Recently Ontario included critical literacy in the Language Arts curriculum. I plan to investigate what impact critical literacy will have on Canadian schools. I will present ideas in a critical narrative framework; drawing on pre-existing data-sets of experiences I gathered teaching in an urban Ontario school board for the last six years. I will also review research by other academics working in critical literacy, student engagement, and democratic education. I plan to investigate the effectiveness of using critical literacy-based activities with students deemed “at risk” in our school system. I will also explore the impact of critical literacy on the relationships between students, teachers and administrators. I believe this process will allow me to reflect, interpret and explore my experiences, as well as encourage others to draw their own opinions about the impact of teaching critical literacy in Ontario 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?”

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.

In this article, Jeffrey Wood reflects on his teacher research project in his kindergarten classroom. Wood focuses on the value of critical literacy as seen through his work with Moses, a student in his classroom. Wood shows us how much we need to consider children’s points of views in early childhood literacy teaching. Wood describes how an important idea such as critical literacy—which involves creating literacy teaching that speaks to children’s identities and empowers them—brings us closer to the worlds of our children and to those moments of insight and learning for ourselves as teachers.

I have with this thesis sought to understand how chick lit could be useful in the classroom in the teaching of Swedish B-course in high school. Based on the model of critical literacy I am arguing that this genre would help to meet the objectives of the policy documents which, among other things, are to critically examine and analyze various types of texts. I have found that some of these texts could be used for analyzing and critically examine the ideological dimensions of texts and cultural heritage by the model of critical literacy, and also as a counterweight to the more traditional teaching of the canonical literature as a literary historical stuff that students should learn. I have also wanted to create a basis for discussions about literature in the classroom based on the chick lit genre. To do this I have, based on three themes and questions from the model of critical literacy, tried to focus on issues that might emerge from the ideological analysis and critical review. The model aims to deconstruct norms of society, and in the work of chick lit, I wanted to show how you could deconstruct norms around gender.

This thesis is a literature review on literature reading in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom, of mainly upper secondary schools. The underlying objective for this work is that meaningful reading experiences can have a positive impact on a developing young individual on his or her way into adulthood. The aim of this thesis is to explore what theories and methods are used when trying to create prerequisites for meaningful reading experiences, and how these experiences actually are realized. Qualitative methods are mainly used, except for a small section of the methodology of finding the sources, which is quantitative in nature. Since very little previous research has been done in the field, the six sources used in this review are internationally spread over five continents. They are mainly analyzed from a theoretical background of reader response and critical literacy perspectives. The main findings show that a number of theoretical approaches and methodologies can be useful in creating meaningful reading experiences. What may have proven most effective was addressing actual problems in the students’ everyday lives through applied critical literacy.

Η παρούσα έρευνα διερευνά τις έννοιες του γλωσσικού γραμματισμού, ο οποίος κυριαρχεί στα σύγχρονα προγράμματα σπουδών για το νηπιαγωγείο. Σημείο εκκίνησης αποτέλεσε η απροσδιοριστία του όρου «γραμματισμός» όπως καταγράφεται αφενός στα προγράμματα και αφετέρου στις πρακτικές στα νηπιαγωγεία. Το 2011 νέα πιλοτικά προγράμματα για όλες τις βαθμίδες της εκπαίδευσης εισήγαγαν τον όρο «κριτικός γραμματισμός» με σκοπό να συμπληρώσουν και να βελτιώσουν τα υπάρχοντα προγράμματα. Στην εργασία μας επιχειρήθηκε η συγκριτική ανάλυση των επίσημων ή μη εγχειριδίων (παλιών και νέων) με βάση ένα μοτίβο οκτώ αξόνων, που μας επέτρεψαν να διακρίνουμε τις συνέχειες και τις ασυνέχειες ανάμεσα στα προγράμματα. Στη συνέχεια, προσπαθήσαμε να δούμε πώς αποτυπώνονται στις στάσεις και στις πρακτικές σε δύο δείγματα νηπιαγωγών. Πραγματοποιήθηκαν συνεντεύξεις με 7 νηπιαγωγούς που εφάρμοσαν για δύο σχολικές χρονιές το νέο πρόγραμμα «κριτικού γραμματισμού» και με 7 νηπιαγωγούς που το «μελέτησαν» χωρίς να το έχουν εφαρμόσει. Μέσα από την επεξεργασία των προγραμμάτων διαπιστώθηκε πως αυτά παρουσιάζουν μια πολύπλοκη θέση περί γραμματισμού. Ειδικότερα, η στοχοθεσία του νέου προγράμματος στηρίζεται σε επικοινωνιακές-λειτουργικές προσεγγίσεις, παρόλο που υιοθετεί τον κριτικό γραμματισμό ως θεωρητική παραδοχή του. Από την ανάλυση των συνεντεύξεων προέκυψε πως οι νηπιαγωγοί δεν κατονομάζουν το μοντέλο γραμματισμού που ακολουθούν και αναφέρονται σε στόχους που επιδιώκουν μέσω των δράσεών τους. Οι στόχοι αυτοί εστιάζουν στην καλλιέργεια στρατηγικών για κατανόηση και παραγωγή προφορικών κειμένων και στην απόκτηση λειτουργικών δεξιοτήτων για το γραπτό λόγο. Η έρευνα αφενός αποτελεί μια πρώτη προσπάθεια αποτίμησης του νέου προγράμματος πάνω στο ζήτημα του γλωσσικού γραμματισμού και αφετέρου οδηγεί στην ανίχνευση αντιλήψεων και στην υιοθέτηση στάσεων των νηπιαγωγών, που εμπλέκονται σε μια γλωσσική αλλαγή στο χώρο του νηπιαγωγείου. / This research explores the meanings of literacy, which dominates in current curricula in kindergarten schools. The initial point was the indefinite term of “literacy” as, on one side, proposed in curricula and, on the other side, regarding the practices used in kindergarten places. In 2011, the term “critical literacy” was introduced by New Curriculum for all grades in Greek educational systems in order to supplement and improve the already existing curricula. The purpose of this study is to present a comparative analysis of previous and new curricula, according to an 8-base pattern. This pattern allowed us to distinguish the continuity and the discontinuity among the curricula. Moreover, we attempted to investigate teachers' perceptions and attitudes with interviews among 7 kindergarten teachers who implemented for 2 years the new curriculum based on critical literacy pedagogy and 7 kindergarten teachers who just studied this curriculum without having implemented it. The analysis and interpretation of curricula highlighted the complicated meanings attributed to the term of literacy. More specifically, the aim of New Curriculum is based on communicative - functional principles for the teaching of Greek language, even though “critical literacy” is used as a theoretical admission of the new. The interviews shown that kindergarten teachers didn't identify the model of literacy pedagogy suggested by new curriculum and they only mention specific linguistic goals in respect of their literacy practices. These goals are related to comprehension and production of oral texts as well as the acquisition of functional skills for the written medium. In conclusion, this study discussed the perceptions and attitudes of kindergarten teachers to the process of curricular change, which leads to a general change in educational system in kindergarten school age.

This study examines representations of intercultural learning in global children’s literature through critical content analysis. Cosmopolitanism provides a vision to connect individuals to the global communities through a critical lens. According to Rizvi (2009), intercultural learning should bridge the local and the global, move between cultures and communities, and develop transnational compassion and collaboration. Intercultural learning involves explorations of culture, active participation in the world, and critical thinking on issues that are normally taken for granted. Intercultural learning is not just learning about other cultures but focuses on individuals’ awareness of their roles in the world and collaboration with people from global communities to make the world a better place. With this idea in mind, global children’s literature is a useful resource to introduce readers to the global community and to their responsibility in the world. This study is based on the importance of engaging with high quality global children’s literature to widen and deepen readers’ worldviews. Because readers are influenced by what they read and share, how books depict cross cultural experiences and international communities is crucial. Therefore, how books portray intercultural learning experiences in a global context is important to examine. This study provides a new lens on global children’s literature because limited research has been done to understand how the idea of intercultural learning through international travel is portrayed in books at a time when many readers have the opportunity to travel across the continents. The theoretical framework of this study consists of intercultural theories, global competency and critical literacy. This study looks at culture as ways of living that involve people’s thoughts, values and engagements in daily life. In addition, two intercultural learning theories are used to examine the protagonists’ learning including a continuum of intercultural learning by David Hoopes (1979) and a developmental model of intercultural sensitivity by Milton Bennett (1986, 1993, 2004, 2009). Theories relate to global education such as global competence by Hanvey (2000) and Case (1993), intercultural communicative competence by Michael Byram (1997), and cosmopolitanism by Rizvi (2005, 2006,2007, 2008, 2009 ) and Calhoun (2002). These theories inform my notion of intercultural learning in different ways. In addition, critical literacy is crucial to this study because it focuses on the characteristics that allow individuals to discover their role, relationship and responsibility with others in the world. Nine children and young adult’s realistic fiction novels were selected for this study. The books all involved protagonists’ explorations of new cultures, places, and people as they traveled to another country for short term visits. All of them have close relationships with at least one local friend. Critical content analysis is used to examine the text from a critical point of view to understand whether the international journey enables the protagonists to critically examine their privileges and responsibility in the world. In this study, critical literacy supports my concept of intercultural learning and it is also used to develop useful thinking tools (adapted from Jones, 2006) to examine the texts from a deeper perspective. First, the findings indicate that intercultural learning is portrayed with exoticism in this text set. In several of the books, international travel is associated with romance and exotic cultural icons. Secondly, insider authors and the authors who have close relationships with the groups they write about are more careful about cultural authenticity than outsider authors. Many of the insider authors care about the cultures they wrote about; therefore, they embed social messages in the stories. Additionally, several writers employ a writing formula to depict international travelers’ intercultural learning process. The formula does not reflect readers’ diverse cultural backgrounds in the current world. Lastly, throughout the journey, only a few protagonists develop critical consciousness regarding their roles in the global community. Conclusions from the analysis suggest the need for more sophisticated global children’s literature that highlights international travel and cross cultural relationships. The implication section provides recommendations to educators, teacher educators, and publishers and suggestions for further research.

This study, informed by critical pedagogy literacy, inquires into the accomplishments of the policy of Doi moi Giao duc, or Educational Renovation, in Vietnam. The study, which occurred over two years, uses critical literary analysis and autoethnography as primary methodologies; it focuses is on the author's personal experience and the analysis of literature and public documents to inquire into educational polices and practices. How the key tenets of Renovation - democratization and modernization, socialization and equalization - have been translated into practice was the center of the investigation. This study indicates that there has been a wide difference between the Renovation manifesto and its practice. This in turn has been the genesis of a critical literacy or resistance against that disparity by many teachers and learners. The study also suggests that schools are not only sites of dominion but also of contestation and that the oppressed have the ability to be self-conscientized. The study sought to understand the inconsistency and the ambiguous attitude about a Freirean praxis, and interpret this as an inescapable product of cultural and political circumstances. In this way, the study emphasizes the power of Paulo Freire's theory of critical education and at the same time suggests the possibility of its being reinvented in this sociopolitical context.

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