Critical literacy and critically reflective writing : navigating gender and sexual diversity

Purpose: In this article, the author draws on Janks’ territory beyond reason as well as literature on (critically) reflective writing. The purpose of this paper is to explore how a space for personal, affective writing in the classroom might enable teachers, students and learners to 1) come to terms with gender as a social practice, 2) locate themselves in the relations of power, marginalisation and subversion being explored and 3) negotiate the internal contradictions that come with personal and social transformation. The author presents and unpacks how second-year undergraduate Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) students at a prominent university in Johannesburg, South Africa, unpacked issues of gender and sexual diversity in a critical literacy course. This paper focuses on students’ completion of a reflective writing task but is situated in a broader study on critical literacy and gender and sexual diversity. The findings suggest the need for sustained critically reflective writing in the classroom and continued research on critical literacy as both a rationalist and affective project. Furthermore, the findings suggest ways in which critically reflective writing was used to create a space where students could place themselves into the content and relations of power being studied and identify and unpack the ways in which discourses of power have informed their own identities over time, with the intent to develop the capacity to position themselves in more socially conscious ways. This study, therefore, illustrates only a fraction of how students might use reflective writing to come to terms with controversial topics, place themselves in the systems of power, explore marginalisation or subversion and negotiate the internal contradictions of transformation. However, the data also suggest that there is potential for this practice to have a greater role in classroom practice, a deeper effect on learners’ understanding of self and society and further research on the impact of critical reflection in the classroom. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the author presents and unpacks how second-year undergraduate B.Ed. students at a prominent university in Johannesburg, South Africa, unpacked issues of gender and sexual diversity through reflective writing in a critical literacy course. Findings: The findings suggest the need for sustained critically reflective writing in the classroom and continued research in critical literacy as both a rationalist and affective project. The students who participated in this research revealed the ways in which critically reflective writing might be used to create a space where students place themselves into the content and relations of power being studied, identify and unpack the ways in which discourses of power have informed their own identities over time, and, perhaps, develop the capacity to position themselves in more socially conscious ways. Research limitations/implications: While the findings reveal the need for continued practice and research in the territories beyond a rationalist critical literacy, they are based on a small data set in a single context. Practical implications: Findings from the analysis of the data suggest that there is potential for critically reflective writing to have a greater role in classroom practice, a deeper effect on learners’ understanding of self and society and further research on the impact of critically reflective writing in the classroom. Perhaps a sustained practice of critically reflective writing is what is needed, as well as processes of self and peer evaluations that put that writing up for critical analysis. Social implications: There is scope for further, long-term research in the role of critically reflective writing, critical literacy classrooms and the territory beyond reason across social issues and educational contexts. Existing resources on critically reflective writing are vital for imagining what this prolonged practice might look like in classrooms (Ryan and Ryan, 2013; Lui, 2015; Pennell, 2019). Originality/value: The data presented here are limited and illustrate only a fraction of how students might use reflective writing to come to terms with controversial topics, place themselves in the systems of power/marginalisation/subordination/subversion being explored and negotiate the internal contradictions of transformation. However, these data also suggest that there is potential for this practice to have a greater role in classroom practice, a deeper effect on learners’ understanding of self and society and further research on the impact of critical reflexivity in the classroom

Queer Critical Literacies : A Zine

This zine is an adaptation of the book chapter by Navan Govender and Grant Andrews, entitled Queer Critical Literacies, in The Handbook of Critical Literacies. In this zine, Navan Govender introduces Queer Critical Literacies as ‘an approach to language and literacy education that troubles the discursive representation of (a)gender and (a)sexual diversity across modes and genres‘ (p. 7). The zine contains active links to the (re)sources cited

Critical transmodal pedagogies : student teachers play with genre conventions

This paper explores how student teachers navigated moving between different modes of representation from written text to image. This enabled some students to play with genre conventions, rethink the relationship between word and image, and explore multimodality in interesting ways. Working at the intersection of Kress’ work on Multimodality, Newfield’s transmodal moment and the critical literacy project, I designed and implemented a course for English secondary education in one school of education in South Africa. Firstly, this article outlines the course’s aims and assessment to consider how multimodality might feature in a unit of work for student teachers. Specific focus is given to the final assessment task that required students to make a ‘transmodal shift’ from linguistic to visual-linguistic; from written narrative to multimodal storytelling. Secondly, a critical multimodal discourse analysis of students’ visual narratives is applied to explore how critical transmodality enabled some student teachers to imagine beyond traditional narrative structures and explore multimodal semiotic resources in innovative ways, relevant to the secondary English classroom. Finally, I conclude by considering the implications of multimodal semiotic play for both research and classroom practice in language and literacy education, including assessment, the value of non-linguistic modes, and genre as a construct of power

The pedagogy of 'coming out' : teacher identity in a critical literacy course

Coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexed, queer or asexual is a highly contested issue. In an educational context there are arguments about the role of coming out to students and learners, yet it is still difficult to say decisively whether or not declaring one's identity is pedagogically necessary or effective. The decision to come out, or not to come out, relates to 'the closet' as an 'open secret', where the boundaries between identity and private/public spaces can be negotiated. Using arguments that see the closet as a fixed space associated with shame, fear and falsity, this article seeks to present the closet as a constructive space for identity formation and social negotiation. Such an understanding of the closet is related to how gender is marked and read in socio-cultural context. I then use these arguments about the closet to explore my own pedagogical decision not to come out in a critical literacy course for pre-service teachers. What emerged from my own 'open secret' are three conversations with students that brought into question my identity as gay, male, an English lecturer and an academic. A critical reflection of these conversations reveals how students read my identity during lectures, and how these readings initiated concerns about my gendered performance, and my investment in the field. Furthermore, my analysis also considers how my 'closeted' identity may have created the space for openly discussing students' perspectives on sex, gender and sexual diversity

Deconstructing heteronormativity and hegemonic gender orders through critical literacy and materials design : a case in a South African school of education

In this chapter, I conduct a critical reflection of the processes of production in which I operated during the design of a workbook for an undergraduate critical literacy course aimed at using language to engage with controversial topics related to issues of diversity in sex, gender and sexuality. I begin with a brief summary of the four main sections in the final workbook: 'Language', 'Policing and Subversion', '(Re)Design', and 'Social Impact'. I then outline and discuss the three main processes that I view are pertinent to any materials design aimed at addressing controversial issues of diversity: 1. 'Identifying 'Real' Themes', 2. 'Identifying Theoretical Concepts', and 3. 'Applying a Critical Pedagogical Structure'. These interconnected processes of production illustrate the complex negotiations between texts, theory and socio-cultural context that are needed for the effective design of educational materials: From finding exciting and subversive resources online or in the media to the re-conceptualisation of the workbook while journeying through the literature on sex, gender, sexuality and critical literacy pedagogy. Using my own workbook as a case, I argue that in order to deal with diversity in the classroom, critical self-reflection must be viewed as a practice which enables one to understand how pedagogical choices might have a real social impact on learners, education and socio-cultural context. In this way, I aim to consider how my own design choices affect what it means to engage with controversial topics in the classroom

An anti-racist English education

In this conceptual article we offer a vision and a manifesto for an anti-racist English education, focusing particularly on language. Locating our work with anti-racist efforts in the UK, we conduct a brief historical reflection of these efforts, before turning our attention to the current politico-economic context and making a case for the urgent need for English teachers and teacher educators to commit to anti-racism within their work. We then outline what contemporary anti-racist efforts in English education might look, sound, and feel like. We argue for a greater attention to intersectional positionalities and activism in English education. We argue for anti-racist language policies which work in dialogue with other broader anti-racist efforts. We argue for the need to pay attention to specific contexts and racialised dynamics of institutions and local communities. We argue for anti-racist pedagogical stances which seek to sustain the language practices of marginalised children. Finally, we end with some clarifications and warn against seeing our manifesto as a reductive, tick-box exercise

Critical literacies, imagination and the affective turn : postgraduate students' redesigns of race and gender in South African higher education

In this paper, we build on critical literacy scholarship and the affective turn, focusing particularly on the redesign process. A close and critical textual analysis of student responses to two assignments in the postgraduate education module Language and Literacy, Theories and Practices, enables us to trace the critical-creative-affective moves that students made when required to analyse and redesign university student recruitment advertisements. Students’ analyses and redesigns illustrate 1) how identification/disidentification with issues of power across gender, race, and (de)coloniality enable them to enter ‘relations of affective solidarity’ as a complex form of empathy, 2) the nuanced negotiations of affect in doing critical literacies across reading and redesign and 3) the ways in which affect surfaces differently for each student across contrasting genres and ‘revealed spaces’ (Boler, 1999)

An anti-racist English education

In this conceptual article we offer a vision and a manifesto for an anti-racist English education, focusing particularly on language. Locating our work with anti-racist efforts in the UK, we conduct a brief historical reflection of these efforts, before turning our attention to the current politico-economic context and making a case for the urgent need for English teachers and teacher educators to commit to anti-racism within their work. We then outline what contemporary anti-racist efforts in English education might look, sound, and feel like. We argue for a greater attention to intersectional positionalities and activism in English education. We argue for anti-racist language policies which work in dialogue with other broader anti-racist efforts. We argue for the need to pay attention to specific contexts and racialised dynamics of institutions and local communities. We argue for anti-racist pedagogical stances which seek to sustain the language practices of marginalised children. Finally, we end with some clarifications and warn against seeing our manifesto as a reductive, tick-box exercise

Writing Realities

Writing Realities is a framework which we hope teachers and schools will use to help their pupils feel they can present themselves and others in the writing classroom successfully and meaningfully. After a brief explanation as to why we believe a Writing Realities framework is necessary, we explain how it is currently split into six key principles. These principles include: writer-identity, critical literacies, culturally sustaining pedagogy, multiliteracies, translanguaging and intertextuality. We then provide a whole variety of examples of how principles of Writing Realities have been used and applied in classrooms around the world. Finally, we share the framework in the hope that it will help you or your school develop your own ways of Writing Realities

RePresent Strathclyde : Decolonising the Humanities & Social Science Curriculum

In Summer 2022, Dr Lizann Bonnar and the HaSS Faculty GEDI committee were awarded funding from the Resilient Learning Communities Fund for 2 undergraduate interns on decolonising the curriculum within HaSS. The interns are: Daniyaal Ali (School of Social Work & Social Policy) and Sara St George (School of Humanities), supervised by Dr Navan Govender (lecturer in applied language and literacy studies, School of Education). The interns developed two main objectives: 1) to produce a report or resource that would serve as a productive starting point for HaSS staff and students as they work toward decolonising their own practices and curriculums, and 2) to begin developing a student body survey that would enable the faculty to gain insight into HaSS students’ perspectives on decolonising the curriculum. Attached is the resource that the interns produced. We hope this will provide a springboard for staff and student learning and action across the faculty