This study investigated the effects that critical literacy instruction had on comprehension in a seventh grade reading class. Numerous studies have examined critical literacy instruction in the classroom, as well as effective methods of comprehension instruction; however, few studies have combined these two lines of inquiry. Therefore, the purpose…

Past studies have shown positive correlations between the arts and academic achievement when the arts were integrated into the literature curriculum. Other studies have shown positive associations between the arts and other areas of the curriculum, such as mathematics and science. Considering the Theory of Change, which employs understandings in…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine ways that a multicultural perspective using critical literacy practices engaged practicing teachers to rethink and re-vision oppressive hegemonic structures and attitudes regarding immigrant students and their families and helped them to develop as critical educators. In the context of a…

The aim of this study is to describe and analyse the writing discourse in one classroom and how students learn through studying a topic, i.e. the teaching and learning of written argument. The study takes its stance from a sociocultural perspective and is influenced by discourse analyses, new literacy studies and critical literacy (Fairclough…

By discussing commonly held myths, this paper attempts to clarify a number of important issues in the area of critical literacy education. These include the distinction between critical thinking and critical literacy, the audience critical literacy is meant for, the philosophical underpinnings of critical literacy, and the relationship between…

This article begins by drawing attention to the similarities between the aims of critical literacy within English and Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC). It then considers subscribing to liberal values in the English classrooms of a plural society and concludes that, as political liberalism is unlikely to be universally endorsed, we need…

This article provides a model for teachers to expand students' thinking about the liberating nature of literacy. Literacy is not just about making kids smarter or preparing them for future careers. Neither is it passive, neutral, or innocent. It is infused with values and ideology. It can be used by people to promote freedom or support tyranny. It…

Social studies teachers are tasked with aiding their students' abilities to engage in public debate and make politically sound decisions. One way the authors have found to help facilitate this is to draw connections between content knowledge and current political conversations through the use of clips from "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." While…

"Monsters Under the Bed" is an essential text focussing on critical and contemporary issues surrounding writing for "early years" children. Containing a critically creative and a creatively critical investigation of the cult and culture of the child and childhood in fiction and non-fictional writing, it also contains a wealth of ideas and critical…

This article is derived from a study of the use of Facebook as an educational resource by five dyslexic students at a sixth form college in north-west England. Through a project in which teacher-researcher and student-participants co-constructed a group Facebook page about the students' scaffolded research into dyslexia, the study examined the…

This article maps critical literacies conceptually and empirically in the context of adult immigrant language classrooms. It begins by describing Deleuze and Guattari's cartographic approach. Then it traces critical literacies situated conceptually within a Freirean paradigm before mapping them differently through the Deleuzian-informed Multiple…

Seven successive curricula for Swedish in the Swedish primary school are investigated using a linguistic method that traces its origin to the Russian literary theorist, Michail Bakhtin. The amount of dialogicity, viewed as the room given to different paradigms to argue against each other, is shown to decrease from the earlier curricula to the…

When educators think about what makes learning relevant to students, often they narrow their thinking to electives or career technical education. While these provide powerful opportunities for students to make relevant connections to their learning, they can also create authentic experiences in the core curriculum. In the San Juan Unified School…

The role of new media in the Arab uprisings and the news of widespread surveillance of digital and mobile media have triggered a renewed interest in Arab audiences research, particularly as it pertains to these audiences' critical abilities and digital media literacy competencies. Taken for granted have been Arab youth's widespread use of social…

This article reports on part of a wider study in which a group of teachers opted for a new model of continuing professional development (CPD) that was offered by one local authority (LA) in Scotland. In collaboration with the LA, the teachers selected the topic of critical literacy and the critical pedagogies that develop from a critical literacy…