Pre-service Teachers Teaching Critical Literacy through Microteaching: Possibilities and Constraints

In this paper I explore four groups of pre-service teachers’ teaching of critical literacy in microteaching to examine how they translated critical literacy into teaching practice for secondary/upper middle grade students (the role played by peers undergoing microteaching). Firstly I discuss some key concepts and outline the pedagogical framework adopted for teaching critical literacy. I then focus on the pre-service teachers’ microteaching lessons to analyse qualitatively their lesson plans, their reflections on their teaching and the views of their peers regarding their learning of critical literacy. I conclude by assessing the possibilities and constraints of teaching critical literacy through the pedagogical framework and the microteaching context.     

Digital natives and digital media in the college classroom: assignment design and impacts on student learning

The use of multimodal learning techniques is becoming more widespread, however, the pedagogical discourse surrounding its implementation into classroom and course design is complicated as these technologies are either demonized or viewed as the panacea for curriculum ills. Educators are faced with unique challenges when investigating how to experiment with the best ways to produce classroom experiences that use digital media. This case study examines the implementation challenges and learning outcomes related to such an experiment by reviewing and assessing the use of digital media in a health communication course, specifically through the development of documentaries. Creating an effective assignment requires addressing the development of technical skills along with course content and providing guidance and feedback throughout a semester-long project. Creating an effective assignment is pointless without sufficient learning outcomes. Because this assignment engaged students with both the course content and digital media, their learning experiences were enhanced and improved their group collaboration, critical thinking and media literacy skills.     

Extending the classroom walls: using academic blogging as an intervention strategy to improve critical literacy skills with elementary students

‘Academic blogging’ is a way of extending the primary classroom walls and enhancing learning through collaborative reflective responses to open-ended questions from prescribed text. Students learn from each other, develop critical literacy skills, voice their opinions and ask questions through blogging. This pedagogical approach broaches the areas of social media etiquette, cognitive dissonance, Information Communication Technologies, collaborative learning and utilises virtual conversations to deepen student's understanding of text. Through the methodology of Action Research with the spiral steps of; Plan, Act, Observe and Reflect an intervention strategy is devised to improve the critical literacy skills of Year 5 students in the comprehension skills of metacognition and reflection. A strategy was devised that involved the creation of a class blogosphere to share reflective insights on a class novel. While the children's results were positive using this intervention strategy the teacher's own learning as an educator and researcher is evident through this action research project.     

Bilingual Vine making: problematizing oppressive discourses in a secondary Chicanx/Latinx studies course

ABSTRACT

This article presents the critical digital literacy practices of Latinx bilingual youth in the United States enrolled in a secondary ethnic studies course. Despite the expansion of digital tools in classrooms, empirical studies on the pedagogical affordances of such tools, and how they enhance youth’s critical digital literacies and understandings of themselves remain scarce. The author relies on participant observation, interviews, and the analysis of writing within a unit that incorporated students’ twenty-first century language and literacy practices via Vine’s social media platform to explore issues of power and privilege within an exacerbated sociopolitical climate. Findings reveal the ways in which students drew on a range of fluid linguistic and literate practices to make meaning of themselves, problematize oppressive dominant discourses, and negotiate more desired identities and literacies. Attention to young people’s translanguaging and multimodal codemeshing practices on social media platforms can harvest critical insight about what constitutes twenty-first century critical digital literacies.     

Thornburn Junior High Helps Pupils to Choose Their Clubs

Too often, students reach college without the learning, critical thinking, and literacy skills they need to succeed in higher education. Recent educational trends that promote teaching to the test, short reading and writing assignments, group work, and technological resources contribute to students' difficulties transitioning to college-level work. Instead, students need practice in sustaining attention to longer readings and writing exercises, researching through more traditional library methods, learning from a variety of teaching styles, and working individually to show subject mastery and creativity. These five Do's and Don'ts of preparing students for college represent a college professor's wish-list of secondary classroom experiences to help students make a smooth transition to higher education.     

基于核心素养的中学英语文学阅读课程实践与思考

《中国学生发展核心素养》提出"全面发展的人"的培养目标,学科教师要在课程实施中落实学生核心素养的发展。基于核心素养的中学英语文学阅读教学实践从语言学习、认知发展、社会生活三方面促进学生的发展。在语言学习目标层面,学生在准确理解故事文本基础上,通过准确拼读、流利朗读、正确复述、互动讨论、创新表演、创意写作等系列活动,提高语言理解、赏析和创意表达能力;在认知发展层面,学生在语言交流活动中培养思维的逻辑性、批判性和创新性,掌握语言知识学习策略,提升分析和解决问题能力、元认知能力;在社会生活层面,学生通过一系列阅读、思考和创作分享活动,形成正确的人生观、价值观,培养自尊、自信、自强的良好品格,学会做人、做事,提高文明素养和社会责任感。     

Towards a critical translanguaging biliteracy pedagogy: the ‘aha moment’ stories of two Mandarin Chinese teachers in Canada

Learning Mandarin Chinese as a heritage or additional language at Chinese complementary schools has long been a tradition for many Asian Canadians. However, research that looks at teachers' experiences and perceptions in Canadian settings, especially the power dynamics embedded in biliteracy development at complementary schools, is scant. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges and opportunities to Chinese complementary schools. In this paper, we, as two Mandarin teachers and literacy researchers, used collaborative autobiographical narrative inquiry to tell our stories to unfold (1) how power dynamics regarding biliteracy/multiliteracy were enacted and reflected in a Chinese complementary school during the pandemic and (2) our re-understanding of Mandarin teaching and learning from critical literacy and translanguaging perspectives. Although the pandemic is over, racial discrimination and social inequity continue to remain in our lives. By analysing our teaching moments and reflections, we hope this study could provide some insights into how critical literacy and translanguaging can be integrated into language and literacy education in multilingual and multimodal settings in the pandemic and post-pandemic contexts.     

Multimodal literacy learning opportunities within a grade six classroom literacy curriculum: constraints and enablers

This case study of a grade six classroom literacy curriculum in Ontario, Canada was designed to produce new knowledge of how curricula can promote multimodal literacy learning opportunities for students. With a focus on constraints and enablers, the study found few opportunities for multimodal literacy learning due to standardised assessments, an outcomes-based programmatic curriculum with related standardised report card, and assessment-focused professional learning opportunities. Despite the print-centric nature of the curriculum, however, the study found that students did initiate their own multimodal opportunities. The study has implications for educators across the globe who are interested in expanding students’ literacies.     

Defining and seeking to identify critical Internet literacy: a discourse analysis of fifth‐graders' Internet search and evaluation activity

Pedagogic focus is shifting increasingly from teaching students to search the Internet efficiently to encouraging critical Internet literacy, but this paper argues that these more complex and subtle skills are both challenging to teach and difficult to identify. The paper presents an analysis of the discourse of triads of fifth graders undertaking an Internet search task that emphasised decisions relating to the trustworthiness and relevance of websites. The analysis uses two lenses – the Vygotskian concept of obuchenie and Mercer's notion of ‘inter‐thinking’ – to help identify discourse markers that could support teachers in identifying and teaching critical Internet literacy. More work is needed, but it is argued that if our goal is to develop critical Internet literacy, the concept of obuchenie helps us to understand the socio‐cognitive prerequisites of group learning in Internet searching tasks, while the concept of ‘interthinking’ offers us a distribution mechanism that can be applied in helping students acquire the skills of independent and critical analysis as they carry out those tasks.     

Socio-scientific reasoning and environmental literacy in a field-based ecology class

The complex environmental challenges humanity faces require citizens who are scientifically and environmentally literate. Many environmental education programs are situated in the field where students are immersed in their learning. These field-based activities are engaging but may lack opportunities for students to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills necessary to be environmentally literate. We suggest a socio-scientific issue (SSI) based teaching approach can increase epistemic engagement and lead to student gains in scientific and environmental literacy. This study describes how we modified an existing field-based ecology course, framing the learning around a local environmental socio-scientific issue. We used a convergent parallel mixed-methods approach to examine the changes in socio-scientific reasoning (SSR) over time for high school students in this course as a measure of scientific and environmental literacy. Results indicate that a focused SSI field-based environmental education curriculum can support development of socio-scientific reasoning and environmental literacy competencies among high school students.     

Bridging the gap: a longitudinal study of the relationship between pedagogical continuity and early Chinese literacy acquisition

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between pedagogical continuity in literacy education and early literacy development by comparing Chinese children in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Stratified random sampling was used to select 24 preschool and Primary 1 classes in four communities catering to middle‐class families in each city. The 24 teachers were interviewed about their teaching methods and views on pedagogical continuity in individual sessions. Further, their teaching activities were videotaped over a period of a week. Their students (n = 758) completed a Chinese literacy attainment test at the beginning and at the end of the same academic year. Analyses indicated that Hong Kong students outperformed their Shenzhen counterparts in Chinese literacy attainment, at both preschool and primary levels, concurrently and longitudinally. This suggests that the holistic approach followed in Hong Kong might have a more positive impact on children's literacy development than the approach followed in Shenzhen. Implications of the findings for early childhood curriculum reform are discussed.     

多模态英语教学对大学生多元识读能力影响实证研究

在多模态符号学的理论基础上,以95名非英语专业大二学生为对象,通过实验研究和问卷调查的方法从语言输入、输出及评估等角度来研究多模态英语教学对大学生多元识读能力的影响.结果表明：融合了文字、声音、色彩、动画、印刷版式等符号资源并涉及听觉、视觉等多种感官交互的多模态英语教学比传统语言教学更受学生欢迎,能更有效地提升学生的英语语言识读能力、社会交际能力及技术识读能力等多元识读能力.     

论提高小学生识字教学的有效性

无论是传统的语文教学,还是二期课改都将识字教学作为低年级教学的重点。造成学生识字困难的主要原因有汉字自身的结构和读者复杂性,也有小学生心理和认知的特点造成的。基于这些情况,在日常的识字教学中,试图从汉字的字形规律——象形、会意和形声字的构字特点及低年级学生的认知、心理规律角度出发,进行相应的识字教学策略的研究,通过实践研究,以期提高低年级识字教学的有效性,使学生真正地快乐识字。     

Using information and communication technologies to engage students in the later years of schooling in learning content and literacy: Case studies of three teachers

Literacy for a 21st century context is far more complex than reading and writing print. As society and information and communication technology (ICT) has changed, so what counts as literacy and how a person is deemed to be literate has changed. Students from low socio-economic backgrounds in the later years of schooling require access to multiple literacies mediated through ICT and to teachers who are willing to provide opportunities for them to be taught explicitly. ICT can promote the learning of the content as well as learning the literacies associated with specific subject areas. This paper will focus on how three teachers in the later years of schooling (years 9–12) used technology to enhance learning and engagement of students in learning the literacies associated with their subject. They challenged the hegemony of print literacy by providing opportunities to develop students understanding, critique and creation of multimodal texts, but also supported students in achieving more effective print literacy. These teachers provided appropriate teaching for students from low socio-economic backgrounds, engaging them in thinking, feeling and acting at high levels while simultaneously providing positive messages about their knowledge, ability, control, place and voice. Their pedagogical approach supported the development of cultural and social capital that will enhance their students’ life options.     

批评性阅读在英语阅读教学中的应用

本文在Fairclough提出的批评话语分析(CDA)三维分析框架的基础上,与阅读教学不同阶段相结合,构建适合英语阅读教学的批评性阅读分析框架,并结合不同阅读文本进行实例分析,探讨在英语阅读课中,如何运用批评性阅读来提高大学生的社会意识和批评性阅读能力。     

Exploring practices of multiliteracies pedagogy through digital technologies: a narrative inquiry

Digital technologies have fast become integral within literacy learning and teaching across contexts as students engage with a variety of digital and multimodal texts. While teachers in New Zealand schools have a high degree of autonomy in the design and planning of literacy programs, little is currently known about how they understand and enact multiliteracies pedagogy (MLP). Using data gathered via interviews and classroom observations in an intermediate school in New Zealand, this article adopts a narrative inquiry approach to explore one teacher's approaches to using digital technologies and texts within literacy instruction. We explore in particular the ways in which MLP may be enacted implicitly rather than explicitly, within the complex matrix of teachers' personal beliefs and learning experiences, the perceived learning needs of students, and the school curriculum. We conclude with a call for the conscious and purposeful teaching of MLP, focusing on synaesthesia and the semiotic functions of texts.     

Why critical literacy should turn to ‘the affective turn’: making a case for critical affective literacy

The central argument of this essay is that critical literacy with a rationalistic bent may not enable us to cope with ethical dilemmas in our responsiveness to human sufferings. I argue that critical literacy education would benefit from turning to the recent scholarship on affect/emotion studies. I draw upon the works of Sara Ahmed – one of the leading contributors to critical affect studies – to shed light on what is called a regulatory power that creates a schism in our responsiveness to violence and suffering. The key contribution of this essay is to present an actionable framework of what I describe as critical affective literacy. To delineate this framework, I present four pedagogical principles, along with examples of instructional activities.     

Critical multimodal literacy practices in student-created comics

In the wake of grim events such as Russian invasion on Ukraine, Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the death of George Floyd in America and mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, all occurring amid the pandemic of COVID-19, it became increasingly more important to recognise literacy work that promotes a critically informed and just society. Thus, through the lens of critical literacy and intersectionality, this study sought to examine how pre-service teachers drew on critical multimodal literacy practices to create open educational resources (OER) or openly licensed comics that motivate local, global and/or transnational literacy education. Data collection took place at a four-year public university in Upstate New York. They included student-created comics, student reflections, researcher's fieldnotes and course syllabus. Findings from the study reveal that the pre-service teachers incorporated either a local, global or transnational connection to enact a social change. Further analysis shows that the OER or student-created comics inherently involve actions which are aligned with the three principles of social justice: redistributive justice, recognitive justice and representational justice.     

Writing in Math: A Disciplinary Literacy Approach

Mathematics teachers often resist generic literacy strategies because they do not seem relevant to math learning. Discipline-specific literacy practices that emerge directly from the math content and processes under study are more likely to be embraced by math teachers. Furthermore, national and state-level mathematics standards as well as Common Core standards provide frameworks for situating literacy practices squarely within the disciplines. A disciplinary literacy approach to writing in math requires teachers to develop innovative strategies and practices that link writing to particular mathematical processes and tasks. An example is shared of a math writing approach developed by a middle school teacher used to prompt her students' critical thinking and problem solving processes during the study of algebra. She designed a template that when completed can serve as a reflective tool for her students and provide the teacher useful feedback on their learning. The example of teaching with the template as a guide for working through steps to solve a story problem demonstrates what disciplinary writing can look like in a typical middle school classroom.     

Drawing near and pushing away: critical positioning in multimodal composition

As the tools and modes of literate practice continually emerge, so too must our critical approaches to understanding their expression. While media production has been praised for its potential to provide youth a voice to challenge dominant narratives, various questions remain as to what happens at the multimodal levels of composition in terms of critical engagement. This study uses mediated discourse analysis to examine adolescent students’ use of multimodal resources for purposes of critical positioning in ways unique to the multimodal dimensions of composing radio and video documentaries. Research findings reveal students’ active use of multimodal resources to both draw audiences near as well as push them away for purposes of pleasure, analysis, and critique. Implications for research and teaching include attention to the movement of shifting social positions as critical social practice.