Inclusion of Critical Literacy and Popular Culture in Early Childhood Education

This report highlights the debates and controversies regarding the inclusion of critical literacy and popular culture in early childhood education. It discusses the ways of teaching critical literacy in pre-schools, the impact of critical literacy on critical development, and the role of popular culture in the learning programs for children of zero to five years.

Running head: COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY
Communication, Language and Literacy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
According to Burke (2017), it can be said that literacy refers to the ability to read, realize
and critically appreciate or evaluate different forms of communication. Several kinds of
communication forms such as printed text, spoken language, digital and broadcast media are
utilized for the leaning programs of children who are into the phase of early childhood (0 to 5
years old). Among the children of the age group of zero to five years old, it is seen that the
notion of emerging literacy is specifically significant and historically it has been seen that
literacy shows a shift from a readiness perspective that was popular in between the 60s and the
70s of the previous century, to a developmental perspective (Giroux, 2018). In this regard, it can
be indicated that definition of literacy must revolve around affective, cognitive, cultural-
historical, socio-cultural, aesthetic and creative dimensions. In past few decades, increasing
significance has been put on critical literacy within the teaching procedure. Critical literacy is a
socio-cultural knowledge perspective based on the emerging societal values and cultural history
that can be helpful for children in community learning (Aukerman, 2012). At the same time,
critical literacy can be explained as the attitudes, skills and knowledge which are presumed as
developing precursors to the traditional forms of reading and writing. Not only that, emergent
critical literacy can be considered as the development by ‘play and hands on experiences’ where
the children in their early childhood can see and interact with the print as they build an
responsiveness of its conventions and functions (Cadiero-Kaplan & Smith, 2002). The purpose
of this report is to highlight the debates and the controversies regarding inclusion of critical
literacy and popular culture in early childhood education, which has been practiced for years. It
can be said that the debate is based on the comparative effectiveness of inserting critical literacy
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and exhibits apprehension regarding consumerism in different approaches to the development of
literacy and instruction (Kim, 2016).
Discussion
To explain various ways of teaching critical literacy in pre-schools, it can be said that
reading texts aloud by the teacher is an important aspect of literacy instructions in the pre-school
environment. Learning how to conduct reading aloud featuring high quality books for children
will allow the children who are 0 to 5 years old to think regarding the social issues that has an
impact on their lives. It can also be pointed out that the teachers of the pre-schools may utilize
reading texts aloud in order to develop the background knowledge of the students and also to
stimulate their interests in literature which are of high quality (Provenzo & Apple, 2015). Apart
from that, read-aloud way of teaching can effectively help the pupils to develop critical thinking
along with their comprehension skills. While taking read-aloud sessions the pre-school teachers
should provide model strategies that the pupils can follow during their independent reading
times. In this regard, it is worthwhile to mention that critical literacy is something more than
understanding what the children are reading, as in this, children needs to study deeper to find the
underlying cause of the message that the author is trying to project through the texts (Giroux,
2018). It can be said that critical literacy is about looking at various point of views and asking
questions about various aspects of any issue. For instance, playing with soft toya is a global
notion, but it is surely much different in the aboriginal communities than it is in any metropolitan
cities (Case, 1996). Therefore, it is necessary to consider the socio-cultural contexts for making
the learning more significant.
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The Preschool teachers should understand the fact that motivation is vital for successful
learning and teaching experiences within preschool environment and the teachers should be able
to engage students with enthusiasm so that they can participate in the process of learning
(Provenzo & Apple, 2015). For instance, some students do not show any interest in learning
during the initial period of time, but it is the teacher’s job to ensure that the child is gradually
motivated and energized in the learning process. Thus in contemporary times, preschool teachers
use engaging texts and take up various techniques of teaching along with scientific instructional
frameworks in order to plan, organize and teach vital lessons to the pupils (Fajardo, 2015).
Teachers need to motivate the pupils to become literate critically because as teachers they should
create book-rich environments, give adequate opportunities to choose and promote familiarity
with books of different genres and also provides incentives that show the values or the morals of
the teaching.
There has been a lot of criticism regarding inclusion of popular culture and critical
literacy and learning programs for children of zero to five years old. It is believed that inclusion
of popular culture and critical literacy will allow the children to develop a perception or a world
view of things which were unknown to them (Morrell, 2015). It would help them to accomplish
knowledge for understanding the ignored and marginalized areas of the world which cannot be
identified unless an individual provides detailed analysis of the texts. Some of the educators
strongly oppose this idea as they believe that the children aged zero to five years should not be
exposed towards the harsh realities of life (Norris, Lucas & Prudhoe, 2012). As culture play a
significant role in shaping the regular beliefs behind the communication forms and texts, it is
necessary to integrate cultural intelligence and cultural literacy within the curriculum. This will
help the students to have a profound understanding of the popular societal beliefs and help them
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to differentiate the right by identifying the socio-cultural biases and injustice present in the
society.
In this context, it can be said that the teachers in the preschool can incorporate popular
culture in the learning program for the children who are in their early childhood (Morrell, 2015).
The teachers can surely include socio-cultural beliefs within the classroom environment as
making it a path for the learners to explore various themes and the world views from the fictional
readings they have assigned by the curriculum (Ladson-Billings, 1994). It can be said that more
popular culture artifacts exhibit more sociopolitical issues and for an example, it can be said that
American comedy-drama series like ‘Fresh off the Boat’ and ‘Black-ish’ provide compact and
rich storylines that makes the pupils understand the critical social issues related to class,
immigration, race and gender (Alvermann, 2018). Teachers can enhance the pupil’s
understanding of the social issues by helping them to connect with more social issues and
contemporary social issues (Lennox, 2013). In this regard it can be said that the teachers can
make a plan for a particular core text and then may connect a theme from that text to a popular
culture so that the students can easily connect with that and gets a better understanding of the
situation or the perception.
To explain how critical literacy impacts critical development, it can be said that critical
literacy has its roots in the critical theory. Along with that, it also lies in the belief that a justice
sense is present within the power relation that is asymmetric in nature and it is also present
within the society. It can be observed that critical literacy positions literacy and language as a
central figure in creation and continues the power relations (Comber & Nixon, 1999). Apart from
that, critical literacy focuses on reading more than comprehension and decoding of texts;
therefore portrays it as a critical social practice. In a simple manner, it can be said that critical
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literacy is dependent on the idea that through literacy and language, individuals understand and
then express the world view of others and themselves (Lewison, Flint & Van Sluys, 2002). At
times, such world views are referred to as ideologies or discourses. In fact, these may also be
explained as recognized and socially constructed ways of being in the world which regulates and
integrates various manners of thinking, acting, believing, feeling, using languages and most
importantly valuing. It is a matter of fact, that as there are numerous groups in the society with
diverse cultural and social experiences there are various views of the world, and however not all
the views or perceptions get voiced in an equal manner. It can be categorized as the views of
those particular groups present in the society who have more power to dominate (Provenzo &
Apple, 2015). Critical literacy emphasizes the vital role that literacy plays in the extent to that
various perceptions and world views are strengthened, heard, silenced or ignored. It is a matter of
fact that specialists of critical literacy often use the term ‘text’ to refer to a huge number of
expressive media, that includes drama, book, corporate media, posters, websites and many more.
When a child goes through a text without the critical thinking, the world view presented in the
text is dominating; therefore it seems to be naturally right. Therefore sometimes, the contrasting
views are entirely overlooked. In this way, the language and literacy can act as a way of
increasing dominance on specific social groups for disempowering others.
Critical literacy focuses on the importance of looking at all the texts as primarily biased.
In this regard, it can be said that all the texts are motivating and there can be no specific position
from which a text can be read, written or interpreted. The preschool students being taught in
critical thinking can be able to critically analyze the texts for realizing the world views presented
by the author and to consider the facts which are ignored and can consider its impact on oneself
and other individuals (Luke, 2018). It is seen that critical literacy is steeped in with the belief that
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the readers of the texts should be encouraged to challenge and comment on through in depth
analysis and investigate in the ways in which texts and language function for marginalizing and
providing more advantages for any social group (Steinberg, 2011). These understanding can
serve to empower people to change their lives. It also indicates that critical literacy focuses on
social change by transforming traditional language and social practices and assumptions for the
best interest of the children in their early childhoods and also for the entire society in long term
(Arthur et al., 2017). Incorporating critical literacy within the classroom environment will help
the students to understand diverse situations and they will also be capable of identifying both the
similarities and differences amongst each other.
In the contemporary preschools, children are taught when they get engaged in daily
practices under a variety of cultural and societal contexts in their communities and families. In
developed countries, various audio-visual technologies like television and computer plays a vital
role in societal practices of information, entertainment and communication (Aukerman, 2012).
The multimodal and various interactive features of CDs, DVDs, various computer software and
internet sites as well as their association to the trendy culture makes the above mentioned
technologies more attractive to the children of zero to five (Fajardo, 2015). Apart from that, the
media promotion and commoditization of products and programs associated to the licensed
characters like Winnie the Pooh extends pupil’s preferred program into every stages of their
daily lives. In most cases, children like the popular culture narratives, which are more enjoyable
and then they recognize the characters by discussing the plots and characters with their peers and
then they gain the ability to establish a sense of shared understanding and a concept of
community (Arthur et al., 2017). Thus it can be said that the stylish media culture plays a vital
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role in everyday’s life experiences of children and become funds for knowledge for the majority
of the children who falls under the age group of zero to five years (Provenzo & Apple, 2015).
Conclusion
Thus to conclude, it can be said that inclusion of popular culture and critical literacy in
the learning programs for children of zero to five years and it would assist the children to get a
world view and various perceptions. This will significantly help them to develop their knowledge
base and will help them to develop as an individual with a mindset that would look at things in a
broader manner. Therefore, the idea of critical literacy requires more research to include more
advanced frameworks in the teaching approaches.
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