1st Edition

Moving Critical Literacies Forward A New Look at Praxis Across Contexts

Edited By Jessica Pandya, JuliAnna Ávila Copyright 2014
    226 Pages
    by Routledge

    226 Pages
    by Routledge

    Taking the pulse of current efforts to do—and, in some cases, undo—critical literacy, this volume explores and critiques its implementation in learning contexts around the globe. An impressive set of international authors offer examples of productive critical literacy practices in and out of schools, address the tensions and gaps between these practices and educational policies, and attempt to forecast the future for critical literacy as a movement in the changing global educational policy landscape. This collection is unique in presenting the recent work of luminaries such as Allan Luke and Hilary Janks alongside relative newcomers who use innovative approaches and arguments to reinvigorate and redefine critical practice. It is time for this cutting-edge inquiry into the state of critical literacy—not only because is it a complex and ever-evolving field, but perhaps more important, because it offers a reaction to, and powerful reworking of, standardization and high-stakes accountability measures in educational contexts around the globe.

    Contents

    Foreword
       Jerome C. Harste

    Preface

    1. Introduction: Making the Road by Talking: Moving Critical Literacies Forward
       Jessica Zacher Pandya & JuliAnna Ávila

    Section I. Theoretical Frameworks and Arguments for Critical Literacy

    2. Defining Critical Literacy
       Allan Luke

    3. The Importance of Critical Literacy
       Hilary Janks

    4. Unrest in Grosvenor Square: Preparing for Power in Elite Boarding Schools, Working-Class Public Schools, and Socialist Sunday Schools
       Patrick J. Finn

    Section II. Critiquing Critical Literacy in Practice  

    5. Thinking critically in the land of princesses and giants: The affordances and challenges of critical approaches in the early years
       Beryl Exley, Annette Woods & Karen Dooley

    6. Where Poems Hide: Finding Reflective, Critical Spaces inside Writing Workshop
       Amy Flint & Tasha Tropp Laman

    7. Critical Literacy Across the Curriculum: Learning to read, question and re-write designs
       Barbara Comber & Helen Nixon

    8. Looking and Listening for Critical Literacy: Recognizing Ways Youth Perform Critical Literacy in School
       Elisabeth Johnson & Lalitha Vasudevan 

    9. Communities as Counter-storytelling (Con)texts: The Role of Community-Based Educational Institutions in the Development of Critical Literacy and Transformative Action
       Enid Rosario-Ramos & Laura Johnson

    Section III. Revisions of Critical Literacy

    10. Text Complexity:  The Battle for Critical Literacy in the Common Core State Standards
       Michael Moore, Don Zancanella & JuliAnna Ávila

    11. What Counts as Critical Literacy in the Japanese Context: Its Possibilities and Practical Approaches Under the Global-National Curriculum
       Shinya Takekawa

    12. Standardizing, and Erasing, Critical Literacy in High-Stakes Settings
       Jessica Zacher Pandya 

    13. Inquiry into the Incidental Unfolding of Social Justice Issues: 20 Years of Seeking Out Possibilities for Critical Literacies
       Vivian Maria Vasquez

    14. Conclusion: Affective and Global Ecologies: New Directions for Critical Literacy
       Cynthia Lewis

    List of Contributors
    Index

    Biography

    Jessica Zacher Pandya is Associate Professor, California State University Long Beach, USA.

    JuliAnna Ávila is Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina Charlotte, USA.

    "Excellently framed, complete, and coherent, Moving Critical Literacies Forward summarises a great deal of relevant and up-to-date literature and makes old and new thinking accessible to others."

              Alan Rogers, Honorary Professor University of East Anglia, UK

    "Drawing from cutting-edge scholars and practitioners in Australia, South Africa, Europe, and North America, this volume provides current theoretical frameworks and tensions alongside notable exemplars of groundbreaking practice."

              Noah Asher Golden, Instructor, Hunter College—City University of New York and Teachers College, USA