with six upper-level undergraduate education majors. Activities that comprise practices and theories in both education and library sciences are presented to form a continuous exposure to critical thinking. Factors that influenced how students perceived the validity of information came from personal, educational, and societal factors. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion about critical thinking skills in undergraduate students, presenting a model that describes how practices from other fields can be used and incorporated with information and media literacy.

CHALLENGES IN PRESENTING ACADEMIC CRITICISM: CASE STUDY OF INDONESIAN STUDENTS

Presenting academic criticism in academic papers is one of the most challenging study tasks for students from Non-English-Speaking Background (NESB) countries studying in Australia. Most lecturers in Australian university expect students to engage in critical discussion and put their adversarial position in academic writing. This study investigates the challenges experienced by Indonesian students studying in Australia in presenting academic criticism. Data were collected through questionnaires along with two focus group interviews of Indonesian graduate students in Australia. The study has found that cultural values, socio-political situations, and previous educational experience in Indonesia have contributed to participants’ limited writing experience and limited critical literacy practice. All of these have manifested to their struggle of presenting academic criticism and writing according to the expected dominant discourse in Australia.

Safe spaces, agency, and resistance: a metasynthesis of LGBTQ language use

The purpose of this metasynthesis is to present a structured review of the literature on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) language usage. Much of the rhetoric surrounding individuals who identify as LGBTQ focuses on their victimization and oppression. To problematize this limited perspective, this metasynthesis of literature suggests that LGBTQ youth are actively working against marginalization, oppression, and silencing through language practices that employ critical literacy and elicit the disruption of hegemonic ideology. Drawing on Darvin and Norton’s (2015, Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 36–56) key concepts from the model of investment and queer theory, I explore three uses of LGBTQ language: the creation of safe spaces, agency, and resistance. My findings reveal the need for safety within classrooms in order for LGBTQ students to participate successfully in critical literacy practices.

Community cultural wealth and literacy capital in Latin American communities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the literacy practices of the families and communities of first-generation college students in Latin America, and how community and family literacies can inform the understanding of first-generation college students’ identity and cultural values. Design/methodology/approach This transnational ethnography was conducted in local communities around three public universities in Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica. Participants included nine fist-generation college students and more than 50 people in their families and communities (i.e. relatives, parents and friends). Data gathering occurred at the university outside the formal space of the classroom, at home, and in the community. Data were interpreted through the lens of the community cultural wealth framework. Findings The author found that first-generation college students and their families and communities engaged in rich literacy practices that have been overlooked in policy, research, and media. It is argued that the concept literacy capital is necessary to acknowledge the critical literacy practices communities engage in. Literacy capital was manifested in these communities to preserve cultural traditions, to sponsor literacy practices and to question and resist unjust sociopolitical circumstances. Practical implications The findings of this study should inform a culturally sustaining pedagogy of academic literacies in higher education. Beyond asset-based approaches to academic literacies in Latin America, critical perspectives to academic literacies teaching and learning are needed that acknowledge the Latin American complexities. Originality/value These findings are significant because they unveiled how people in local communities were informed about the sociopolitical dynamics at the national and international scale that affected or even threatened their local culture, and how they used their literacy capital to react critically to those situations.

Opening spaces of restoration for youth through community-engaged critical literacy practices

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how critical literacy practices within a community youth program opened spaces for restoration for youth. In turn, youth created civic conversations about race, juvenile justice and school discipline inequities to enact change within their community.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative study used ethnographic methods such as interviews and observation to collect data from youth, community members and adults who run the youth center. Data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis.FindingsYouth created spaces of restoration by reclaiming historicized narratives about themselves, their families and their community. Youth engaged critical literacy practices to explore their own identity, critique inequality in their community and work as community organizers to lead adults in conversations for change.Originality/valueThis paper explores how critical literacy practices have restorative value when youth use them in authentic ways to research community problems and work for change.

Critical Affect Literacy: A Call to Action in a Trump Administration

ABSTRACT Political discourses and practices surrounding the current presidential administration are propagating familiar stereotypes of immigrants as “diseases,” “criminals,” and questionably “American.” Emergent research and the news media are also reporting stories of hostility toward immigrants in schools and broader society that has been incited by such rhetoric and practices. This article proposes teacher educators concerned with social justice for immigrant youth should teach meaningfully about the controversial emotions surrounding immigration. More specifically, the authors hypothesize how critical affect literacy may be instructive for helping pre-service teachers address the polarized and controversial emotions swirling around immigration. After providing a brief overview of the current national context of schools, the authors discuss the literature on teacher education for immigration. They then describe critical affect literacy and highlight its promise for helping pre-service teachers understand and counter-act negative emotions directed at immigrant students in schools. The authors also provide examples of instructional activities that might engage critical affect literacy practices in teacher education classrooms. In doing so, the authors hope to advocate the power of emotion in teaching for social justice in an increasingly uncertain and combative political climate.

Embodying critical literacy in a dual language classroom: critical discourse analysis in a case study

ABSTRACT This case study focuses on the diverse discourses Latinx bilingual students bring to class to make sense of power relations in the world. The study implements critical literacy practices such as read-alouds, discussions, writing, and drawing activities that help students critique and disrupt power discourses embedded in texts and visuals. With the implementation of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and social semiotics, the collected data were examined. The objectives of this study are, first, to discover the students’ culturally and socially learned power discourses through the critical literacy practices used in a dual language classroom; second, to examine the student’s multiple English and Spanish literacies used as mediated tools for becoming dynamic readers and writers; and third, to employ CDA and social semiotics to unravel meaning systems, language use, and their concurrent relationships to power discourses. Results showed that through critical literacy practices, the participants used English and Spanish to comprehend texts, and to learn about dominant ideologies and practices that position people with advantaged and disadvantaged roles within a society.

Research Roundup: Resources on Play

We have all heard the phrase “play is a child’s work” but how can we convince parents that play should be a meaningful part of their child’s routine?Play, with its inclusion as one of the critical early literacy practices advocated by the Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) initiative, may be the hardest sell of the five practices to parents, educators, and even administrators. It may be seen as optional or extra, something to be done after the child has spent time “learning” if there is time.

Video Production in Elementary Teacher Education as a Critical Digital Literacy Practice

This article reports on a two-year, funded, qualitative inquiry into the challenges and possibilities of integrating video production into pre-service teacher education as a critical digital literacy practice. This includes the skills, knowledge, and dispositions that lead to ability to critique and create digital texts that interrogate the self, the other, and the world (Ávila & Zacher Pandya, 2013). Video making holds out enormous potential given our increasingly diverse classrooms and the growing need to have students connect and collaborate within their own communities and globally (Dwyer, 2016; Ontario Ministry of Education, 2015, 2016; Spires, Paul, Himes, & Yuan, 2018; Watt, 2017, 2018; Watt, Abdulqadir, Siyad, & Hujaleh, 2019). Video is especially significant in light of the fact that it is replacing print text as a dominant mode of communication (Manjou, 2018). Multimodal composing such as video production is, in fact, considered by some to be the essential 21st century literacy (Miller & McVee, 2012), but much remains to be done to bring digital technologies as literacy into the elementary classroom. Qualitative data includes a focus group, questionnaires, observations, and content analysis of teacher candidate videos and instructional plans. This study considers how video production can be integrated into teacher education programs to engage cross-curricular expectations and critical digital literacy perspectives. It responds to the pressing question of how to do teacher education differently in the digital age.