Fostering Critical Literacy Among Bilingual/ESL Preservice Teachers

• In Event: Sylvia and Aki: The Power of a Mentor Text for Innovation in the Teaching of Language Arts and Social Studies With Diverse Students

Abstract

Objectives
The purpose of this study was to explore pre-service teachers’ responses to historic incidents and themes in the children’s historical novel, Sylvia and Aki (Conkling, 2011), and to understand how their engagement with the book influenced their literacy pedagogy. The research question was: How do pre-service teachers respond to culturally specific mentor texts? A parallel research question was: in what ways do mentor texts support teachers’ emerging understandings of language arts and social studies pedagogy?

Theoretical Framework
As students become increasingly diverse, it is important to guide pre-service teachers for teaching about diversity and for social justice (Brown, Parsons & Worley, 2005). Critical literacy scholars argue that a teacher’s pedagogy can raise the critical consciousness of students and support their understanding of social inequities and marginalized experiences by providing them with the time and space to engage in critical discussions, to pose questions and wonderings, and to form connections (Freire, 1970; Leland, Harste, Ociepka, Lewison, & Vasquez, 1999). Critical literacy also examines social issues, inequities, and power relationships to move toward transformation of social inequalities (McLean, Boling, & Rowsell, 2009).

Methods/Data Sources
This case study of the “process of understanding and describing the phenomenon (Merriam, 1997, p. 149) of how pre-service teachers’ (un)learn history includes 74 undergraduate pre-service teachers across three classes and two universities in the Southwest. The pre-service teachers were seeking certification in bilingual and ESL education. All the teachers read and discussed the selected mentor text, Sylvia and Aki, in class. Their literary responses such as online discussion posts, visual representations of the book, journal entries, and lesson plans were collected for analysis. Analysis of the data was inductive, using the constant-comparative (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and discourse analysis methods (Mercer, 1995) so as to better understand teachers’ knowledge of historical events portrayed in the mentor text and how the historical and biographical information related to responses.

Results
Findings suggest most pre-service teachers made comparisons and connections to their own experiences, the curriculum, and the mentor text. Overwhelmingly, participants called for the inclusion of multiple perspectives and countertexts (Ciardiello, 2004) in history and literacy curricula. However, there were differences in how the participants responded to themes in the book and issues of social justice. Participants seeking ESL certification viewed segregation and racism as acts outside their circle of influence. The bilingual certification pre-service teachers were more likely to discuss the need for advocacy. They expressed a desire to take up issues of racial and linguistic segregation as well as the important role of teacher advocate for students and their families.

Significance
While critical literacy has been widely studied in the PK-12 contexts, few studies examine pre-service teachers’ preparation with social studies content and a critical literacy approach. Here researchers at two universities purposefully engaged pre-service teachers in cross-institution and cross-program dialogue regarding history, social justice, and pedagogy. Results highlight how teachers may be prepared differently to interrogate issues of social justice, history, and literacy pedagogy across contexts.

Authors

• Minda M. Lopez, Texas State University - San Marcos

• Maria-Antonieta Avila, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee