“We have to focus on improving our and our next generation’s rights!” Exploring critical literacy in a third space for Korean female high school students

Creating Critical Literacy Praxis: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice

“…Critical literacy pedagogy has provided many benefits for EFL students (Fredricks, 2012;Park, 2011). Park (2011) pointed out that EFL students benefit from the critical literacy approach in that it (a) encourages them to develop literacy skills as independent readers by reading beyond the classroom walls (Abednia and Izadinia, 2013), (b) builds a wholelanguage classroom environment in which their four language skills-listening, speaking, reading, and writing-are integrated naturally into the curriculum (Huang, 2011;Huh, 2016;Izadinia and Abednia, 2010), and (c) increases their interest in engaging in language learning by relating to their personal lives (Cho and Johnson, 2020b;Fredricks, 2012;Huang, 2011Huang, , 2012.…”

“…In critical literacy classrooms, students are empowered to challenge the status quo of social structures and provide counternarratives to reflect diverse perspectives. Students are provided with opportunities to deconstruct texts, develop multiple points of view, and produce counter-hegemonic narratives to interrogate the taken-for-granted social phenomena (Cho and Johnson, 2020a, 2020b; Huang, 2011, 2012; Huh, 2016; Ko, 2013; Lee, 2017). Thus, classroom learning is conceived of as a sociopolitical place rather than a value-free environment (Freire and Macedo, 1987).…”

“…Third, problem posing is a common instructional strategy in critical literacy classrooms in which learners engage in discursive discussion by using questions. By being asked questions, such as whose voices are represented or marginalized, learners are encouraged to think about what is missing in the texts and how they can deal with the inequality inherent in them (Abednia and Izadinia, 2013; Cho and Johnson, 2020b; Izadinia and Abednia, 2010). For example, Cho and Johnson (2020b) highlight Korean female high school students’ presentations on how gender inequality is presented in Korean society and discuss how students can be furnished with opportunities to deconstruct and (re)construct the unequal power dynamics in genders through the problem-posing format (Freire, 1970).…”

“…By being asked questions, such as whose voices are represented or marginalized, learners are encouraged to think about what is missing in the texts and how they can deal with the inequality inherent in them (Abednia and Izadinia, 2013; Cho and Johnson, 2020b; Izadinia and Abednia, 2010). For example, Cho and Johnson (2020b) highlight Korean female high school students’ presentations on how gender inequality is presented in Korean society and discuss how students can be furnished with opportunities to deconstruct and (re)construct the unequal power dynamics in genders through the problem-posing format (Freire, 1970). To provide readers of this article with a further understanding of the problem-posing technique, the appendix presents a summary of critical questions that teachers can pose to raise students’ critical awareness.…”