Critical literacy

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Critical literacy, since around 1992 ^[1], has become a popular approach to teaching English to students in English speaking countries ^[2]. At the heart of this approach to teaching is the belief that while literacy enables students to make meaning from texts, critical literacy will empower them to understand how texts are trying to influence and change them as members of society. It has become extremely predominant in Australian schools, particularly in the State of Queensland. ^[3]

According to proponents of critical literacy it is not simply a means of attaining literacy in the sense of improving the ability to decode words, syntax, etc. In fact, the ability to read words on paper is not necessarily required in order to engage in a critical discussion of "texts," which can include digital media (movies), art, and many other means of expression. The important thing is being able to have a discussion with others about the different meanings a text might have and teaching the potentially critically literate learner how to think flexibly about it.

For post-structuralist practitioners of critical literacy, the definition of this literacy practice can be quite malleable, but usually involves a search for discourses and reasons why certain discourses are included or left out of a text.

[edit] History

Critical literacy practices grew out of the social justice pedagogy of Paulo Freire. It is not always practiced in the overtly political and revolutionary way that Freire adopted. Instead, it is often designed to challenge various patterns one can find in texts. Because of its roots in the social justice educational movement, many of the same educators are taking up this less overtly politicized expansion.

[edit] Details

Critical literacy is a belief that we need to go beyond just decoding the words of a text. This base knowledge is not enough in today's world. We need to understand that language is a social construct. It is never neutral. It can be and is used in a never-ending variety of ways to inform, entertain, persuade and manipulate. It is necessary to learn how language works so that you will be a more skilled user of language in terms of both comprehending and composing.

Language can be very powerful. It can be used to a person's advantage to persuade someone else to their point of view.

Definitions

1. Multiple Readings

Texts, of themselves, do not have any central integrity. There is no one indisputable way a text can be read. It may be read in different ways by different people. The different readings will be determined by factors such as the context and the reader's discursive background. A reading of Jane Austin's Emma, from the point of view of a member of the upper class English, could be quite different from that of a servant at that time (if they could read). Again, a reading made in 1820 could be quite different from one made in 2000. Readings may be broken down into categories:

• Dominant reading: The readings of texts are not totally chaotic and usually most people construct more or less the same meaning of a given text. A slight variation on this dominant reading is the preferred meaning which refers to the meaning that the composer of the text had in mind for the readers. This of course is usually applicable to advertising texts.

• Alternative readings: These refer to readings made of a text that differ from the dominant reading but nevertheless are not markedly different and could still be supported by a number of readers. Parents, for example, might read Looking for Alibrandi in a different way to its intended teenage audience.

• Resistant reading: This is reading 'against the grain'. a minority reading that is not in accord with the majority of readers or the intentions of the composer. Many feminist readings of traditional texts. for example could fit into this category.

2. Context.

This is not easy to define. It is not merely its setting in time and place. "Context refers to the multitude of factors which shape the meaning of a text within the social framework of its reading. This framework may include particular ideas about the text's history, but is also powerfully shaped by competing beliefs and practices in the present. (Moon,1992). This means that the context is constantly shifting and that the nature of the reader, and the time that it is read, are significant.

This suggests that the 'meaning' or reading of a text is determined by a huge range of social, cultural, time, composer, reader factors.

An example of context may be considered in terms of the movie Dead Poet's Society. This is set in the USA in the early 1960's, a time when teenagers had little individual freedom and the will of the parents was very strong. But not all American teenagers were in this category and not all parents exerted power. In turn this was all influenced by class, politics, religion etc. Furthermore this was the view as presented by the film's director and this needs to be examined. And again, the particular understanding of the viewer might 'vary' the context.

3. Discourse.

This refers to all the language associated with a particular life experience. Hence we can have the discourse of school or the family or childhood or whatever. Discourses overlap and constantly change. We can belong to a wide and ever changing number of discourses and they all can affect the way we made meaning of texts. The language features can include the words (lexicons I of the discourse ego for school - timetable, parade, etc,. the way words are expressed, the exclusive jargon, the operating power structures in the language etc.).

4. Discursive background.

Each person has a unique personal and discursive background. This is shaped by the discourses that we have been involved in and have operated on us. Thus it could include our upbringing (family, social class, traditions, religion etc), our friends, our school, education, experiences we have had, our gender, hobbies and interests and so on.

5. Intertextuality.

As a result of our discursive background our view of the world and how we read texts is shaped by a multiplicity of previous experiences and readings. Whenever we look at something we sift through all of the bits of information in our heads to make meanings. We combine texts to create a complete picture in our head. This combination of texts is referred to as intertextuality. If for example we are watching a movie which includes a villain one of the ways we assume that he or she is a villain is the bits of information we bring to this current text from previous texts -.ie. clothes, facial expression, gestures etc. In this way our readings can become richer. It can also explain why we sometimes have difficulty making meaning of some texts; we may have limited intertextual experiences to draw on.

6. View of the World.

Refers to the way the author chooses to show/paint the world. This view might be political, economic or social or a combination of these. Sometimes this is known as ideology.

A text's view of the world is also influenced by the author's discursive background. ego if an author likes a place, they write about it in a positive way; if they hate it they say negative things. They try to sway our opinion.

Often the view of the world in a text does not agree with your own view - it contradicts it, but, as readers, we still read the text and understand the author's message or viewpoint.

The view of the world often emerges from a reading of the text as a whole. Sometimes it emerges through one (or more) characters and sometimes the views of characters differ and therefore create conflict. A view of the world can sometimes be called a Version of Reality.

7. Gaps and Silences.

These occur frequently in texts. They are created when the author, intentionally or unintentionally, chooses to include some pieces of information and omit others. An ad to sell cosmetics, for example, might state the moderate cost, that is used by Elle MacPherson, that is 'moisturises your skin' and so forth. It might not include the fact that 2000 cute, white, fluffy bunnies died when the product was tested.

A difference is generally seen between gaps and silences.

• a gap is a place in a text where something is left out and it is up to the reader to fill in (or maybe not fill in) the blank. When we read a text we generally do this without thinking. A movie, for example, usually has enormous gaps to be filled or meaning will be restricted. This filling in process is helped by our discursive background.

• A silence is when the viewpoints/voices of a certain person or group is left out or never heard. Frequently, for example, the view of a minority group is silenced in a text. On occasions they may be present but they are not given a role to enable their voice to be heard.

8. Positioning.

When constructing a text an author usually frames up the content of the text or a character in a certain way. The character or subject has been positioned. We may read the text in the way intended (which would be a preferred reading) or we may read differently/alternatively leg. a woman may read a text on a rape differently to a man) or we might reject the readings leg. an ad might attempt to construct us a certain type of person who desires a certain product but we might resist that positioning). Positioning of course need not be static and it could change as the text develops.

9. Agency.

A character in a text may be granted (or denied) empowerment. This can be called agency. For example a member of a marginalised group may be very well aware of his or her deprivation but is unable to do anything about it - lack of agency.

10. Deconstruction.

Texts are considered social/cultural constructions. This means that they are assembled from a wide range of varied and possibly contradictory elements. Deconstruction is a critical practice which focuses on contradictions and" slippages" of meanings in order to remind us that meanings we make when we read are neither obvious or neutral. Deconstruction does not point out contradictions in order to 'destroy' texts but to improve our reading of them (Moon, 19921)

11. Other Language Practices.

• Naturalisation. This refers to a process by which, over time, an attitude or belief develops, not through its essential truth but, because it is repeated over and over again and is not challenged. The marginalisation of some racial groups is an example of this.

• Marginalisation. There is where, through language practices (including positioning and gaps and silences a person or group is denied mainstream status and is literally. pushed to the margins".

• Valorisation. This refers to the situation where a person, belief or subject is accorded enhanced status greater than that which would be normally accorded to it. ego in some schools boys' football teams are valorised.

• Nominalisation. This is when the responsibility is shifted away from the actual cause. It becomes less threatening or anonymous (or almost natural or expected). For example "the oil tanker disaster has killed millions of birds" is more direct than "millions of birds were killed after the oil spill".

• Privilege. Sometimes in a text a particular character, or ideology, is given greater moral standing or worth over another. This position or person or ideology is privileged.

• Personalisation. This is when an author of a text (frequently a speech) introduces a personal note to increase empathy between speaker and audience. ego through the use of personal pronouns such as I, we, you. me.

• Denotation/connotation. Denotation is ~he practice whereby features allow a meaning to be made. A connotation is an understanding of the significance of the meaning ego a uniform denotes the rank of say, captain. The assumed power of this rank is the connotation.

• Collectivisation. This refers to the language practice of broadening the base from the singular to the plural It increases the power of the position. ego 'we' or 'us' instead of 'I 'or' 'me'.

• Foregrounding. Frequently, in a text, a particular aspect stands out in relation to all other aspects. This feature (person or thing) has been foregrounded, usually with a purpose. ego the romance between the boy and girl in Titanic.

• Binary Opposition. This is an organising principle suggesting that things are opposite or do not have much in common - i.e., black/white, man/woman, best/worst. It supports the tendency to look at things in terms of simple contradictions and also has implications of power and conflict. . Rationalisation. This refers to the process where a perceived problem/issue may be 'explained away' or minimalised by a subject. The explanation, however, may not always be convincing to the audience.

• Representation. Texts do not mirror or reflect transparently the real world. Rather they represent or construct versions of reality mediated by the ideologies or values or worldview of the composer (and indeed the reader/viewer/listener, Representations are textual constructions.