Learners’ reading between the signs in the English second language classroom

Background: In South Africa, developing criticality among learners is essential for their careers in school and outside school. However, knowledge and understanding of critical literacy within the schooling context is unclear, with only patchy guidance available for teachers.Objectives: An intervention project was set up to discover how community signs could be used as a pedagogical tool for teaching learners to be critical readers. The focus of the study was teaching English second language learners to use language as an instrument for creative and critical thinking.Method: In this ‘study within a study’, the learners’ role has been elevated to that of researchers. As ‘researchers’, the learners collected community signs from around their township and conducted interviews with community members. They analysed the signs and interview transcripts using Fairclough’s method of critical discourse analysis. The social semantic theory was used to anchor this study.Results: The first attempt at being critical readers was the categorisation of data. Three categories that formed broad themes were observed. The learners’ responses gave insight into their own ‘processes’ of reception and processes of production of the signs. The results suggest learners developing an ability to read signs as instantiations of township discourses.Conclusion: Teaching critical literacy awareness can be achieved when teachers use texts drawn from familiar contexts. The study contributes to knowledge on how unconventional texts can be used in the classroom to develop criticality among learners.

Students’ Beliefs and Attitudes in Exploring Critical Literacy Comprehension towards Online Media Information into their Writing Practices

Addressing critical literacy exploration into students’ language learning is perpetuated in this digital media- dependent environment. Reading and writing competencies have also pertained the critical enactment in order to present the beyond textual values. Through class discussions and class observations among 12 tertiary English major students in a private university in Indonesia, this study explores students’ beliefs and attitudes towards their critical literacy comprehension on online media information through writing practices. This exploratory case study collect the data covering the recordings of class discussions and class observations from student lesson implementation during their writing course. The results of this study reveal that most of the students are aware of the critical understanding of particular information conveyed from certain messages in their written works. Their beliefs on critical literacy agency has raised several attitudes of how they construct the social perspectives based on selections of what to include and exclude in their written texts. The article is also present recommendation to enlighten the learning in a critical stance.

Unravelling the Web of Qualitative Dissertation Writing!

This chapter, written in the first person, uses the research method of autoethnography to identify, explore, and discuss six key elements essential for writing a qualitative dissertation in a social science discipline. The author bases her autoethnographic account of reflections, dialogue, and theory within a conceptual framework of critical literacy and a grounded theory analytical approach to detail six foundational elements of qualitative dissertation writing which must be present in the doctoral student's arsenal before beginning to write the dissertation and/or draft. The chapter attempts to solve a dilemma of paucity of empirical research by doctoral students/candidates about how to write qualitative dissertations. The purpose of the chapter is to showcase and unravel the dissertation writing web from a doctoral student/candidate's active learning experience and perspective.

Seeking Justice in Your Own Backyard

This chapter analyzes a summer workshop that invited middle and high school students to create digital public service announcements (PSAs) about a social justice topic of their choice. In this chapter, the author investigates the concepts of media literacy, critical literacy, and critical media literacy, then describes in detail the two-week workshop, ending with examples of student work as well as student reflections and instructor recommendations for future workshops. Detailed lesson plans are included to encourage teachers to replicate this workshop in their own classrooms as part of a unit on critical media literacy.

Mexican-American Parents Using Critical Literacy to Address Climate Change

This chapter is an in-depth examination of a critical literacy project implemented by immigrant Mexican-American parent leaders that employed culturally relevant Latina/o and Native American children's literature to create dialogue and promote social action focused on environmental concerns. The Good Heart Chicana/o and Native Science after-school enrichment project was held weekly in elementary schools in the San Fernando Valley. Critical pedagogy served as the conceptual framework and informed the critical literacy strategies. Creative dialogue questions based on the children's literature promoted social action among children and families. Hands-on activities deepened the families' connection to environmental science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (E-STEAM) content and careers. Children's interest in science and nature increased. Parent leaders grew in their leadership and ability to address environmental issues in communities.

Educational Strategy in Digital Health Literacy

The acquisition of health literacy levels is preponderant in enabling citizens to access, understand, and use health-related information in a more conscious and responsible way in making health decisions. The ACP model—assertiveness, clarity, and positivity—has revealed numerous positive results in health, an excellent contribution to health literacy, as it favors the acquisition of communication skills and therapeutic relationship between health professionals and patients. The use of pedagogical audiovisual techniques (PAT) is one of the best educational strategies in health and facilitates digital dissemination. This project aimed to raise the awareness of health professionals, through the PAT. As a methodology, the authors follow a literature review and the functional, interactive, and critical literacy model. They applied this PAT to health professionals, associated with a knowledge monitoring instrument. The use of the ACP model promotes an improvement in the quality of care provided and, in turn, resulting positive results in health.

Creating the Citizen

This chapter presents an approach to civic education that integrates critical literacy with the research-based promising practices of civic education and the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies Standards. The authors present a definition of critical literacy that reflects a broad-based approach to the concept while exploring what critical literacy may look like within a civic education classroom and the ways in which this reflects a particular approach to good citizenship. Perceived connections between critical literacy, the promising practices, and the dimensions of the C3 Framework are illustrated throughout the chapter, and the authors provide a real-world example to demonstrate what integration may look like in practice through either extra-curricular or classroom-based student engagement.

Critical Reading, Critical Literacy, and Critical Classrooms

Critical reading and critical literacy are skills that preservice teachers need to cultivate not only in their future students, but also in their own literacy practices. Picturebooks have the unique power to facilitate critical reading and critical literacy with preservice teachers. This chapter analyzes critical reading, critical literacy, and the power of picturebooks and then presents three approaches for using picturebooks to develop critical reading and critical literacy skills with preservice teachers: (1) field-based coursework with multicultural children's literature, (2) analyzing voices and perspectives in read-alouds, and (3) analyzing wordless picturebooks. Through intentional use of picturebooks in educator preparation programs, preservice teachers can gain the expertise necessary to use picturebooks to craft their own critical classrooms.

A Framework for Discussion in a Post-COVID World

This chapter addresses how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted teaching and practice for secondary educators. The authors consider how content area secondary educators, in light of the pandemic, can support adolescent students' understanding of discipline specific concepts through discussion in virtual spaces. Discussion is integral to literacy learning in the disciplines because it provides students with the tools they need to be successful learners and active participants in their learning. The authors use critical literacy, TPACK, and SAMR to provide educators with a framework to evaluate and interrogate disciplinary literacy teaching methods. The chapter provides educators with tools for secondary educators to engage in the thoughtful reconstruction of the learning experiences they design for students.