This paper examines how, as a teacher researcher, I employed a narrative approach to research to better understand my 8th grade Language Arts students' empowerment in school. Drawing on sociocultural theory, critical pedagogy and a narrative approach to teacher research, students' voices were privileged and compared to the systemic assumptions…

Ideology is embedded in children's books; it is an unavoidable and widespread occurrence (Apol, 1998; Hollindale, 1988/1992). Neutrally described as a vital system of beliefs of any culture, ideology is often examined with regard to its incorporation into plots, character portrayals, and images in literary texts for children. More importantly,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how student learning materials, such as textbooks, are becoming more oriented toward multi-modal approaches using visuality and orality. While such approaches may help students to understand and then to reproduce taught materials, the objective of this paper is to question whether they are serving…

In this article, authors describe an original framework aimed to acquaint pre-service English teachers with concepts related to social justice to facilitate their critical literacies related to eight components: positionality, race, orientation, gender, relationships, environment, social class, and stereotypes (PROGRESS). Authors then illustrate…

This inquiry into the digital discussion forums tied to two English classes in an urban public high school examines the potential of new media to honor the multicultural composition of classrooms and support teachers to design culturally sustaining pedagogies. Given the increasing significance of digital media as well as the growing diversity of…

Three Korean children, whose English reading test scores were comparably lower than their peers' and who showed a tendency to withdraw from class activities or resist texts, participated in a reading tutoring programme in South Korea. By reflecting on the three students' interactions with an English text, the current paper argues that resistant…

W.S. 21-18-202 (h)(iii) mandates that the Wyoming Community College Commission (WCCC) develop performance benchmarks, outcome measures and other performance indicators which serve as the basis for annual reporting to the legislature and the governor. The annual reporting must include, but is not limited to, the following measures: (1) student goal…

The field of literacy education encompasses many different modalities of reading and writing the world, including those of drama, theatre, and performance practiced in both school and community settings. As contemporary theatre practices have broadened performance creation approaches available to literacy and arts educators working with youth and…

Using narrative inquiry, this book shares the author's transformative journey as a literacy teacher and researcher examining her experience as a White, middle-class female. The author argues that it is not enough for teachers to implement curricula and pedagogical strategies designed to foster inclusiveness. Instead, teachers must look inward,…

The biggest threat to civil society in Canada and the United States is the economic doctrine known as neoliberalism. Sometimes referred to as the corporate agenda, this philosophy supports the deregulation of industry, the privatization of the commons, the weakening of workers' rights, and corporate tax cuts. Acknowledging that teaching is a…

This article examines the relationship between oral- and textual-literacy systems that existed during the antebellum period of United States history. I argue that African-American intellectual processes are more accurately understood as existing on a literacy continuum that reflects equality between oral literacy and textual literacy. A literacy…

In this paper, I seek to ascertain whether critical literacy may have an important and realisable place in current English pedagogy, having first tried to establish what is meant by critical literacy, and what its contexts are for my purposes here, including the nature of initial teacher education (ITE). The paper then reports and reflects on some…

In recent years, professional influences on all sides have pressed the author to put students in the driver's seat, making them more active in their own learning, giving them more voice and choice in their work, and developing skills that will benefit them well beyond the classroom. This article suggests how to introduce literary theory in high…

This article draws upon our experiences of participating in a Literacy Hub in South Africa. The aim is to describe and analyse how dialogue among Grade Eight teachers in a Literacy Hub around literacy teaching practices might lead to professional development and deepen teachers' understanding of literacy practices and teaching. Interviews and…

This article examines how undergraduate instructors of pre-service educators can address complex issues of sexuality and sexual orientation within the classroom. First, we explain our own backgrounds and positionalities to provide a context for our ensuing ideas and discussions. Second, by reviewing the literature on homophobic bullying, we…