Critical Literacy: Importance and Strategies

This article discusses the significance of critical literacy in promoting a deep understanding of socially constructed concepts like inequality and power. It explores the importance of critical literacy in empowering students to challenge power relations and become active users of information. The article also provides strategies for implementing critical literacy in the classroom.

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Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Critical literacy is the approach to the learning that initiates encouragement of the
students for engagement and interrogation of a wide variety of texts for a better understanding of
the language of the structures and the power that constructs their lives. In short critical learning
can be defined as the ability for actively reading the texts in the manner that promotes a deep
understanding of the socially constructed concepts like the inequality, the power and the injustice
among the relationships of humans (Alvermann et al., 2018). In the current world, the
significance of the use of the critical literacy to the adolescents are manifold. The adolescents
need to be able to use the critical literacy is such a way that allow them towards look at the
digital media via an analytical lens. The critical literacy furthermore helps the adolescents to be
able to decide regarding if they want to accept that data in a fictional or factual basis. The critical
literacy can be very useful since the usage of these helps teds to be beneficial to the adolescents
for drawing attention to the aspect of a text and of a digital media which are some of the
essential ingredient of the current era.
Critical literacy is the perspective and the way of thinking regarding the literacies, the
curriculum and the lived experiences of the students. It is the ability towards understanding and
reading the texts in an reflective and active manner viewing the reader as the active participants
throughout the process of reading (Comber, 2015). The critical literacy is important since it helps
in the establishment of the equal status in the reader author relationship and to become an active
user of the information for the development of independent perspectives. The importance of
critical literacy lies in the fact that it enables the students to look at the world via the critical
lenses and challenge the power relations among the message that is being communicated.
I often tend to use critical literacy strategies within the classroom. This is because this
will help and push the students to raise questions of the issues of power in the target of becoming

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thoughtful and active citizens. The usage of the critical literacy strategies enables the students to
develop and master the ability to reading, analyzing and critique questions in the classroom
(Riley, 2015).
The strategies used for the engagement of the students in the critical literacy includes the
following. Strategies like starting with a question, creating of a foundation, consultation of the
classics, using of the information on a fluent basis , utilization of the peer groups are some of the
strategies (Pangrazio, 2016). The classroom strategies furthermore includes the role playing
initiation among the students together with problem solving incorporations and the initiation to
speak with the sketch. Books and study materials pay a very essential role in the social and the
academic development of children. Strategies including the reading of the high quality books are
helpful for the students for the increase in the overall competencies and their critical thinking
process (Leu et al., 2017). Apart from the above stated strategies some of the others that could be
implemented within the classroom includes the exploring of the differences, development of
critical questions, conduction of mini lesson and reading stories in classroom for discussion of
the questions.
Some of the activities that is being used within the classroom for the engagement of the
students in critical literacy includes the reading of multiple texts, supplementary texts,
production of the counter texts, having the students conduct research regarding the personal
interest and challenging the students for taking social action (Godin, 2017). Further activities of
critical literacy includes encouragement to the students for interrogation of the societal issues
and the institutions like poverty, education, family, equity and equality for the critique of the
structures serving the norms. Besides these, using of the texts in the classroom together with the

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chance for the reflection of the experiences of the students followed by meaningful discussions
and conversations are included in the activities.
Thus it can be summarized that critical literacy is one of the essential ingredients towards
the levels of the knowledge in the comfort in regards to the development of the student’s
perspectives. Students in the current era are comfortable with the strategies and the technique of
the critical learning followed up with the use of the digital technology and the social media in
their teaching and learning habits. The peers in the classroom has developed better understanding
with the knowledge and skills regarding the daily activities, the social issues, meaningful
changes in the activities influencing their personal perspectives. The students have also gone
comfortable for initiating critical conversation with their peers for discussing and debating over a
topic.

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References
Alvermann, D. E., Moon, J. S., Hagwood, M. C., & Hagood, M. C. (2018). Popular culture in
the classroom: Teaching and researching critical media literacy. Routledge.
Comber, B. (2015). Critical literacy and social justice. Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, 58(5), 362-367.
Godin, N. (2017). Understanding the Power of Literacy and Ontario’s Literacy Education: A
Critical Analysis of the EQAO and its Definition of Literacy Practices.
Leu, D. J., Kinzer, C. K., Coiro, J., Castek, J., & Henry, L. A. (2017). New literacies: A dual-
level theory of the changing nature of literacy, instruction, and assessment. Journal of
Education, 197(2), 1-18.
Pangrazio, L. (2016). Reconceptualising critical digital literacy. Discourse: Studies in the
cultural politics of education, 37(2), 163-174.
Riley, K. (2015). Enacting critical literacy in English classrooms. Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, 58(5), 417-425.