Critical Literacy

To understand the concept of critical literacy, it is useful to compare it to that of literacy in its simplest and most commonly used form, namely, the ability to read and write with a degree of understanding. In education terms, literacy is the continued development of oral language into the written word and the ability to communicate through it. Literacy includes the concept of understanding what the text purports to tell us. Critical literacy can be regarded as a step above that of simple literacy. It is an approach to developing literacy skills that contextualize the reader and the text within socio-historical frames and the cultural and political environments of reader and text. In its broadest sense, critical literacy is also an approach to life, to language, to agency, and to the search for truths that are omitted from the text, as well as the reasons why those omissions occur. Literary criticism is one form of critical literacy, as, for example, articles in the New York Times Book Review. Theater critics also employ techniques of critical literacy to lay bare the meaning behind the text and the music in a performance. Many avid readers and theatergoers decide whether to read a book or attend a performance on the basis of what a trusted critic has to say about the work in question.

Critical literacy implies approaches to teaching literacy in the classroom, yet it also embodies empowerment, emancipation, and the ability of school people (teachers and students and others) to manifest change through language.

Though there are differences in how critical literacy is manifested in the classroom, in general, readers come to texts not only to gain meaning from them; texts are contextualized by the reader (who also resides within specific known contexts), who asks questions such as these: Who wrote this text and why? How does the writer benefit from this text? What are some unquestioned assumptions within this text? Who is privileged by it? As students critically examine texts, they question social roles and power structures.

Just as students question texts within the world in reading and in writing, students question the world around them. Through writing, students often find their voice, the basis on which they express views and opinions and give balanced weight to “facts.” Often, writing becomes an act of resistance to what others wish students would value or adopt as their own. In writing, students find agency, and through this practice, students can engender change in small and big ways. Perhaps the most important change concerns the student's own willingness to question or embrace what he or she is asked to read.

In the classroom, critical literacy is not confined within the boundaries of language arts: It is a distinctive approach to teaching that resides in all content areas. Where there is language, there can be a critical stance, and where there is content, there is language. Through reading and writing, students begin to learn about the world and about themselves within the world. They may begin to look at power structures and learn to question and take action against a status quo that historically and currently oppresses marginalized populations, including language minorities.

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