Beyond the Code: Multilingual Fourth Graders’ Metacognitive Journeys Through Multimodal Texts

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 7:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating Language, Identity, and Power

Abstract

By adopting Luke and Freebody’s Four Resources Model of literacy, we examine how eleven Latinx multilingual fourth-grade students demonstrate critical literacy practices when engaging with complex multimodal informational texts. We reflect on students’ critical engagement by exploring their metacognitive reading strategies, which include questioning authors’ claims, analyzing visual-textual relationships, and recognizing bias. By centering bilingual learners’ reading experiences, we challenge deficit perspectives of multilingual literacy, revealing it as a rich site for critical thinking and self-aware learning. Findings aim to inform equitable classroom assessments and instruction that value bilingual students’ complete literacy repertoire, promoting instructional approaches that foster greater equity in literacy education by leveraging these learners’ critical reasoning abilities.

Authors

• Sabiha Sultana, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Hui Zhang, University of Toledo

• Valerie Meier, University of California - Santa Barbara