Enhancing Educators' Theoretical and Practical Understandings of Critical Literacy

This Element explores how to promote critical literacy in teacher education, defining it through theoretical frameworks and models and outlining ways to implement it as a transformative pedagogy. It also highlights the importance of adaptive teaching and autoethnography as reflective tools to engage pre-service teachers in critical literacy practice.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 75 pages
Publication date: 07 September 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

This Element delves into various strategies for promoting critical literacy in teacher education. The authors begin by defining critical literacy within the context of teacher education, drawing upon established theoretical frameworks and models of critical literacy pedagogy. They then compile their collective findings from a decade of research on critical literacy, providing insights into its significance.

Building upon these theoretical foundations, the authors propose ways to actualize critical literacy in teacher education as a transformative pedagogy, seamlessly integrated with resources and activities that foster equitable teaching practices. They illustrate how adaptive teaching plays a pivotal role in supporting critical literacy pedagogy, emphasizing the importance of autoethnography as a reflective tool to engage pre-service teachers in critical literacy practice.

Through the use of mentor text analyses, the authors model this approach, employing critical literacy as a lens to facilitate critically-oriented mindsets in teachers. They envision a future where teachers are equipped with the tools to engage students in meaningful dialogue, promote critical thinking, and empower them to become active contributors to their learning and society.

In conclusion, this Element offers valuable implications for classroom practice at the intersections of critical literacy and teacher preparation. It provides directions for future research to continue exploring and expanding the understanding of critical literacy in teacher education, ultimately contributing to the development of more effective and equitable teaching practices.

ISBN-13: 9781009304702