Critical Literacy Practices, Identity, and a Fourth-Grade Lunch Group

• In Event: Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Research: Critical Literacy Across the Grades

Abstract

This study, conducted by a teacher-researcher, explored the engagements of fourth-grade African American students in a lunch group, who struggled with reading, as they participated in critical literacy practices and social action projects. The study began with an assumption that student empowerment necessitated the critical analysis of written texts and student participation with concrete social actions.
Using Discourse Analysis within a microethnographic framework, the findings revealed that discussions about lived racism, instead of text, inspired the participants’ engagement with critical literacy practices. Similarly, social action projects transformed from action into talk that interrupted mainstream discourse. Lastly, understandings about identity suggested that participants positioned themselves such that they assumed both oppressive and empowering identities when discussing race.

Author

• Courtney Marie Bauer, Dallas Independent School District