Critical Media Literacy and the Re/conceptualization of English
Type of Presentation
Individual presentation
Brief Description of Presentation
This research uses content analysis to explore how the study of texts is constructed by the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts, revealing significant absences regarding the social, economic, and political contexts of text production and reception. The presentation will also include critical media literacy education models which illustrate a broader context for the study of textuality.
Abstract of Proposal
Why do we ask students to study texts in English, and what questions are engaged in that study? Text as subject has a definite yet complicated home in our multifaceted (and sometimes incoherent) discipline. Indeed, for over a century, English educators have convened and reconvened, attempting to reconcile the diverse content and purposes of secondary English domains, with little success (Applebee, 1974; Elbow, 1990; Fecho, 2004; Luke, 2004; Nelms,2000; Willinsky,1991). Most recently, the development and implementation of the Common Core State Standards has contributed another powerful and potentially national construction of English to our on-going discussion. However, while reaction to the standards has, in part, included questions regarding text genre and content (Beach & Baker, 2011; Jago, 2013), little attention has been paid to the ways in which the Common Core frames textuality itself.
This research uses content analysis to deconstruct the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts in light of their engagement with larger social practices in text production, representation, and audience meaning making (Gee, 1991; Barton et. al., 2000; Buckingham, 2003: Heath, 1983; Pirie, 1997; Street, 1984). I argue that the Common Core constructs a limited lens through which to view text, omitting significant opportunities to connect texts to social, economic, and political contexts. As public schooling faces growing threats from neoliberal policies (Ravitch 2013), the exclusion of learning outcomes that critically position texts in sociocultural, economic, and political contexts of reception and production is especially troubling.
Location
Coastal Georgia Center
Start Date
3-26-2016 2:30 PM
End Date
3-26-2016 4:00 PM
Recommended Citation
Brauer, Lydia, "Critical Media Literacy and the Re/conceptualization of English" (2016). International Critical Media Literacy Conference. 21.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/criticalmedialiteracy/2016/2016/21
Critical Media Literacy and the Re/conceptualization of English
Coastal Georgia Center
Why do we ask students to study texts in English, and what questions are engaged in that study? Text as subject has a definite yet complicated home in our multifaceted (and sometimes incoherent) discipline. Indeed, for over a century, English educators have convened and reconvened, attempting to reconcile the diverse content and purposes of secondary English domains, with little success (Applebee, 1974; Elbow, 1990; Fecho, 2004; Luke, 2004; Nelms,2000; Willinsky,1991). Most recently, the development and implementation of the Common Core State Standards has contributed another powerful and potentially national construction of English to our on-going discussion. However, while reaction to the standards has, in part, included questions regarding text genre and content (Beach & Baker, 2011; Jago, 2013), little attention has been paid to the ways in which the Common Core frames textuality itself.
This research uses content analysis to deconstruct the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts in light of their engagement with larger social practices in text production, representation, and audience meaning making (Gee, 1991; Barton et. al., 2000; Buckingham, 2003: Heath, 1983; Pirie, 1997; Street, 1984). I argue that the Common Core constructs a limited lens through which to view text, omitting significant opportunities to connect texts to social, economic, and political contexts. As public schooling faces growing threats from neoliberal policies (Ravitch 2013), the exclusion of learning outcomes that critically position texts in sociocultural, economic, and political contexts of reception and production is especially troubling.
