What is Critical Literacy Pedagogy?

Simply put, critical literacy pedagogy (CLP) is an approach to teaching inspired by critical theory. CLP is anything but simple, though, so let's look at each word in the term to understand this concept fully:

First, critical refers to critical theory. "Critical theory" is an umbrella term for many different theories (e.g., critical race theory, feminist theory, queer theory) that inspire people to question taken-for-granted assumptions and to challenge the dominant messages present in the texts they read and the media they consume. From this perspective, texts and media always communicate ideologies that serve someone's interest. A critical reading of a text, then, requires readers to identify those ideologies and to question, challenge, and critique them as necessary in an ongoing pursuit of emancipation. Any reading of a text inspired by critical theories requires readers to remember that they are agents with agency who do not have to be objects of someone else's designs. Critical theories encourage people to develop sociopolitical consciousness as they analyze issues related to power and become aware of the ways power shapes the social, political, and economic workings of the world. Critical theories maintain that as people develop sociopolitical consciousness, they will also discover ways to transform the world to make it more just and equitable. Brazilian philosopher and critical educator Paulo Freire and his colleague Donaldo Macedo described the kind of reading that leads to sociopolitical consciousness as "reading the word and the world." Reading the word and the world means using texts, observations, and inquiry to learn about the workings of the world so that inequities and injustices can be identified, challenged, and ultimately transformed to make the world more just.

Second, from a sociocultural perspective, literacy is also an umbrella term for all the specific ways a person reads, writes, reasons, makes meaning, uses knowledge, and communicates with (and from) texts. Literacy involves strategically using literacy practices to accomplish goals with texts. Literacy practices are what people do, using technologies, texts, and tools that require reading, writing, speaking, and listening to accomplish their goals. These practices also include applying ways of thinking and using knowledge with and from texts. Such a view of literacy demands that educators view literacy as a verb instead of a noun.  

From this perspective, what counts as and how to use literacy in each discipline (i.e., subject area) in schooling (e.g., English language arts, the sciences, social studies, mathematics) is unique. This concept is called disciplinary literacy, which recognizes that–at least to some extent–what counts as reading, writing, and effective communication is different in each subject area or discipline. How you read, write, speak, listen, demonstrate, and approach texts is all influenced by the socially negotiated norms and values of the discipline you’re studying. As an example, in English language arts (ELA) classrooms, students are expected to read a short story, understand the plot, interpret it, and determine its themes. Those are all literacy practices valued in ELA. To read a short story, then, requires much more than merely decoding the words on the page or screen. It requires specific literacies that reading a primary document in a social studies course does not require. And making sense of a primary source in a social studies course demands unique literacy practices from those required to read a scientific report, for example. A disciplinary literacy perspective is helpful for secondary ELA teachers because it supports them in thinking about the demands their discipline places upon students. Identifying the specific literacy practices valued in ELA and required to be learn and use ELA content allows teachers to plan more effective lessons and to help their students become apprenticed into their discipline.

Third, pedagogy is an approach to teaching–it is how an educator enacts their teaching in the classroom. Pedagogies are influenced by a teacher’s values and beliefs, by their training in a teacher-preparation program, by their teaching experiences, by their thoughts about youth in general and their students specifically, by their state’s standards and their district’s policies, by their administrators, by their peers, and a host of other factors. Any approach to teaching inspired by critical theories is a critical pedagogy.

Now, let's bring this all back together: CLP is an approach to teaching inspired by critical theory. CLP is any teaching that engages students in using literacy to understand how knowledge is connected to power and that supports students in using their knowledge to critique abuses of power and to advocate for a more just world. CLP is teaching focused on literacy instruction that inspires change in the world.

Resources

On Critical Pedagogy:

·      Department of Philosophy, Stanford University. (n.d.). Critical theory (Frankfurt School). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-theory/#DialEnli

·      Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Bloomsbury. (Original work published in 1970).

·      Freire, P., & Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy: Reading the word and the world. Bergin & Garvey.

·      Giroux, H. A. (2020). On critical pedagogy (2^nd ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.  

·      Janks, H. (2012). The importance of critical literacy. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 11(1), 150–163.

·      Luke, A. (2012). Critical literacy: Foundational notes. Theory Into Practice, 51(4), 4–11.

·      Morrell, E. (2008). Critical literacy and urban youth: Pedagogies of access, dissent, and liberation. Routledge.

·      Vasquez, V. M., Janks, H., & Comber, B. (2019). Critical literacy as a way of being and doing. Language Arts, 95(5), 300–311.

On Disciplinary Literacy in ELA

·      Moje, E. B. (2015). Doing and teaching disciplinary literacy with adolescent learners: A social and cultural enterprise. Harvard Educational Review, 85(2), 254–278.

·      Moje, E. B. (2008). Foregrounding the disciplines in secondary literacy teaching and learning: A call for change. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(2), 96–107.

·      Rainey, E. C. (2017). Disciplinary literacy in English language arts: Exploring the social and problem-based nature of literary reading and reasoning. Reading and Research Quarterly, 52(1), 53–71.

On Sociocultural Perspectives of Literacy

·      Gee, J. P. (2015). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses (5th ed.). Routledge.

·      Scribner, S., & Cole, M. (1981). The psychology of literacy. Harvard University Press.

·      Street, B. V. (1984). Literacy in theory and practice. Cambridge University Press.