Constructing racial literacy through critical language awareness: A case study of a beginning literacy teacher
Abstract
This case study focuses on the relationship between critical language awareness and racial literacy. We explore how one White preservice teacher explored race and racism and engaged her young student, who identified as Black, in a discussion of “whiteness” and“blackness” in a literacy practicum. We focus on three literacy events (a journal entry about white privilege, a literacy lesson with her student, and a debriefing session with her col-leagues) to answer our research questions: How does a literacy teacher bring a developing awareness of racism and white privilege to her literacy practices while learning to teach in a practicum? What tools and contexts support her work to analyze, critique and recon-struct her understandings? How might we understand the affordances and constraints of literacy practices? The findings of the study suggest the ways in which CLA works as a tool in breaking a silence about race, providing a diverse set of tools to do so. The case study we present has implications for researchers studying racial literacy through critical approaches to discourse as well as teacher educators and teachers developing practices of racial literacy.
Reference
Mosley Wetzel, M., & Rogers, R. (2015). Constructing racial literacy through critical language awareness: A case study of a beginning literacy teacher. Linguistics and Education, 32, 27-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2015.03.014
Journal
Linguistics and Education
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
yes
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
- Literacy Education
- social justice
Research Location Context
Preservice Participants
- Undergraduates (university based program)
Preservice Sample Size
1
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- online discussions
- student work
- University coursework assignment (e.g. writing/project done for a grade)
- Video
- written reflections/class papers
Data Analysis Tools
- Critical Discourse Analysis
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
- Inside (studying their own practices)
Research Questions
"How does a literacy teacher bring a developing awareness of racism and white privilege to her literacy practices while learning to teach in a practicum? What tools and contexts support her work to analyze, critique and reconstruct her understandings? How might we understand the affordances and constraints of literacy practices?" (p. 28)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes