Literacy is known as the ability to read and write; however in reality it’s a lot more complicated and harder to define. What I believe critical literacy to be is: the ability to challenge text and life as we know it. Critical literacy goes beyond the ability to just read and write. It is about teaching the literacy curriculum in accordance to youth culture. Critical literacy is used to help question and change power dynamics. “The raising of critical consciousness in people who have been oppressed is a first step in helping them to obtain critical literacy and, ultimately, liberation from oppressive ideologies”(Morell and Duncan-Andrade, 2002, pg. 89).
“Critical literacies involve the consumption, production and distribution of print and new media texts, and on behalf of marginalized populations in the interests of naming, exposing, and destabilizing power relations…promoting individual freedom and expression.” (Morrell, 2007, pg.241). By teachers incorporating popular culture in their curriculum along with literacy practices they are able to develop programs that support the academic learning of their students while broadening their understanding of the world that their students live in. Through incorporating popular culture in education teachers are hopefully able to guide their students into a deeper engagement and understanding of the subjects being taught; by relating literacy to their own experiences. As Morrell (2007) states,” one of the more difficult skills to teach in literacy education involved helping young people develop the skills of making formal arguments, especially in their writing” (pg. 242). Although this is argued, students use language and literacy in their everyday lives and participate in cohesive arguments; it’s just that they do this with subjects that matter to them. Though students argue daily, there is a difficultly with them making formal arguments when it’s for something that doesn’t matter to them. Having said this, it would be beneficial for teachers to bring in relevant subjects to the classroom, making it easier for the students to talk about and more likely something that they may be passionate about. Morell and Duncan-Andrade (2002), explain how teachers used hip-hop to help teach literacy theories to their class and that, “teaching hip-hop as a music and culture of resistance facilitated the development of critical consciousness in urban youth” (pg. 89). Although I agree with this, I believe that in order to bring in popular culture to the classroom, teachers must recognize that what is relevant varies from context to context, person to person and that sometimes you might not be the right teacher to incorporate a certain type of pop culture. In Morell and Duncan-Andrade situation, students wanted to learn because the topic was relevant to them. They were able to relate to the music and in tern were able to think critically about what was being taught. |