"Give Me the Oars": Revisiting Septima Poinsette Clark's English Literacy Pedagogy With Gullah-Speaking Children (1916–1919)

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Critical and Cultural Literacy for Social Change

Abstract

This study unpacks the literacy pedagogy of Septima Poinsette Clark (1898-1987) as timeless and relevant to current theories on literacy as multiliteracies We argue that Clark’s instructional strategies with the Gullah speaking children are useful vignettes of effective instructions that cater to the linguistic and cultural needs of students in current multilingual and culturally diverse society. Using a sociocultural perspective of literacy that conceptualizes literacy as multiple and shaped by social and cultural contexts, findings in this study indicated that Clark utilized metalanguage strategies that were multilingual, multimodal and situated in the experiences of students. These findings point to the importance of creating spaces in instruction classrooms that engage with the everyday literacy experiences of students and their communities.

Authors

• Josephine Amoakoh, University of Utah

• Karen Ann Johnson, University of Utah