Why Counting Words Tells Us Nothing: Closing the Word Gap Through Critical Discourse Analysis

• In Event: 69.058 - Poster Session 16
  In Poster Session: 69.058-2 - Poster Session

Abstract

This Critical Discourse Analysis focused on the discursive construction of the so-call word gap. The analysis demonstrated that the word gap has become a dangerous, but useful discourse; it is a truth that arose to explain away social problems (e.g. poverty), while supposedly countering deficit discourses about the innate unintelligence of poor people. Yet again, the reason for poverty was found within the poor person, instead of within the unjust and predatory economy that the United States practices. In conclusion, I argue that educational scholars must be critical of themselves, and ask how they continue to hear a word gap.

Author

• Stephanie Lynn Abraham, Rowan University