The purpose of this case study research was to understand the ways in which an innovative, urban secondary English teacher (Ms. B) approached English Language Arts, when a set, standardized curriculum and testing were in place. The Common Core standards were prescribed within a required module-based presentation format. New literacies pedagogy…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore alternative literacy instruction with incarcerated youth, add to the body of existing literature documenting the literacy of those incarcerated and investigate the construction of book clubs through a critical lens. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative case study answered the following research…

This paper presents a pragmatic way of introducing pre-service teachers to multiple literacies and critical literacy through children's-literature-based engagements. The concepts of multiple literacies and critical literacy are reviewed, and their interrelationship is explained. Two instructional engagements, which connect theory to practice…

In a society consumed by ever-increasing media and technology, it is more important now than ever that public schools provide their students with the skills and tools necessary to analyze, interpret, deconstruct, and construct popular media images and messages. Consequently, it is the role of educators to engage with popular media in the…

South Africa's communication landscape has changed and is still changing because many previously disadvantaged areas have benefitted from the construction of roads, provision of electricity and installation of satellites. As a result, many previously disadvantaged learners have access to digital media in their homes. In this article, we argue that…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the intersection between critical literacy and digital activism. Critical literacy is a form of instruction that teaches students to question power structures and societal injustices, while digital activism introduces methods for individuals and groups to use digital tools to effect social and…

Grounded in critical and emancipatory theories, five critical ethnographies about the lives of children, grandchildren, colleagues, students, and teachers are analyzed and synthesized to illuminate the ways in which individuals are racially socialized over their lifespans. Three propositions for early childhood contexts were apparent across the…

This summary paper shares key ideas from a 2019 TALE Conference panel session that focused on how the authors infused social media into literacy and technology teacher education courses at two public universities. Four teacher-educators share ways of leveraging various platforms such as Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube to use as educational…

This article is a discussion of culture circles as they might be employed in public school classrooms to promote humanization and transformational social participation. We suggest culture circles are a medium that teachers might employ toward human becoming and thus aid students in improving their communities through their shared examination of…

This study followed the course of a professional development intervention to support kindergarten teachers in using a critical literacy approach to teach their students about race, ethnicity, and equity. The purpose of the design-based intervention, which took place in a diverse but somewhat racially segregated school district, was to empower…

This practitioner research study uses qualitative data collection and analysis methods to explore student engagement with critical and multimodal literacy curriculum in the context of a writing course focused on storytelling. This research addresses the issue of deficit framing in schools serving Youths of Color and the negative characterizations…

The rise of right-wing populism, embodied in the figure of Donald Trump, has been characterized by conspiracy theories, "fake news," and other forms of mis- and disinformation in what has been described as a "post-truth" era. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this problem, and national conflicts around appropriate content,…

Purpose: This study aimed to measure the effect of the critical literacy approach on pre-service language teachers' critical reading skills. The critical reading skills measured consisted of six levels: interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, and self-regulation. Research Methods: This study was designed as a quasi-experiment…

Globally, many people spend most of their time interacting with the products of engineering design as they wear clothes, drink clean water, use transportation systems, and more. Given the omnipresence of engineering design, whose material results are felt daily in people's lives, it seems especially important that students learn to recognize and…

Our current education system depends exclusively on standardization, accountability, and test scores, which often limits the learning within the classroom. This type of curriculum does not include children as contributors, their lived cultural experiences, or their voices and cultural diversity. The intent of this dissertation was to connect…