Bachelor of Secondary Education Department

Reaccredited Level IV by the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the
Philippines

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT
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1 Course Title 4

2 About the Author 5

3 Course Description 6

4 Course Outline 7
CONTENTS

5 Rationale 8

6 Course Outcomes 9

7 User Guide 11

6
8 Pre - Test 12

9 Chapter 8: Critical Literacy 14

10 Activity 28

11 Post - Test 29

12 References 30
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Republic of the Philippines

TARLAC STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Undergraduate School
Villa Lucinda Campus, Tarlac City

COURSE TITLE

BUILDING AND
ENHANCING NEW
LITERACIES ACROSS
THE CURRICULUM
Course: EDUC 206
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DR. JESSICA MARIE I. DELA PEŇA

Associate Professor 3
jemariedelapena@yahoo.com
jmidelapena@tsu.edu.ph

MS. SHEILA MARIE O. DAVID

Faculty
Tarlac State University
College of Teacher Education
smdavid@tsu.edu.ph

MS. ROSE ANN SUMAOANG TUBAY

Faculty
Tarlac State University
College of Teacher Education
tubay.123@yahoo.com

MS. FRINCESS T. FLORES

Lecturer
Tarlac State University
College of Teacher Education
ftflores@tsu.edu.ph
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COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course introduces the concepts of new literacies in the 21st

Century as an evolving social phenomena and shared cultural
practices across learning areas.

The 21st century literacies shall include

(a) globalization and multicultural
literacy; (b) social literacy; (c) media
literacy; (d) financial literacy; (e) cyber
literacy/ digital literacy; (f) Eco literacy
and (g) arts and creativity literacy. Field-
based interdisciplinary explorations and
other teaching strategies shall be used in
this course.
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COURSE OUTLINE

Course Content/Subject Matter

Week 1 A. Orientation on the TSU Vision, Mission and

Core Values; College of Teacher Education
Goal and Objectives;

Week 2 B. Introduction to 21st Century Literacies

Week 3-5 C. Globalization and Multicultural Literacies

Week 6 D. Social Literacy

Week 7-8 E. Financial Literacy

Week 9 F. Midterm Examination

Week10-12 G. Media and Cyber or Digital Literacies

Week 13 H. Ecological Literacy

Week 14-15 I. Artistic and Creative Literacy

Week 16-17 J. Critical Literacy

Week 18 N. Final Examination

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RATIONALE

EDUC 206 – BUILDING AND ENHANCING NEW LITERACIES

ACROSS THE CURRICULUM is designed in response to the needs
and demands of the 21st century learners. The key concept of this course
is to make the learners understand the different 21st century literacies,
specifically identifying the ways to possess new skills, competencies,
and dispositions.
The 21st century literacies shall include (a) globalization and
multicultural literacy; (b) social literacy; (c) media literacy; (d)
financial literacy; (e) cyber literacy/ digital literacy; (f) Eco literacy and
(g) arts and creativity literacy. Field-based interdisciplinary
explorations and other teaching strategies shall be used in this course.
The 8th chapter of the course will be the focus of this module. This
chapter 8 discusses the critical literacy theory, and the application of
principles of the theory in designing lessons and classroom activities.
This course delivered via distance learning will enable students to
complete the academic work in a flexible manner, completely online.
Course materials and access to an online learning management system
will be made available to each student. Online assignments will be
submitted before the start of the next class meeting to provide more
time for the students to make what is due. Midterm and final
requirements are required for course completion. Quizzes and graded
recitations are expected every meeting. The assigned faculty will serve
as the moderator and facilitator throughout the 18-week course.
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COURSE
OUTCOMES

At the end of the semester, a student completing this course should be

able to:
• Explain and use key concepts of 21st century literacies in relevant
contexts;
• Articulate the rootedness of literacy and education in philosophical,
socio-cultural, historical, psychological, and political contexts;
• Demonstrate sensitivity to cultural and linguistic diversity through
different activities;
• Work collaboratively in a group setting regardless of race, age, status,
and gender;
• Apply skills in the development and utilization of ICT to accomplish
experiential activities and tasks; and
• Analyze and discuss critically the major issues that revolve around the
nature of the 21st century literacies;
• Devise and participate in artistic and creative works, and sustainable
field-based projects; and
• Demonstrate action competence, key competencies, and meta-
competencies in executing various activities in the course.
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What can you expect to

find in this module?

TOPIC

Critical Literacy
Assess the role of critical literacy in education
and development.

Critique and analyze selected papers.

Contribute meaningfully to online/offline class

by responding to raised questions and identifying
own questions about the subject matter.
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USER
GUIDE

This module serves as a guide in understanding one unit or chapter under

EDUC 206. It consists of the following sections:

(a) introductory guide: to establish common ground and familiarize you with
the course title, description along with the rationale of this chapter/module;
(b) pre-test: to gauge your prior knowledge about the lesson;
(c) learning objectives: to set the expected outcomes or skills to be learned in
this chapter;
(d) content (with preparatory, developmental and closure activities): to impart
knowledge, skills, and abilities through this mode prepared by the instructor;
(e) synthesis/generalization: to outline the focal points that you need to
remember in this chapter;
(f) evaluation: to check your level of understanding of the concepts explored
in this chapter;
(g) assignment/agreement: to encourage the continuity of learning; and
(h) references: to enlist the available resources used for this chapter and give
due credit to the intellectual properties of the authors.

Note: You can re-read the chapter/module anytime. However, the activities
should be answered or completed based on the schedule and/or instructions set
by the instructor.
The activities are set to be recorded and/or graded by the instructor.
Should you have questions, difficulties, or clarifications, feel free to contact
the instructor.
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Chapter 8

Terms to Remember
Juxtaposing
Switching Asking Questions
Problem posing Media stations
Six hats Four Corners Think aloud

LET’S FIGURE IT OUT!

Figure – ground Perception Activity
PRE-TEST

Direction: Look closely to the images below. After looking at the images,
answer the questions posted in the following page.

Image 2

Image 1
mage?
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Questions
1. What do you spot in the first image? List and describe it down in the space provided.

2. What do you spot in the second image? List and describe it down in the space
provided.

3. What first caught your attention in image 1? Were you able to identify the other things
in the image after minutes of looking at it?

4. What first caught your attention in image 2? Were you able to identify the other things
in the image after minutes of looking at it?
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Learning Objectives

At the end of this module, the student should be able to:

 evaluate the key tenets of critical literacy,

 characterize critical literacy;
 discuss a brief theory background of critical literacy, and
 apply principles of critical literacy in designing lessons classroom activities;

Key Concepts

What is Critical Literacy?

Critical literacy is the ability to read texts in an active, reflective manner in order to better
understand power, inequality, and injustice in human relationships. For the purposes of critical
literacy, text is defined as a “vehicle through which individuals communicate with one another
using the codes and conventions of society”. Accordingly, songs, novels, conversations, pictures,
movies, etc. are all considered texts.
The development of critical literacy skills enables people to interpret messages in the modern
world through a critical lens and challenge the power relations within those messages.
History and Theory of Critical Literacy
The term “critical literacy” was developed by social critical theorists concerned with dismantling
social injustice and inequalities. These critical theorists contend that unequal power relationships
are prevalent, and those in power are the ones who generally choose what truths are to be
privileged. Through institutions like schooling and government, these ideologies are supported,
thereby perpetuating the status quo. Within schools, only particular knowledge is legitimized,
thus excluding groups who are unable to contribute to the process of the authentication of that
knowledge.
According to Ann Beck,
“Critical educational theory or critical pedagogy applies the tenets of critical
social theory to the educational arena and takes on the task of examining how schools
reproduce inequality and justice.”
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Critical social theorists are concerned with oppressive and unjust relationships produced by
traditional forms of schooling and critique the traditional models of education, which typically
place the teacher at the front of the classroom possessing and transmitting the knowledge to
students who sit idly “learning” or receiving the information.
In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire provides an
example of how critical literacy is developed in an educational context.
Freire proposes a system in which students become more socially
aware through critique of multiple forms of injustice. This awareness
cannot be achieved if students are not given the opportunity to explore
and construct knowledge. Freire describes a traditional type of
education as the “banking concept of education.” This model of
education is characterized by instruction that “turns [students] into
Paulo Freire ‘containers,’ into ‘receptacles’ to be ‘filled’ by the teacher.” In these
classrooms,
“knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those
whom they consider to know nothing,” and the teachers separate themselves as being the
possessors of knowledge. In this role, the teacher does not necessarily challenge the students to
think authentically or value students’ own “funds of knowledge.”
In opposition to the banking model, teachers who recognize the possible value of developing
critical literacy do not view their students as vessels to be filled, and instead create experiences
that offer students opportunities to actively construct knowledge. In this model, schools become
spaces where students interrogate social conditions through dialogue about issues significant to
their lives. Teachers engaged in critical literacy serve less as instructors and more as facilitators
of conversations that question traditional power relations.
“Knowledge emerges only through invention and re- invention, through the restless,
impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world
and with each other”.
Using critical pedagogical methods, teachers create spaces where they can be learners and
students can be teachers, thus providing a context for everyone to construct and interrogate
theories of knowledge.
Critical Literacy in Practice
The development of critical literacy encourages students to
question issues of power — explicitly disparities within social
contexts like socio-economic status, race, class, gender, sexual
orientation, etc. Becoming critically literate means that students
have mastered the ability to read and critique messages in texts in
order to better understand whose knowledge is being privileged.
Essentially, teachers using critical pedagogy demonstrate how to Colin Lankshear & Michele Knobel
evaluate the function language plays in the social construction of
 E D U C | 16

the self. Michele Knobel and Colin Lankshear suggest that when students become critically
literate, they can examine ongoing development, the parts they play in the world, and how they
make sense of experiences.
Facilitating the development of critical literacy promotes the
examination and reform of social situations and exposes
students to the biases and hidden agendas within texts.8 Thus,
in order to become critically literate, one must learn to
“read” in a reflective manner; “read” in this connotation
means to give meaning to messages of all kinds, instead of
just looking at the words on a page and comprehending the
meaning of those words. Instruction that encourages critical
literacy development comes as a response to the
Adrian Blackledge
marginalization of a growing number of American students
who are not members of the culturally dominant group of white, middle- class youths.
Furthermore, according to
Adrian Blackledge, critical literacy emphasizes the potential of written language:

“To be a tool for people to analyze the division of power and resources in their society
and transform discriminatory structures.”
Critical Literacy in the Classroom

Because critical literacy theory focuses on the relationships between language, power,
social practice, and access to social goods and services, there are numerous methods of engaging
students in becoming critical members of their society. Within the frame of critical literacy, it is
important to look at texts, like novels, magazine articles, short stories, films, etc., through a lens
that challenges societal norms. Students can evaluate whose knowledge is being privileged in
texts and de-construct the message of those meanings. As readers, students must also evaluate
the social construction of a text and question the factors that may have influenced the author to
create the text in a specific manner. Moreover, using critical literacy, teachers encourage students
to look at texts from other perspectives and re-create them from the standpoint of marginalized
groups in order to analyze the power relations and social inequities promoted by the texts.

Edward Behrman explains that the development of critical literacy encourages social
justice and exploration of language and literature in many forms. Behrman suggests that the
specific types of lessons examine power relationships that are found in language and literature
and that these practices show students that language is never neutral. Because critical literacy
looks different in every classroom, based on the subject
matter and the population of students, there is no formula for how teachers engage students in
mastery of critical literacy; however, there are some practices that appear in lessons more
commonly. Behrman maintains that developing a pedagogy that includes critical literacy is an
organic process that continually needs to be revisited and refined. Behrman reviewed articles,
published between 1999 and 2003 in The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy that
focused on lessons and units emphasizing critical literacy pedagogy in middle and high school
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grades. Behrman’s methodology included searching electronic databases for the keyword
‘critical literacy.’ After refining his search to include articles that contained classroom
applications only, Behrman found 36 articles that presented “lessons or units intended to support
critical literacy at the upper primary or secondary levels (grades 4-12).”

Behrman’s search revealed that the most commonly used practices that support critical
literacy included: reading supplementary texts; reading multiple texts; reading from a resistant
perspective; producing counter-texts; having students conduct research about topics of personal
interest; and challenging students to take social action.

Reading Supplemental Texts

Reading supplementary texts representative of today’s changing media and technology

allows students to make connections with the literature or content being studied. Supplementary
texts also provide the context for students to confront social issues that are often avoided by
canonical works and/or are not covered in dated textbooks. Students have the opportunity to
critique themes and issues similar to those found in traditional texts, but they can also look at
other mediums. Furthermore, teachers who use supplementary texts can encourage conversations
about social issues that may not be covered in the typical sterile required reading curriculum of
schools. According to Morrell, by offering students the opportunity to review appropriate
Internet resources, songs, television programming, and advertisements, as well as many other
visual mediums, students have exposure to popular texts they can analyze outside of school as
well.

Reading Multiple Texts

Incorporating multiple texts based on similar literary themes offers students the
opportunity to critique the values or voices that are being promoted. Furthermore, this practice
challenges the idea that meaning is fixed and encourages students to use evidence to support
their interpretation. Students can evaluate the social, cultural, and historical frameworks of texts
by analyzing differing perspectives of a single event.
Reading from a Resistant Perspective
Behrman suggests that the practice of reading from the perspective of resistance involves
students in the interpretation of a text from the viewpoint of the world and not just the common
Euro-centric ideology often found in standard texts. By considering how people from different
backgrounds (i.e., racial, cultural, gender, religious, socio-economic status, sexual orientation)
would read the same text, students can gain a better understanding of how the representative
group would be affected by a reading of a text. This type of reading would be particularly
effective and beneficial in social studies classes because it would offer students multiple
perspectives of the same event. By providing the stories of people whose voices typically aren’t
heard, teachers offer students the opportunity to participate in dialogue about why certain
perspectives are normally privileged while others are silenced.
Producing Counter Texts
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Another common practice found in classrooms that promote a critical literacy involves
having students produce counter-texts. Essentially, this involves having students generate
narratives or other texts, including multi-media creations, from a non- mainstream perspective.
“Producing counter-texts can serve to validate the thoughts, observations, and
feelings of students and other underrepresented groups.”
This approach to curriculum offers students occasions to speak from the point of view of
those voices that are often silenced or marginalized, thereby empowering them.
Providing Opportunities for Student Choice
Student choice in any type of research has long been touted by constructivists and critical
pedagogues like John Dewey and Howard Gardner as an effective way to involve, encourage,
and empower students to actively participate in the construction of knowledge. Similarly,
proponents of critical literacy theory in classrooms suggest that by allowing student choice,
teachers legitimize interests and knowledge of their students. Choosing a topic for research,
however, is not considered critical unless students evaluate the problems involved in society and
how the conditions of society created this problem.
Taking Social Action
Moving students to social action is also a practice characteristic of critical literacy;
students engaging in social action projects can improve the conditions of their communities. By
taking research outside of the classroom, students can actually participate in society based on the
information they discover. Once students’ research and better understand aspects of their school
or community, they may engage in projects to improve an area that is lacking. Behrman contends
that by following this framework, teachers can help students learn how literacy can be used as a
“vehicle for social change.”
Other methods
Incorporating media and technology is another popular strategy for including critical
literacy in the classroom. The internet, popular media, and technology play an increasingly larger
function in American society. The Annenberg Public Policy Center reports that 99 percent of
American households have televisions28, and Gentile and Walsh found that children ages 2–17
watch an average of 25 hours of television per week. According to research completed by the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 68 percent of children ages
9-17 used the Internet in September 2001.30 Text messaging, blogging, creating identity profiles
on social networking websites, and countless other activities are altering the way ideas are
represented and communicated in society. As a result of the ways texts are constantly changing,
classroom instruction also has to be altered to keep up with students’ needs. Thus, it is
imperative that teachers demonstrate to students how to both navigate and interrogate the impact
media and technology has on their lives. According to Myriam Torres and Maria Mercado,
teachers must show students how to
 E D U C | 19

“Read between the lines of the media messages, question the interests behind them, and
learn how to look for alternative ways to be informed and/or entertained”.
Furthermore, because students have “free” access to an astonishing amount of
information, they must be prepared to evaluate the credibility of sources so that they are not
completely vulnerable to fraudulent information. Thus, teachers must demonstrate how the
media and the Internet can misinform and provide messages that are harmful if taken as fact. In
addition to the curricular demands of a critical classroom, Behrman notes that in all the cases he
found, the dynamics between students and teachers are also important. Similar to Freire’s notion
that teachers should be learners and learners should be teachers, a classroom that acknowledges
the critical literacy theory must also challenge traditional hierarchical relationships between the
students and teacher.

Self-Check!
Why is it important to critically examine texts that you have read? Write your
understanding comprehensively in a clean sheet of paper. Make it specific and
clear.

Classroom Cultures
Critical literacy is not something to be added to the literacy program, but a lens for learning that
is an integral part of classroom practice. Below are some tips for creating a classroom culture
which is conducive to a critical literacy approach. (For a more complete list, see Ontario
Ministry of Education, 2009.)

Honor the cultural capital and multiliteracies of all students:

 acquire an understanding of students’ interests,
backgrounds and values
 begin with and build on the unique identities and
diverse community perspectives represented
within the classroom and the school
 consider students’ ideas, questions, interests and
experiences in shaping learning opportunities
 ensure entry points for all students when
designing tasks and learning experiences that
provide opportunities to think critically

Build a safe, inclusive classroom environment that promotes risk taking and inquiry:
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 model and explicitly teach norms for respectful classroom

interactions
 use learning strategies that encourage active, meaningful
participation of all students
 provide time and opportunity for students to refine and
clarify their thinking
 about critical issues by encouraging accountable talk
through the use of graphic organizers, jot notes, illustrations and dramatizations
 acknowledge that some issues can be sensitive for some students
Incorporate thought-provoking multimedia and multimodal texts that:
 engage students in considering alternative and diverse perspectives – perspectives they
may be unaware of, those they might not agree with, those that differ between texts, or
points of view that vary from the one presented by a particular author
 are drawn from popular culture (commercials, TV shows, songs, music videos etc.
 serve as a springboard for students to reflect on those texts that support and/or challenge
their own opinions and solutions and address real-world current issues
 connect with topics and issues that may stem from other areas of the curriculum

Key Concepts
The impact of new and evolving communication technologies on students’ thinking and
development served as the wake-up call about the need for media literacy. Five key concepts,
developed for the media literacy strand in the Ontario curriculum, also help us to position critical
literacy conversations within a broad curriculum context (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2008).

1. All texts are constructions. What is written is

the product of many decisions and determining
factors. Much of our view of reality is based on
messages that have been constructed in this way,
with the author’s attitudes, interpretations and
conclusions already built into the text.

2. All texts contain belief and value messages.

Whether oral, print or visual media, texts contain
messages which reflect the biases and opinions
of their authors/creators; whether intentionally
manipulative or not, this means that no text can
be neutral or value free.
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3. Each person interprets messages differently. Demographic factors such as age, culture,
gender and socio-economic status as well as prior experience and knowledge play a role in
how we interpret a message.

4. Texts serve different interests. Most media messages are created for profit or to persuade,
but all texts are produced intentionally for a purpose. These interests can be commercial,
ideological or political.
5. Each medium develops its own “language” in order to position readers/viewers in
certain ways. Whether TV program, website or novel, each medium creates meaning
differently and each has distinctive techniques, conventions and aesthetics.

Four Resources model

Ontario’s expert panel report,
Literacy for Learning (2004) drew on
Peter Freebody and Allan Luke’s “Four
Resources Model” to emphasize the
importance of the critical literacy concepts
identified above – namely, that all text is
constructed for a purpose and that reading
is not a passive act but an interaction
between the text and a reader who looks
for meaning, asks questions and challenges
assumptions. The model can be used to
guide activities for children of all ages, as
young as Kindergarten (Vasquez, 2004),
and to structure work with any type of text
– from cartoons to folktales to political speeches to advertisements. Critical literacy strategies
need to be taught explicitly, but they should not be taught sequentially or in isolation from one
another.
Readers of this monograph will recognize how the expectations of the Ontario Language
Curriculum capture the following practices of the four resources model:
1. Code breaking
Students need to be able to identify letters in the alphabet and sounds in words,
decipher spelling and grammar conventions such as sentence structure and text
organization, and use graphics and other visuals to break the “code” of text. Code
breaking is equivalent to basic or functional literacy.

2. Making meaning
Rather than approaching text passively, students need to be encouraged to be a
“text participant” – to use their own prior knowledge and experience when reading to
 E D U C | 22

interpret what the author is saying and to anticipate where he or she might be going next.
They need to learn how to “deconstruct” text, to unmask an author’s purpose and intent,
to form interpretations in light of their own knowledge and point of view, and to examine
and then find the most effective ways to convey their thinking.

3. Using text
Students need to be introduced to different text forms and how these have
different uses which shape the language, structure and organization chosen by the author.
Critical literacy teaches students to ask, “What do I do with this text? What will other
people do with it? How could it have been written or produced in a different way? It
encourages students to become critical consumers of text who understand that meaning is
tied not only to the author’s purpose but also to the context in which a text is read and
interpreted.

4. Analyzing text
Critical literacy teaches that no text is neutral, that students need to ask, “What is
this text trying to convince me of and why?” and “Whose interests does it serve?”.
Students need to be encouraged to analyze the author’s motive/intent, to consider
fairness, accuracy and reliability and to recognize their own power as readers. They need
to be encouraged to evaluate what is said and how it is said in order to uncover and
challenge assumptions and ideas about the world, to respond when they disagree and to
take social action, even in small ways when they encounter texts that disadvantage certain
groups. They need to understand that texts can be changed to recognize or include
missing voices and alternative perspectives.

Self-Check!
What is the importance of Classroom Cultures? Why do we need to study and
learn about Classroom Cultures? Share and write your thoughts in a clean sheet
of paper.

Critical Literacy Strategies

Three key strategies that specifically promote a critical perspective are:
1. Problem posing
Just as texts position us to think of ourselves in a certain way, so that we feel
compelled to buy a product or identify with a character in a film, we as readers or viewers
can problematize texts. Also called “problem posing,” problematizing provides teachers
with a way to consciously and intentionally nurture a critical perspective. Problem posing
requires that we ask students questions such as the following:
 E D U C | 23

• How might others understand this text differently?

• How has the message of the text been constructed or crafted?
• Who is the intended audience?
• How has this text colored your view of reality?
• What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented or have been omitted?
• Who created this text and why?
• Who benefits if this “message” is accepted? Who may be disadvantaged?
• What techniques and stylistic elements have been used and why?

2. Juxtaposing
The intent of this strategy is to
have students come to an
understanding of point of view. Two
texts on a similar topic (e.g., editorials)
are set side by side so that students can
compare author’s bias, perspective and
intent as well as strategies used to
influence the reader/viewer
(McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004, p.
47).

3. Switching
This is an effective strategy for getting
students to consider the impact of alternative
perspectives and to identify which voices are
present and which voices are missing from a text.
Some examples of switching are gender switch
(students replace key characters with characters of
the other gender), setting switch (students set the
story in a different time or place or switch the
social class of characters), and emotion switch
(students have characters exhibit a different
emotional tone) (adapted from McLaughlin &
DeVoogd, 2004. p.51).

Institutional Approaches
There are many instructional approaches available to help support critical literacy in the
classroom. A few of these are listed below:
 E D U C | 24

Media Stations
Invite your students to bring in
samples of everyday text (CD covers, video
games, music videos, magazines, food
packaging/ads, etc.) and set up a media station
for each with “table talk” questions to get the
discussion started (e.g., What is appealing to
you about this CD cover? Do you think “bad
press” makes a singer more popular? What
techniques do designers use to grab your
attention? etc.).

Think Aloud
This strategy encourages teachers and students to
make their thinking explicit so that others in the class can
join the discussion. What is the author’s thinking? What
are the underlying assumptions? How do we know? How
can we weigh opinions against facts?

Questioning the Author

When responding to question prompts from the teacher (e.g.,
“What does the author mean here?” and “Whose voice is absent?”),
students use an organizer divided into four columns that are labelled:
“The question ...”/ “The author says...”/ “I say ...”/ “So?” (adapted from
Ministry of Education 2006a, pp., 144–145)

Four corners
This collaborative activity encourages students to consider
different points of view by engaging them in dialogue with not only
those who have the same opinion but those who have differing
viewpoints. The classroom is labeled with four points of view (e. g.,
Strongly Agree/Agree/Disagree/ Strongly Disagree). Students are
asked a question and then move to the corner that best reflects their
opinion. Once there, students provide a reason for their choice. A
variation would have students jot their reason onto the corner chart
before speaking (adapted from Ministry of Education 2006a, p. 129).
 E D U C | 25

Six Hats
Based on Edward Debono’s identification of different
thinking styles and selecting a metaphorical hat to represent
each (e.g., white hat for factual approach, black hat for critical
approach, blue hat for metacognitive approach and so on), this
exercise can be used to structure group discussion that generates
rich understanding of how point of view is constructed and how
meaning is interpreted. (For a full range of instructional
strategies to ensure effective group work, see Rolheiser &
Bennett, 2001)

Self-Check!
What is the importance of the four Institutional Approaches? Explain your
understanding in a clean sheet of paper.

Critical Literacy and the Arts

The creation of artistic products by an individual and the perception and reflection upon
others’ artworks showcase the power of critical literacies at work within Arts contexts. Luke
(2000) argues that it is the primary aim of critical literacy to:
1. allow students to see how texts work to construct their worlds, their cultures, and their
identities in powerful, often overtly ideological ways; and

2. understand how they use texts as social tools in ways that allow for a reconstruction of
these same worlds.
All texts produced by a culture both reflect the culture itself and the wider world in some
way (Moon, 2001, cited in Jetnikoff, 2006, p. 37) and everything that critical literacy says about
language and literacy as social practices that inevitably carry ideology is as true of aesthetic texts
as of any other kinds of texts (Misson & Morgan, 2005, p. 18). Beyond the conscious inclusion
of aesthetic elements, an artist’s work is imbued with particular values, attitudes and beliefs from
his or her particular discourse. Similarly, artworks viewed by the audience are understood
through the perceiver’s lens of discourse, and thus meaning is made.
In this sense, both the practice and understanding of art forms, and being critically literate are
interconnected. Indeed,
critical literacy makes possible a more adequate ‘reading’ of the world, on the basis of
which … people can enter into ‘rewriting’ the world into a formation in which their
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interests, identities and legitimate aspirations are more fully present and present more
equally. (Lankshear & McLaren, 1993, cited in Morgan, 2002, p. 6)

The Arts, literacies and reality are dynamically linked, and the understanding attained by
critically reading aesthetic texts involves perceiving the relationship between the art, its creator
and its context.

Literacy and the Australian Curriculum for the Arts

The recently released Australian Curriculum for the Arts (Australian Curriculum,
Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2014) for the first time has articulated a
concrete national Australian policy regarding curricula and Arts experiences for all school
students. While the document is now ready for implementation in schools, reflection and analysis
of the policy in its final form by teachers, academics and researchers is still taking place. In 2011
when the Australian Curriculum was still in the drafting stages, Ewing (2011) in her report The
Arts and Australian education: Realizing potential argued that:
the current manifestation of a national curriculum for Australian children to privilege a
traditional subject hierarchy with traditional textual understandings of literacy (reading
and writing) along with numeracy taking priority. Academic achievement is measured by
proficiency in literacy and, to a lesser extent, numeracy. The seemingly contradictory gap
between rhetoric and reality about the importance of the Arts continues. (p. 28)

Ewing went on to explain that:

the then Commonwealth Minister for the Arts, when announcing that the Arts would be
part of the second phase of the Australian Curriculum declared that: Creativity,
interpretation, innovation and cultural understanding are all sought-after skills for new
and emerging industries of the 21st century. Arts education provides students with the
tools to develop these skills. (p. 28)

This illustrates the gap and disconnect between traditional notions of literacy and the
acknowledgement of complex multimodal and multiliteracies at play within arts contexts.
Curiously, in the Literacy section of the final Australian Curriculum document, ACARA still
considers how the Arts foster more traditional literacy practices rather than considering what
makes a student ‘Arts literate’ or what faculties of multimodal literacies are practiced. The
document states that:
students become literate as they develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to
interpret and use language confidently, for learning and communicating in and out of
school, and for participating effectively in society. Students use literacy when listening
to, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating oral, print, visual and digital texts.
Literacy involves students using and modifying language for different purposes in a range
of contexts. (ACARA, 2014).
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The document goes on to state that opportunities to use literacy might occur when students:
 share and explain ideas, discuss concepts, work collaboratively, participate in class
discussions, write/talk about their work or other people’s work, and present or introduce
work
 use words and images/objects as stimulus
 research the context of an artwork
 ask questions about an artwork. (ACARA, 2014)
Language in its written and spoken forms is still at the core of what literacy means. This is
quite the opposite to Eisner’s (2002) assertion that Arts themselves show that ‘the limits of
language are not the limits of cognition’ and that schools need to foster the ‘cultivation of
literacy in its many forms’ (p. 5). Exploration of multimodality and multiliteracies is imbued
within various descriptors in the document, but there is an absence of the acknowledgement of
the complexity of these literacy practices and they appear as more of an ‘add-on’. The document
states that ‘students use literacy along with the kinetic, symbolic and verbal and visual languages
of the five Arts subjects’ (ACARA, 2014, emphasis added).
While the document puts forth that highly complex phenomena are at play within
aesthetically charged Arts education classrooms – ‘creativity, critical thinking, aesthetic
knowledge and understanding about Arts practices, through making and responding to artworks’
(ACARA, 2014) – they are just simply viewed as actions that fall outside of the realm of what
constitutes literacy and being literate. The idea that ‘students communicate ideas in current,
traditional and emerging forms’ (ACARA, 2014) requires deep understanding of literacy
practices that go beyond the limits of traditional notions of literacy and language. This should be
recognized in the Australian Curriculum document. While there are key differences in the
practice and ‘doing’ of each art from – Drama, Dance, Media Studies, Visual Art and Music –
there are a number of parallels and overlaps as to what counts as literate practices in the Arts.
Barton (2013) argues that, essentially, this boils down to the ability to ‘function’ within an art
form as a maker and consumer (p. 17). It is clear that further research is needed into what exactly
this means, so that future policies and curriculum can be shaped to reflect Arts literacies in a
more fitting manner.

Self –Check!
What is the importance of critical literacy in dealing with arts? Share
your understanding comprehensively in a clean sheet of paper.
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Reading
Review all the topics in preparation for your Final Term Examination.

Activity Time!

DIRECTION: Use your intellectual skills in doing this painting interpretation

and analysis. Use the spaces between images for your answers/ arguments.

Pablo Picasso Portrait

Pablo Picasso Portrait

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Self- Assessment

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

DIRECTION: Answer the following questions in the space provided.
1. What is the importance of Multimodality in the Arts?

POST-TEST
2. How the institutional approaches support Critical Literacy in the
classroom?

3. Which is the most important among the three (3) Critical Literacy
Strategies in education. (Problem Posing, Juxtaposing & Switching)
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REFERENCES
Main Textbook:
Alata, E.J.P. and Ignacio, E.J.T. (2019). Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across the
Curriculum, First ed. Metro Manila, Philippines: REX Book Store.

Other References:
Semantic Scholar, (2016). What is Critical Literacy? What is its history? What are its practices in
society and the classroom? [PDF file] Retrieved from:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2261/884c60b4f1bba8e
d2ec0500d2da3f439e19a.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjt17PP0JTrAhWPBogKHT8ECeQQFjACegQIAR
AB&usg= AOvVaw25Uy463UFXWJfSswJnHDgT
Shenfield, R. (2015). Literacy in the Arts. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, (23)1, 47-53
Retrieved from: https://www.alea.edu.au/documents/item/1074
Top Hat (n.d.). Critical Literacy. https://tophat.com/glossary/c/critical-literacy/
Healey, A (n.d.). Transforming Pedagogy with Multiliteracies in the Classroom.
https://amandahealey2.weebly.com/