Teaching Popular Culture to Diverse Students in Secondary English Classrooms: Implications for Literacy Development

Science fiction (SF), while enjoying unprecedented success in popular culture, continues to be an under-utilized resource in K-12 education. This chapter details the results of an in-school study on the use of SF in secondary school courses, examining how SF can be used as a pedagogical tool by educators to help students explore fictional futures in the context of contemporary issues, with a particular focus on developing critical thinking and critical literacy competencies. This study was designed to address the gap in pedagogical resources on teaching SF, and the dearth of research on potential benefits of teaching with SF in secondary English classrooms in particular. The aim of this chapter will therefore be to provide a research-informed overview of the benefits of integrating SF texts into secondary English classrooms, and to offer suggestions for educators.

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Enhancing Engagement in Reading: Reader Response Journals in Secondary English Classrooms

Language and Literacy ◽

10.20360/g2fw27 ◽

1944 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Janet McIntosh

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Reader Response ◽

English Teacher ◽

High School English ◽

Secondary English ◽

Reading And Writing ◽

English Classrooms ◽

English Students ◽

Student Journals ◽

Positive Results

Writing reader response journals during the act of reading provides ideal opportunities for secondary English students to deepen and expand their understanding of literature. Based on data from three case studies conducted by a former high school English teacher, currently an English educator, this article examines the effectiveness of students recording response entries as they read a novel. Excerpts from student journals illustrate the positive results of combining the acts of reading and writing. Student engagement with text leads to better comprehension and through writing reflective responses, students become more effective readers.

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Disaffection and agentic engagement: ‘Redesigning’ activities to enable authentic self-expression

Language Teaching Research ◽

10.1177/1362168818795976 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 456-475 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Alastair Henry ◽

Cecilia Thorsen

Keyword(s):

Classroom Practice ◽

Large Scale ◽

Activity Level ◽

Active Engagement ◽

Central Importance ◽

Secondary English ◽

Authentic Self ◽

English Classrooms ◽

Negative Face

Demotivation (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011) and non-participation (Norton, 2001) characterize negative responses to classroom practice of a generally chronic nature. In this article, focus is directed to negativity that emerges within the context of a particular language developing activity, and which can be understood as a situated response to the activity’s demands. In conceptualizing negative responses at the activity level, disaffection – the negative face of engagement – is a construct of central importance. Drawing on data from a large-scale ethnographic project in secondary English classrooms in Sweden, in this exploratory case study disaffection (Skinner, 2016) is examined in the context of two language developing activities. Analyses reveal that disaffection can transform into active engagement, and that when called upon to perform an inauthentic identity, students can ‘redesign’ activities in ways that enable them to act authentically.

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