Value-Free or Value-Laden? Critical Discourse Analysis of Doctoral Literature Reviews

• In Event: 43.077 - MTCC Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: 43.077-10 - Social Justice Leadership, Leaders, and Disrupting Power

Abstract

This paper is based on two years of data from a doctoral program—with a focus on educational leadership for diverse learning communities—in which students fully develop their literature reviews during the course of a semester-long course devoted to becoming “scholars before researcher.” This study explores ways in which the discourses and discursive strategies student participants employ in their chapters represent value-free versus value-laden language and the degree to which they appear prepared for social justice leadership. Findings indicated that all participants engaged in discursive strategies that either maintained or challenged hierarchical relationships and inequities in schools and society, and suggested varied levels of readiness to embrace their social justice leadership identity.

Authors

• Andrea M. Honigsfeld, Molloy College

• Allison Roda, Molloy College