Teaching Students About Language and Power Language, Power and Pedagogies Multimodal literacies Critical literacy Critical linguistics Hilary Janks ABC ABC abc Multiliteracies New Literacy Studies Language and Power Pedagogy Critical applied linguistics Critical language awareness Overview of Critical Literacy Literacy with a social justice agenda and commitment to social action Must be fluid, dynamic, and responsive to change Political in the sense of little p politics Concerned with the micro-politics of everyday life; the choices that make us who we are Research School or classroom-based Ethnography Qualitative research methods Action research Case-study research Classroom observation Big P politics Little p politics History of Theorised Practice Critical literacy Critical linguistics Multiliteracies Cultural Literacy: reading the word and the world Paulo Freire Cultural Action for Freedom (1972) Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1972) Reading the word cannot be separated from reading the world Readers regain sense of agency and to transform situations Literacy and space Recognise a situation is less than ideal Name the problem Transformative social action 1
Examples Create a critical literacy curriculum out of the issues and problems that emerge in the classroom E.g. lack of vegetarian options at a school BBQ Answering questions about top dogs and underdogs E.g. In your school, how do students become top dogs? Linguistic Approaches to Critical Literacy Critical linguistics Linguistic choices in speech and writing and their effects Critical discourse analysis How linguistic choices are affected but he processes and social conditions in which the text are received and produced Critical language awareness A classroom application of critical literacy theories Critical applied linguistics Questions the normative assumptions of the whole applied field of linguistics The Power of Naming Grammar and words as meaning potential (Halliday, 1985) We are pro-life à they are pro-death They are axis of evil à we have moral high ground We are doing ethnic cleansing à killing = hygiene Linguistic s Definitive or tentative Approving or disapproving Inclusive or exclusive Past, present or future Quoted or reported speech Active or passive L1 or L2 From Christianity Reboot website Soldiers tortured prisoners Prisoners were tortured Example: linguistic options for asking someone to do the household chores 1. You don't seem to have cleaned the kitchen yet. 2. When do you plan to clean the kitchen? 3. You must clean the kitchen. 4. This place is really dirty. 5. Why haven't you cleaned the kitchen? 6. How many times must I remind you to clean the kitchen? 7. Can you grab a dust rag and just clean around? 8. You should have time to clean before you go. 9. I'm sure you wouldn't mind cleaning around the kitchen. 10. Please will you clean the kitchen. 11. Isn't it your turn to clean? 12. Is it your turn to clean? 13. Didn't you ask me to remind you to clean the kitchen? 14. You're supposed to help me to keep this place clean. 15. It s your turn to clean. Deconstructing Texts Why did the writer or speaker make these choices? How do these choices position the readers or listeners? Whose interest do they serve? TEXT Constructing Texts Deconstructing Texts Based on Janks, 1993:14 2
Critical Applied Linguistics (Pennycook, 2001) Examining truth effects of the field of Applied linguistics Focuses on the cultural politics of English as an international language E.g. English as an additional language rather than TESOL (teaching English to speakers of othered languages) Critical Pedagogy Education system as the key means for the privileging of a particular language Uncritical TESL pedagogy Teaches the recognition of English s legitimacy instead of knowledge of and access to the language Critical TESL pedagogy Focuses both a mastery of English and a critical view of its status Critical Language Awareness (Orlek, 1993) Establishes multilingualism as the norm Explores the relationship between language and identity Explores the spread of English Destablises a unitary or normative view of world English Encourages students to learn about and interrogate their country s language policies Critical Language Awareness Examples (Orlek, 1993) Students talk about their names Relates to family s history, values, and culture Work out linguistic repertoire of the class Discuss linguistic hierarchy Multimodal Critical Literacy Verbal is only one of many modalities for making meaning Has been privileged in the teaching of literacy Hands-on experience with new technologies is needed for literacy (Comber, 2006) However, technological expertise not essential for teachers Simple cutting and pasting from magazines can achieve same pedagogical aim Multimodal Critical Literacy Examples Create videos to counter-act negative images of immigrants seen in mainstream media Tell stories in home language and translate Verbal Privilege 3
Space and Place in Critical Literacy Space is a vital part of our lived experience E.g. learner s bodies are increasingly regulates as they move into and through early years of schooling (Dixon, 2007) E.g. Students redesign an unused, uncared for, and unnamed space in the school grounds (Comber et. Al. 2006) Critical Habitus We have a critical habitus : an ingrained, unconscious, embodied ways of being (Comber, 2006) Discourse redefined as speaking(writing)-doing-beingvaluing-believing combinations (Gee, 1993) Changing our critical habitus may threaten our identity investments Speaking Believing Doing Valuing Being Education can work to disrupt the micro politics of everyday life Meaning systems are implicated in reproducing relations of power Provide access to dominant languages/literacies Use diversity as a productive resource to redesign the horizon of possibility (Simon, 1992) Change dominant discourses Change which discourses are dominmant Critical Literacy Aspects Design/ redesign Power Access Diversity Framing The way we frame our world affects our ways of doing, believing and valuing Frames are mental structures that shape the way we see the world Reframing is changing the way the public sees the world (Lakoff, 2004) E.g. BarackObama reframes hope in The Audacity of Hope and reframes the American worldview Conclusion Critical literacy aims to produce fully literate human subjects who can manipulate symbols, read critically and think for themselves 4
Vasquez, Vivian. Negotiating Critical Literacies with Young Children An award- winning account of building a critical curriculum around young children s concerns. Stein, Pippa. Multimodal Pedagogies in Diverse Classrooms A moving account of how harnessing multiple literacies can give marginalised children the resources to claim their place in a democratic society. Wallace, Catherine. Critical reading in Language Education. Explores different strategies for teaching critical reading to learners for whom English is an additional language. Pahl, Kate and Jennifer Rowsell (eds.). Travel notes from the New Literacy Studies Combines work in New Literacy Studies and multimodality with examples of practice from around the world. Comber, Barbara and Anne Simpson. Negotiating Critical Literacies in Classrooms includes articles by critical literacy teachers working at all levels of education in a range of different contexts each of which has different conditions of possibility 5