CRITICAL LITERACY

Kerkhoff (2018) defines critical literacy in the following passage.

Critical literacy approaches reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, visually representing, inquiring, thinking, and acting from a critical frame. Students are taught to question the credibility of claims and assess bias in texts they read and view. They learn to construct their own claims by reading primary sources and sources from multiple perspectives, including international media. In addition, students learn to apply critical literacy knowledge, skills, and dispositions to society and themselves by questioning the status quo and their own ideological assumptions. Students enact critical literacy as they read the word and the world (Freire & Macedo, 1987) and design new social futures (New London Group, 1996).

Learners deserve instruction that is culturally relevant and responsive to their individual literacy needs. Critical literacy instruction goes beyond the individual scale to embrace diversity as an asset to communities and to investigate systems of power in society. Critical literacy instruction also requires literacy teachers to reflect on their identities, beliefs, biases, and privileges (Gay, 2014; Jiménez, Smith, & Teague, 2009; Kern & Bean, 2018; Ladson-Billings, 2014; Ryan, Patraw, & Bednar, 2013; Sleeter, 2012).

The following figure lists examples of practices students can engage in that are critical literacy practices.