Creating Critical Literacy Praxis: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice

Although research in critical literacy has long been conducted in English as a second language contexts, a modicum of critical literacy research in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts in which English is seldom used outside the classroom environment has also been undertaken. This article aims to discuss the introduction of critical literacy in the Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages (TESOL) profession, which has been neglected by TESOL researchers and practitioners in EFL contexts. The article reviews and synthesizes the existing literature by providing conceptualizations of the critical literacy approach to TESOL, examples of critical literacy implementation, and the benefits and challenges of implementing critical literacy pedagogy. The article concludes by calling for more critical literacy research in EFL contexts.

The Calculus and Quotients of Social Illiteracy: Equations of Race, Responsibility & Critical-Ethical Literacy in Schools

Should students in public schools learn to think critically about racial (in)justice and social (in)equity? The results of a recent mixed methods survey for educators revealed that a significant number of teachers did not believe they were responsible for helping their students develop the skills to critically analyze and respond to social injustice. Quantitative data showed that most of the educators who responded unfavorably, self-identified as “White” teachers of mostly White students; while most of the White teachers of mostly African American students held the opposite belief. Qualitative data provided some context for the rationales informing the divergent beliefs of these White teachers. Utilizing a combination of grounded theory and coding methods, I explore, illustrate, and analyze the responses of both sets of White teachers in an effort to illuminate and contextualize their articulated beliefs. Then, I interrogate the findings in light of their emergence along racial strata, using insights from scholarship in Critical Whiteness Studies and Critical Literacy/Pedagogy. Then I discuss their implications with reference to Robert Starratt’s “Virtue of Responsibility” and current theories of antiracist education. I conclude with a call for improving the educational experiences and societal outcomes of all students by naming and disrupting social illiteracy, championing critical-ethical literacy and encouraging an antiracist ethos.

Students’ engagement with alternative discursive construction of menstruation

Objectives: Understandings of menstruation, including those within teaching, continue to draw on dominant discourses that construct menstruation as shameful and secret. This study trialled a new pedagogical approach to menstruation education that offered opportunities to engage with and mobilise alternative discourses. Design: Teachers of students (aged 10–12 years) in school years 7 to 8 were invited to participate in two workshops that used a critical literacy pedagogy to encourage learning about menstruation at schools. Classroom lessons were collaboratively planned. The teaching of the lessons was observed, and interviews with teachers and small groups of participating students were undertaken. Setting: South Island, New Zealand. Methods: Transcripts of workshops and interview data, in combination with field notes from the observed lessons, were subjected to discourse analysis. Results: Teachers still engaged with discourses of shame and secrecy in their work. Students, on the other hand, were observed to challenge discourses of shame and secrecy, and explored alternatives with which they could construct new meanings about menstruation. Conclusion: Findings suggest that it is important for teachers to examine personal constructions of menstruation. By approaching the teaching of menstruation in a way that offers space for students to engage with a variety of alternative discourses, teachers can help broaden the manner in which menstruation is understood.

Music Education Meets Critical Literacy: A Framework for Guiding Music Listening

This article presents an approach to music listening that creates spaces for critical literacy, inviting music educators to consider critical literacy practices when listening and responding to music. We begin with a discussion of critical literacy pedagogy in the context of music education followed by a sample flexible lesson plan that uses critical literacy as a framework to guide a music-listening experience. We then outline research-based critical literacy strategies used to frame the design of the learning experience. Through critical literacy listening, students can learn to recognize explicit and implicit messages presented in musical selections and construct new understandings that allow them to enter into a dialogue with the musical text.

Adding Walls

This study investigates Grade 10 English teachers’ awareness of place and street art in two schools’ learning environments in Ras Beirut, Lebanon. Overall, this study aims to demonstrate the gap in and need for teaching critical literacy and advocates street art as a multimodal text to accomplish this. This research employs mixed methods in multiple case studies to address research questions. Teachers were given a mapping activity to gauge awareness and a follow-up semi-structured interview was conducted. This study engages with literature from fields of street art, place-based learning, multimodality, critical literacy, and teacher identities to create a theatre in which to advocate using street art for critical literacy pedagogy. These fields of literature then shaped a discussion, which ultimately revealed low awareness of place and street art and a need for richer cultural connections with place for both students and teachers.