Teachers' Perceptions and Experiences with Critical Literacy

1 Teachers’ Perceptions and Experiences with Critical Literacy A doctoral thesis presented by Jacklyn Jitiam Gervais to the Graduate School of Education In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the field of Education College of Professional Studies Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts September 11, 2020 2 Abstract Literacy can be a powerful agent for social change that leads towards social justice in education. The concept of literacy spans more than reading, writing, communication, and critical thinking instruction. In the field of learning, literacy encompasses the choices made around texts, the discussions and interpretations that evolve from texts, and the cultural norms that are revealed in texts. The students who arrive in the classroom are varied; it is imperative to critically analyze the systems teachers have in place for students to consider hegemonic messages in a meaningful way. The foundation of this study is determining teachers’ conceptions of transformative, socially empowering work, specifically analysis of their experiences and interpretations of critical literacy for engagement of student voice for global citizenship. Critical literacy instruction empowers students to analyze print and media to understand their world and open their horizons to the nuances and subtleties of the dominant culture that are represented in text and visual media. Inherent to critical literacy is pedagogy that provides opportunities for students to practice analyzing and reading with a critical stance and to develop habits of inquiry. Gaining insight into teachers’ perceptions of critical literacy how this impacts the work they do in the classroom is a valuable way to see how they engage their students as transformative agents of change. There is vital need for critical learning embedded with opportunities for students to understand complex ideological issues, to reflect deeply in a transformative way, and to articulate their perspective as young citizens in a media-entrenched society. Gaining insight into the experiences that teachers have with this work required interviews that share how teachers negotiate potential beliefs about transformative work and apply them to learning experiences. Keywords: critical literacy, voice, global citizenship Teachers’ Perceptions and Experiences with Critical Literacy 3 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Chapter 1: Introduction 5 Statement of the Problem 7 Significance of the Research Question 9 Research Question 16 Definitions of Key Terminology 16 Theoretical Framework 18 Conclusion 33 Chapter 2: Literature Review 35 Topic 35 Foundations of Critical Literacy 39 Nurturing Civic Voices 44 Transformative Learning 54 Summary 64 Chapter 3: Research Design 67 Development of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis 68 Participants 74 Procedures for Study 75 Data Analysis 76 Ethical Considerations 77 Considerations for Quality Research 78 Limitations 87 Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis 89 Participants 74 Perceptions of Critical Literacy 94 So Many Literacies 98 Literacy Challenges for Educators 105 Student Voice 118 Curriculum Difference Between Social Studies and ELA 123 Conclusion 128 Chapter 5: Discussion and Implications for Practice 131 Literacy for Democratic Learning 135 Teachers’ Perceptions of Critical Literacy 141 Literacy Action for Transformative Work 146 Conclusion 150 Recommendations for Practice 152 Recommendations for Future Research 159 References 163 4 Dedication Page This work is dedicated to my husband Anthony and our children, Mabel and Miles. I am so grateful for their love, encouragement and support during this journey. Many, many thanks and love for Shelley, Trish and Nema for taking care of my babies during the many homework and library hours. Their immense love and care for my children was such a gift. Thank you to my sisters for picking up the slack while I was in school and writing. They planned birthdays, bought Christmas gifts, wrapped presents, and sent love and encouragement to keep me focused. Lastly, this is also for my dad, Jeik. He was on my mind whole time I was in grad school. 5 Chapter 1: Introduction The sheer amount of information that students are expected to consume, process, reconcile, and finally integrate into their schema during daily interactions is overwhelming. Current literacy assessments reflect the difficulties students experience with comprehending the texts they face. In their work at the Harvard School of Education, Murnane, Sawhill, and Snow (2012) explored the most pressing future issues for educators. Murnane et al. believed two major challenges face educators who are tasked with preparing students to be literacy proficient for their educational and vocational careers as well as for their future scholarly endeavors. Their first issue was the profound complexity of literacy demands emerging in the 21 st century. Students are faced with vast amounts of information, in and out of school, and it is difficult to prepare learners to comprehend and engage effectively with varied texts. The other issue that Murnane et al. (2012) defined is more layered and nuanced. It is directly related to the distinct achievement gap among learners, based on socioeconomic differences. Murnane et al. (2012) espoused the need to address this disconnect, writing that there is a “need to reduce the disparities in literacy outcomes between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those from more privileged homes” (p. 3). Understanding how educators can best address those gaps and help all learners find academic success is imperative, especially when information comes at citizens so rapidly in and out of schools. The failure to deeply understand and analyze text is problematic on many fronts. As Murnane et al. (2012) explained, students from disadvantaged backgrounds are put at greater risk of failure because they are not given explicit instruction in deep comprehension (p. 7) and cannot access and analyze the information they receive. This has drastic implications for nurturing 6 democratic citizenship. Gainer’s (2012) work around digital literacy and democracy supports the idea that for a strong democracy in the 21 st century, all students need explicit instruction around the analysis of information. In her work on the intersection of critical literacy and global citizenship, Gainer (2012) called for engaged and participatory citizens “who think critically, take positions on complicated issues, and work collaboratively to solve problems” (p. 14). Learning that is transformative includes analyzing texts and relationships found in and out of schools. Increasingly, there is awareness that schools are not areas of neutrality. The practices students experience and apply, especially in the area of literacy development, are ripe with political, social, and cultural undercurrents that permeate the learning experience (Lalik & Oliver, 2007). Nurturing an environment that invites all learners to participate would address passivity in and out of the classroom. Motivation and relevance in education is paramount for engaging learners and addressing achievement gaps. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore teachers’ understanding of critical literacy and delve into the decisions teachers make around student voice and citizenship. To that end, this work sought to better understand how teachers conceptualize critical literacy instruction around middle school student voice as members of a local and global community. The intent of this work was two-fold. To recognize how the work is conceptualized, it was necessary to (a) gain insight into teachers’ perceptions and understanding of critical literacy and (b) determine how this understanding is reflected in large-scale philosophical decisions around student learning and in more focused decisions about daily curriculum and instruction that address voice and citizenship with middle school students. These profound decisions directly reflect teachers’ own beliefs about social justice and student voice. 7 Critical literacy has roots in critical pedagogy. It has a primary focus on text analysis for transformative learning. Text in this case is increasingly understood as having print and media modalities. Hinrichsen and Coombs (2013) detailed the power of students focusing on meaning making and interpreting texts as opposed to composing texts. With the advent of digital practices and the power of networks, conceptions of texts are not as rigid as they had been (Hinrichsen & Coombs, p. 7). Gaining insight into how teachers conceptualize their own thinking about critical literacy is intrinsic to seeing how they apply this to curriculum design and work with students. Through semi-structured interviews with middle school English and language arts, reading, and humanities teachers, this research attempted to determine how educators conceptualize critical literacy as a phenomenon and experience it in their work with middle school students. Statement of the Problem State and national standards increasingly endorse a commitment to literacy and citizenship in a 21 st century global community (Roy, 2016). The marriage of literacy and global awareness brings attention to the political nature of literacy (McLaren, 1988). Participation in and understanding of the global community means finding ways for students to learn about other cultures and perspectives. In the classroom, this requires educators to delve deeper into the relations of power that are deeply entrenched in the domain of literacy

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