The limits of resistant reading in critical literacy practices

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 298-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cori Ann McKenzie ◽  
Scott Jarvie
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Literature Instruction ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper aims to draw from work in the field of English that questions the “limits of critique” (Felski, 2015) in order to consider the limits of critical literacy approaches to literature instruction. The study focuses on the relational and affective demands that resistant reading places on readers and texts. Design/methodology/approach Drawing from post-critical (Felski, 2015) and surface (Best and Marcus, 2009) reading practices in the field of English, the authors perform analyses of two recent articles that illustrate critical literacy approaches to literature instruction, drawing attention to the ways the resistant reading practices outlined in each article reflect Felski’s description of critique. Findings The authors’ readings of two frameworks of critical literacy approaches to literature instruction produce two key findings: first, in emphasizing resistant readings, critical literacy asks readers to take up a detective-like orientation to literature, treating texts as suspects; second, resistant reading practices promote a specific set of affective orientations toward a text, asking readers to cultivate skepticism and vigilance. Originality/value While the authors do not dismiss the importance of critical literacy approaches to literature instruction, the study makes room for other relational and affective orientations to literature, especially those that might encourage readers to listen to – and be surprised by – a text. By describing critical literacy through the lens of Felski’s work on critique, the authors aim to open up new possibilities for surprising encounters with literature.

“I’m not in the truth business”: the politics of climate change with pre-service teachers

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Damico ◽  
Alexandra Panos ◽  
Mark Baildon
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Agonistic Encounter ◽  
Science And Politics ◽  
Change Beliefs ◽  
Online Sources

Purpose This study was designed to be an agonistic encounter between two pre-service teachers from different academic disciplines and with opposing climate change beliefs. The purpose of this study was to create an opportunity for this pair of future educators to voice, acknowledge and engage their differences, rather than avoid or skirt them. Design/methodology/approach Using a paired interview approach, two pre-service teachers discussed online sources about climate change. The analysis focuses on critical literacy practices of textual critique and reader reflexivity, considering how students from different beliefs and perspectives engage in agonism and negotiated practices. Findings While there was evidence of the two students engaged in critical literacy practices of textual critique, most of this engagement with the sources remained more at a surface level with somewhat superficial criteria to evaluate the sources. The two students engaged reflexively during the interview discussion in terms of their academic disciplines and climate change beliefs. This reflexive work produced the most compelling exchanges during the interview discussion and pointed to two rich sites for agonistic engagement: their differing conceptions of reliability and their competing perspectives about the intersection of science and politics. Originality/value Agonism offers a lens that helps ensure we understand that all pursuits toward facts and truth are necessarily contested as we engage with respected adversaries, not enemies we need to vanquish. There is an urgent need for dialogue across difference, especially for people in the increasingly polarized USA with complex topics and challenges such as climate change.

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

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Lyn Hadley ◽  
Kevin J. Burke ◽  
William Terrell Wright
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
School Discipline ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Youth Program ◽  
Community Organizers ◽  
Youth Community ◽  
Constant Comparative Analysis

Purpose The 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/approach This 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. Findings Youth 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/value This paper explores how critical literacy practices have restorative value when youth use them in authentic ways to research community problems and work for change.

Pandemic meaning making: messing toward motet

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Beth Schaefer ◽  
Sandra Schamroth Abrams ◽  
Molly Kurpis ◽  
Charlotte Abrams ◽  
Madeline Abrams
Keyword(s):  
Participatory Research ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Musical Form ◽  
Content Type ◽  
At Home

Purpose In this child–parent research study, three adolescents theorize their meaning-making experiences while engaged in exclusive online learning during a three-month stay-at-home mandate. The purpose of this study is to highlight youth-created understandings about their literacy practices during COVID-19 in order to expand possibilities for youth-generated theory. Design/methodology/approach This child–parent research builds upon a critical dialectical pluralist (CDP) methodology, which is a participatory research method that looks to privilege the child as a co-researcher at every stage of the inquiry. In this research study, the adolescents work together to explore what it means to create and learn alone and then with others via virtual platforms. Research team discussions initially were scaffolded by the parent–researchers, and the adolescents developed their analyses individually and together, and their words and insights situate the findings and conclusions. Findings The musical form of a motet provides a metaphor that three adolescents used to theorize their meaning-making experiences during the stay-at-home order. The adolescents determined that time, frustration, and space were overarching themes that captured the essence of working alone, and then together, in messy, orchestrated online ensembles. Originality/value In this youth-centric research paper, three adolescents create understandings of their meaning-making experiences during the stay-at-home order and work together to determine personal and pedagogical implications.

scholarly journals Re-thinking employability with a literacies lens

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-178
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kendall ◽  
Amanda French
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Approaches To Learning ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Funded Project ◽  
Engaging Student

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to draw on the outcomes of an Higher Education Academy funded project, Literacies for Employability (L4E) to contribute to discussion of the interface between university learning and workplace settings and the focus on employability that dominates the English context. The paper will be of interest to colleagues from any discipline who have an interest in critical (re)readings of employability and practical ways of engaging student in ethnographic approaches to understanding workplace practices, particularly those with an interest in professional, work-based, or placement learning. Design/methodology/approach L4E is grounded in social theories of communication from Sociology and Education that understands literacy as a complex social activity embedded in domains of practice. These ideas recognise workplaces as domains that are highly distinctive and diverse contexts for literacy (rather than generic or standard) and that to be successful in particular workplace settings students must be attuned to, and adaptive and fluent in, the nuanced literacy practices of that workplace. However, evidence suggests (Lea and Stierer, 2000) that HE students (and teachers) rarely experience overt teaching about literacy in general or workplace literacies in particular. Findings This project developed a framework to scaffold and support this process across the disciplines so that students can develop the attitudes and behaviours they will need to be successful in the workplace. Originality/value The approach chimes with recommendations from Pegg et al. (2012) that employability is most effectively developed through a focus on more expansive, reflexive approaches to learning and through “raising confidence […] self-esteem and aspirations” (Pegg et al., 2012, p. 9).

Developing critical literacy in science through an SFL-informed pedagogical heuristic

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhihui Fang ◽  
Brittany Adams ◽  
Valerie T. Gresser ◽  
Cuiying Li
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
School Science ◽  
Language Awareness ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Structure Text ◽  
Present Information ◽  
Critical Language Awareness ◽  
Knowledge Claims

Purpose This paper describes and exemplifies a pedagogical heuristic for promoting critical literacy in science. Design/methodology/approach One way to support critical literacy in science is through a linguistically informed pedagogical heuristic called 5Es – Enquire, Engage, Examine, Exercise and Extend. Findings This paper describes the implementation of 5Es in a four-week middle school science unit on climate change, showing how the heuristic can be used to develop students’ understanding of the varied ways authors use language to present information, structure text, infuse judgment and evaluation, engage with and position the reader and express epistemic commitment to knowledge claims. Originality/value 5Es offer teachers a new heuristic for text exploration that develops students’ critical language awareness, advanced literacy and disciplinary literacy at the same time.

scholarly journals Audiobook routines: identifying everyday reading by listening practices amongst young adults

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Tattersall Wallin
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
After School ◽  
Unexpected Finding ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practice Time ◽  
Everyday Routine

Purpose This article explores, identifies and conceptualises everyday audiobook reading practices amongst young adults.Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Swedish audiobook users aged 18–19. The material was analysed using qualitative content analysis and focused on their audiobook use during an average weekday, as this was the time that they listened the most. The theoretical framework consists of theories on practice, time and everyday routine.Findings Five timespaces emerged when audiobook practices were most prevalent: morning routines, commuting routines, school routines, after school routines and bedtime routines. Within these timespaces, several practices could be identified and conceptualised. Three mobile practices were commute listening, exercise listening and chore listening while more stationary practices were homework listening, schoolwork listening and leisure listening. An unexpected finding was how audiobooks routinely were used to aid respondents’ wellbeing. This wellbeing listening was used to alleviate stress, loneliness and help listeners relax or fall asleep. Furthermore, respondents switch between Music, Audiobooks and Podcasts, which is conceptualised as MAP-switching.Originality/value There is a scarcity of research on audiobook use, and this paper contributes with new knowledge on audiobook reading practices, how audiobooks fit into everyday routine and provides concepts to aid further research on audiobook practices.

Reading literacy practices among retirees in Kenya: why and how public libraries matter to them

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 119-131
Author(s):  
Peter Mose ◽  
Everlyn Mose
Keyword(s):  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Collection Data ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Reading Activities ◽  
Source Of Information

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to establish reading practices among retirees and to what extent public libraries in Kenya are a source of information and knowledge to them.Design/methodology/approachThis was a qualitative study whose research questions were; what are retirees' reading practices? why do retirees engage in the reading practices they engage in? and to what extent do retirees use the public library for their reading practices? Purposive and snowballing were used as sampling techniques and interview was used for data collection. Data were analysed thematically.FindingsThe findings were that retirees' reading practices are fragmentary and erratic; retirees mainly engage in reading practices for spiritual reasons and for access of current information; and that retirees do not use the services of the public library for their reading activities.Research limitations/implicationsThe research sample is 16 subjects who might not represent features of the whole population. The findings are, however, an index to what the situation might be.Originality/valueThe findings are the result of actual qualitative research.

scholarly journals Are we teaching critical literacy? Reading practices in a township classroom

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Glynis Lloyd
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Policy Statement ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Dominant Ideologies ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Feminist Poststructuralist ◽  
Gain Access

Despite improvements in educational provision in South Africa since 1994, the opportunities for learners from historically under-resourced schools to gain access to powerful English resources remain limited and unequal (Prinsloo 2012). In this article I will provide a detailed description of literacy practices in a township high school in Cape Town, specifically of the orientations to text that are made available to learners. I will draw on feminist poststructuralist theory, in which the subject is theorised as constructed and contested in language to construct difference. The analysis of classroom discourse and text-based tasks shows that the orientations to reading that were offered were characterised by a focus on the surface meaning of the texts and by an absence of critical engagement, despite the latter being required in the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement. The analysis reveals how the power dynamics of our racialised past and dominant ideologies about gender, class and race continue to define teaching in our classrooms in ways that limit access to the English resources that learners in under-resourced schools need for academic success.

Oral reading: practices and purposes in secondary classrooms

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 328-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maneka Deanna Brooks ◽  
Katherine K. Frankel
Keyword(s):  
Oral Reading ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Literacy Intervention ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Secondary Classrooms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Secondary Literacy ◽  
Pedagogical Philosophies

Purpose This paper aims to investigate teacher-initiated whole-group oral reading practices in two ninth-grade reading intervention classrooms and how teachers understood the purposes of those practices. Design/methodology/approach In this qualitative cross-case analysis, a literacy-as-social-practice perspective is used to collaboratively analyze ethnographic data (fieldnotes, audio recordings, interviews, artifacts) across two classrooms. Findings Oral reading was a routine instructional reading event in both classrooms. However, the literacy practices that characterized oral reading and teachers’ purposes for using oral reading varied depending on teachers’ pedagogical philosophies, instructional goals and contextual constraints. During oral reading, students’ opportunities to engage in independent meaning making with texts were either absent or secondary to other purposes or goals. Practical implications Findings emphasize the significance of understanding both how and why oral reading happens in secondary classrooms. Specifically, they point to the importance of collaborating with teachers to (a) examine their own ideas about the power of oral reading and the institutional factors that shape their existing oral reading practices; (b) investigate the intended and actual outcomes of oral reading for their students and (c) develop other instructional approaches to support students to individually and collaboratively make meaning from texts. Originality/value This study falls at the intersection of three under-researched areas of study: the nature of everyday instruction in secondary literacy intervention settings, the persistence of oral reading in secondary school and teachers’ purposes for using oral reading in their instruction. Consequently, it contributes new knowledge that can support educators in creating more equitable instructional environments.

scholarly journals Disrupting rules of emotion in an urban English classroom

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Sosa ◽  
Allison H. Hall ◽  
Brian Collins
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Affective Responses ◽  
Emotional Control ◽  
Racial Oppression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
English Classroom ◽  
Student Discussion

Purpose This study aims to focus on the regulation of emotions in critical literacy, its resulting racial oppression and students’ response to emotional control. The authors examine a student discussion of a poem, looking specifically at the affective responses of students’ interactions as these open possibilities for identifying ways that students confront, resist and subvert emotional control. This research question asks how students resisted limited forms of emotion and enabled opportunities for varied affective forms of engagement. Design/methodology/approach In this analysis, the authors explored both emotions and discourse (broadly defined as languages, actions, embodied acts, etc.) as they construct the flow of activity in this discussion. The authors also looked at past familiar practices that make the present one recognizable and meaningful. Findings The findings indicate black students resisted emotion rules by discussing racism, a highly taboo subject in schools. Students also rallied against an interpretation that felt as a distraction, an attempt to negate or shut down the naming and sensing of racism in the poem and in the classroom. Despite the constant regulation of emotions before, during and after the discussion, black youth firmly indicated their right to judge the interpretation that the poem had nothing to do with racism as inadequate and steeped in whiteness. Originality/value In schools, critical literacy often fails to attend to how emotions are managed and reflect racial control and dominance. For critical literacy as an anti-oppressive pedagogy to confront the oppressive status quo of schools, it must no longer remain silent or leave unquestioned rules of emotional dispositions that target marginalized students.

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