This research explores literacy as a medium for deepening student's awareness of their world and the impact of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT). Standardized testing is analyzed as a fundamental paradigm to our school culture. Ethnography is explored as a method for describing one group of students and their teacher as they prepare for the OSSLT. The findings conclude that the test occupies time, dominates definitions of literacy and undermines student and teacher agency. The conclusion considers reasons for why we seem to accept a testing paradigm that may be a direct affront to democratic practice in schools.

Existing mainstream ESL pedagogy tends to be functionalist and assimilationist, ignoring the complex sociopolitical dimensions of language learning (Pennycook, 2001). In addition, critical inquiry is often deemed too difficult for English language learners (ELLs), hence seldom introduced in ESL classrooms. However, academic proficiency, deep understanding and critical literacy (CL) are needed for school success and world citizenship. This doctoral thesis describes a year-long participatory action research with a class of new immigrant ELLs (aged 12-14) in a city in Ontario, Canada. Informed by CL and critical pedagogy, the research aimed to find out how CL education played out in a beginning ESL classroom--the instructional choices made, negotiation of teacher and student identities, processes and challenges involved, and the extent to which students’ critical/literacy development was facilitated. Based on Cummins’ Academic Expertise Framework (2001), the sociocultural theory of learning (e.g., Lave & Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1987) and Guthrie’s (1996, 2004) conception of literacy engagement, an integrative instructional approach was adopted for the design and implementation of the CL program. The program addressed ELLs’ academic language needs while affirming their cultural identities and developing their critical ability in dealing with struggles amidst their acculturation process. Following the principles of critical action research, this study was done through cycles of reflection, action and evaluation with different sets of qualitative data which were coded and analysed based on phenomenological research methods. The results showed a significant improvement in students’ level of self-confidence and critical/literacy development while the ESL teacher changed from being sceptical of doing CL work with beginning ELLs to fully embracing it and seeing herself as an advocate for ELLs. This research showed that with careful scaffolding and guided practice of functional, cultural and CL skills grounded in a collaborative learning community that set high expectations on students’ critical and creative abilities, students achieved substantial critical/literacy engagement and development. The question educators should ask is not “At which grade or language level can students be introduced to CL?”, but rather “Are we providing support and scaffolds to students’ learning that are geared towards helping them to gradually become critical language users?”

The study aims to examine how three books written for teenagers and young adults address topics that are generally considered as deviant to social norms in order to conclude if they can contribute to a norm critical pedagogy in school. Norm critical pedagogy is foremost based on gender- and queer theory and tends to discuss how social norms and power structures are constructed and reproduced in different social contexts. To work in a norm critical fashion the teacher must be aware of the present norms and work to make the pupils conscious of them. Thereby the focus is on existing norms, rather on the deviances. To use norm critical pedagogy correct it must be incorporated in all subjects in school. The books that have been analysed in this essay are Syskonkärlek by Katarina von Bredow, Henrietta är min hemlighet by Maja Hjertzell and Tusen gånger starkare by Christina Herrström. This study shows that all books include and discuss subjects that are deviant to social norms, such as: non-conformal gender roles, homosexuality and incest. Tusen gånger starkare and Henrietta är min hemlighet are suitable to teach in upper school and upper secondary school, because they discuss subjects and themes that pupils and students in that age can relate to and they are written in ways that open up to discussions.  However, all books are not suitable to use in a norm critical pedagogy. Syskonkärlek’s theme is the incestuous relationship between a brother and a sister. Incestuous love is not only deviant to social norms, it is also against the law. To teach that book in the purpose to make the pupils aware of norms and start thinking critical about them, can have the opposite effect, though incest is seen as wrong in so many ways.

The pressing environmental crisis compels educators to question the purposes and practices of formal education and to adopt environmentally-informed transformative approaches to education. Critical place-based learning refers to a wide variety of approaches to teaching and learning that take the local context as the starting point for curriculum that fosters a critical stance towards the status quo. There is a need for more research that brings together environmental and critical learning goals in the early years. In this qualitative case study, I explored critical place-based learning and teaching in kindergarten. I explored the parallels between critical place-based learning and a Reggio Emilia-inspired emergent curriculum approach. I considered how teacher researcher collaboration served to support teacher professional development. This study demonstrated the possibilities, benefits, and challenges, of critical place-based learning in the early years. I conclude with some recommendations for facilitating critical place-based learning in the early years.

The pressing environmental crisis compels educators to question the purposes and practices of formal education and to adopt environmentally-informed transformative approaches to education. Critical place-based learning refers to a wide variety of approaches to teaching and learning that take the local context as the starting point for curriculum that fosters a critical stance towards the status quo. There is a need for more research that brings together environmental and critical learning goals in the early years. In this qualitative case study, I explored critical place-based learning and teaching in kindergarten. I explored the parallels between critical place-based learning and a Reggio Emilia-inspired emergent curriculum approach. I considered how teacher researcher collaboration served to support teacher professional development. This study demonstrated the possibilities, benefits, and challenges, of critical place-based learning in the early years. I conclude with some recommendations for facilitating critical place-based learning in the early years.

Existing mainstream ESL pedagogy tends to be functionalist and assimilationist, ignoring the complex sociopolitical dimensions of language learning (Pennycook, 2001). In addition, critical inquiry is often deemed too difficult for English language learners (ELLs), hence seldom introduced in ESL classrooms. However, academic proficiency, deep understanding and critical literacy (CL) are needed for school success and world citizenship. This doctoral thesis describes a year-long participatory action research with a class of new immigrant ELLs (aged 12-14) in a city in Ontario, Canada. Informed by CL and critical pedagogy, the research aimed to find out how CL education played out in a beginning ESL classroom--the instructional choices made, negotiation of teacher and student identities, processes and challenges involved, and the extent to which students’ critical/literacy development was facilitated. Based on Cummins’ Academic Expertise Framework (2001), the sociocultural theory of learning (e.g., Lave & Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1987) and Guthrie’s (1996, 2004) conception of literacy engagement, an integrative instructional approach was adopted for the design and implementation of the CL program. The program addressed ELLs’ academic language needs while affirming their cultural identities and developing their critical ability in dealing with struggles amidst their acculturation process. Following the principles of critical action research, this study was done through cycles of reflection, action and evaluation with different sets of qualitative data which were coded and analysed based on phenomenological research methods. The results showed a significant improvement in students’ level of self-confidence and critical/literacy development while the ESL teacher changed from being sceptical of doing CL work with beginning ELLs to fully embracing it and seeing herself as an advocate for ELLs. This research showed that with careful scaffolding and guided practice of functional, cultural and CL skills grounded in a collaborative learning community that set high expectations on students’ critical and creative abilities, students achieved substantial critical/literacy engagement and development. The question educators should ask is not “At which grade or language level can students be introduced to CL?”, but rather “Are we providing support and scaffolds to students’ learning that are geared towards helping them to gradually become critical language users?”

This research explores literacy as a medium for deepening student's awareness of their world and the impact of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT). Standardized testing is analyzed as a fundamental paradigm to our school culture. Ethnography is explored as a method for describing one group of students and their teacher as they prepare for the OSSLT. The findings conclude that the test occupies time, dominates definitions of literacy and undermines student and teacher agency. The conclusion considers reasons for why we seem to accept a testing paradigm that may be a direct affront to democratic practice in schools.

This research examines the ways in which the Vancouver Olympics emblem, an Inuit inuksuk, and other Aboriginal symbols have been ‘adopted’ by the organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics, how visual and textual Aboriginal representations have been incorporated into the public education mandate of the Games, and how this relates to the Aboriginal Participation Goals of the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC). I use Freirian critical cultural pedagogy and Foucauldian theories along with a visual research method, semiotic analysis, as a way to examine the material presented on the official Vancouver 2010 Olympic website and related websites.

Although many aspects of English as a second language (ESL) academic writing instruction have been well researched, Leki, Cumming, and Silva (2008) note that, "There have been surprisingly few research-based descriptions of L2 writing classroom instruction" (p. 80). Although research related to the use of critical and feminist pedagogy in ESL is increasing, Kumaradivelu (2006) notices that it is still not clear how the critical awakening “…has actually changed the practice of everyday teaching and teacher preparation” (p. 76). The purpose of this study was to provide an individual response to the gaps identified by both sets of authors by investigating how critical and feminist theories could be utilized to develop an orientation to interactions in the everyday practices of an ESL academic writing classroom. In order to achieve this purpose, an autoethnographic study of an eight-week ESL academic writing course in an Intensive English Program (IEP) was conducted. The participants in this study included the teacher-researcher and seven learners. The data collected included the following: lesson plans, instructional materials, teacher field notes, teacher reflexive journal, transcripts of everyday class interactions, transcripts of multiple interviews with learners, learner written reflections, and learners’ written assignments for the course. Analysis of findings revealed that the critical and feminist theories selected for the course were realized even though there were some internal and external obstacles. Learners experienced positive shifts in their feelings about the topic of academic writing and their own abilities as academic writers. Learners’ written texts also reflected positive shifts with respect to the teacher’s goals for learners. These findings suggest that critical and feminist theories can be enacted in everyday classrooms and can be helpful with regard to improving teachers’ and learners’ experiences of everyday ESL academic writing classrooms.

Thesis (MEd(Curriculum and instructional design and development))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.