What Is Critical Literacy Free Essay Example, 1000 words

It is paramount to examine texts, like magazine articles, films, novels, short stories etc from a point that challenges societal beliefs and values. In the classroom critical literacy is mostly used while reading textbooks which will aid adolescents to be able to reason critically. The books so used by the teachers should be able to present trustworthy voices and their themes should focus on such issues as class, gender, prejudice and tolerance so that when students participate in critical literacy, they will be active, strategic and open-minded learners capable of analysing text from a critical point of view(Edward, 2006). Critical literacy is also oftenly used in the classroom in the form of debates and this aids learners in developing critical reasoning skills and constructing critical literacy. Through well-constructed debates students will be able to clarify, illustrate, practice and assist them reflect on various themes. Students can examine those whose knowledge has been priv ileged in the texts with an aim of de-constructing the message for those particular meanings. As readers also, students should evaluate social construction in a text and interrogate the factors that might have influenced the writer to create the wordings in a particular manner. We will write a custom essay sample on What Is Critical Literacy or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Moreover by using critical literacy, students are encouraged by teachers to view texts from other ways and re-creating them from a standpoint of the marginalized groups so as to analyze social inequities and power relations that have been fostered in the texts. There are various strategies that can be applied in engaging students in critical literacy include utilization of anticipatory activities which include setting of a purpose for reading and students asked questions to enable use their previous knowledge on the matter. This can also be carried out by the teacher reading the text aloud and engaging students in small teams to participate in shared readings. The second strategy involves the teacher asking student questions pertaining identification of key ideas with details that are supportive from the expository texts that were presented on their books such as those of geography. There are a lot of activities that students engage in around critical literacy. Behrman Edward revealed that the commonly used methods that support this phenomenon in practice includes: reading of supplementary texts, reading of several texts, learning from a perspective that is resistant, production of counter-texts and instructing students to conduct research on personal interest topics and social action for challenging students (Edward, 2006). For the purposes of this paper we shall examine the first three methods.