This paper is divided into three parts. It begins by making an argument for the ongoing importance of critical literacy at a moment when there are mutterings about its being passe. The second part of the paper formulates the argument with the use of illustrative texts. It concludes with examples of critical literacy activities that I argue, are…

The purpose of this critical action research study is to examine how critical literacy, when used in the social studies classroom, can open up spaces where children construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct superficial notions of race and racism in an early childhood classroom. A nine lesson unit on African American history was developed and…

In this paper, the authors present findings from a yearlong ethnographic research study that examines the development of critical literacy within two urban fourth grade classrooms in Tennessee. This study examines how young second language learners in English-dominant classrooms learn to read critically, write, and construct multimodal…

This qualitative case study examined South Korean elementary teachers' beliefs about the goals of multicultural education in relation to practices and contexts within social studies instruction. The first research question examined the distinguishing features of South Korean elementary teachers' beliefs about the goals of multicultural education.…

The transnational movement of people and ideas continues to reshape how we imagine places and cultures. Considering the volume of information and entertainment delivered and consumed via mass media, global educators are tasked with engaging students in learning activities that help them develop skill sets that include a globally minded, critical…

English learners (ELs) represent one of the fastest growing groups among the school-aged population in the United States, yet the level of literacy achievement for ELs has lagged significantly behind that of their native English-speaking peers. Existing practices in schools tend to favor an asocial and decontextualized language learning approach…

Assessment, as defined by policy mandates such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, is a well--established concept within education. However, assessing multiliteracies presents new challenges because multiliteracies is about ways of knowing and being in the world rather than mastery of a particular set of cognitive skills. In this article,…

This qualitative study investigates how 90 teachers explored critical curriculum through their reading, analysis and creation of counter advertisements. Located in visual discourse analysis, we designed a study to investigate the question "To what extent can teachers engaged in a critical literacy curriculum talk back to messages of consumerism,…

This article explores the ways that alternative digital media production by elementary students can support education for critical democracy. The article centers on a collaborative, qualitative study in which students in a 3rd-grade class at a Title One school created and disseminated podcasts about issues of historical injustice rooted in the key…

This paper provides an overview of the recursive process of initiating an action research project on literacy for students-at-risk in a Canadian urban elementary school. As this paper demonstrates, this requires development of a school-wide framework, which frames the action research project and desired outcomes, and a shared ownership of this…

In the last ten years, historical fiction picturebooks have won numerous children's literature awards and have assumed a prominent role in the literacy landscape of elementary and middle school classrooms. Whether read in read-alouds, study groups, as a focus of genre study, or as a supplement to the social studies curriculum, historical fiction…

This article explores the relationship between critical literacy practice, digital media production, and civic agency in the Council of Youth Research, a youth participatory action research program in which Los Angeles high school students conduct research and create dynamic, multimedia presentations as leaders of a growing youth movement for…

Accompanying myriad definitions of critical literacy is an absence of pedagogical models for implementing critical literacy in teacher education contexts. This action research explores critical literacy with pre-service and in-service teachers in teacher education courses offered in the United States. The primary data sources include online weekly…

Educators in Malawi and Zambia have always been concerned with their student's abilities to become analytical, logical and proficient readers of texts. This has been due to the fear that there is an increased overemphasis on knowledge of the fundamental literacy skills and other basics at the expense of critical thinking. This scenario has…

The new Curricula of Cyprus aspire to deliver a new ethos in teaching and learning that promotes the notion of "the humane and democratic school" and emphasises the right of every child to succeed. In this context, the new Modern Greek language curriculum in Cyprus has been moulded upon the notion of Critical Literacy (CL). CL is neither…