English Teaching: Practice & CritiqueTable of Contents for English Teaching: Practice & Critique. List of articles from the current issue, including Just Accepted (EarlyCite)https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/1175-8708/vol/22/iss/4?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestEnglish Teaching: Practice & CritiqueEmerald Publishing LimitedEnglish Teaching: Practice & CritiqueEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiquehttps://www.emerald.com/insight/proxy/containerImg?link=/resource/publication/journal/4051d046728b9105d8632c71012e4eb8/urn:emeraldgroup.com:asset:id:binary:etpc.cover.jpghttps://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/1175-8708/vol/22/iss/4?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestHow am I doing? Soliciting student feedback in the secondary English classroomhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2022-0100/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestThis study aims to explore three methods of soliciting student-to-teacher feedback in a tenth-grade English classroom. The foundational inquiry asks what type of instructions – sentence stems, open-response or directed-response – yields the most honest and actionable responses when soliciting feedback. The data were coded for the presence and quality of constructive feedback and rationales, and their content was examined for classroom implications relating to the inclusion of student voice writ large. The three sets of anonymous responses, each prompted by one of the types of instructions named above, suggested four trends irrespective of solicitation style: students were unlikely to critique their teacher; students seldom provided a rationale for their comments; students often spoke more about the personal rather than academic nature of their experiences; and students often addressed the class environment and the class collective as integral to their learning experiences. These trends encouraged six considerations in the practice of including student voice in the author’s own classroom and beyond: we must validate student critique, co-define concepts that are central to effective feedback, time invitations thoughtfully, create a constant feedback loop rather than isolated collections, invite feedback practices that are collaborative among students and let go of singular notions of student voice.How am I doing? Soliciting student feedback in the secondary English classroom
Natalie Davis-Porada
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.389-403

This study aims to explore three methods of soliciting student-to-teacher feedback in a tenth-grade English classroom.

The foundational inquiry asks what type of instructions – sentence stems, open-response or directed-response – yields the most honest and actionable responses when soliciting feedback. The data were coded for the presence and quality of constructive feedback and rationales, and their content was examined for classroom implications relating to the inclusion of student voice writ large.

The three sets of anonymous responses, each prompted by one of the types of instructions named above, suggested four trends irrespective of solicitation style: students were unlikely to critique their teacher; students seldom provided a rationale for their comments; students often spoke more about the personal rather than academic nature of their experiences; and students often addressed the class environment and the class collective as integral to their learning experiences.

These trends encouraged six considerations in the practice of including student voice in the author’s own classroom and beyond: we must validate student critique, co-define concepts that are central to effective feedback, time invitations thoughtfully, create a constant feedback loop rather than isolated collections, invite feedback practices that are collaborative among students and let go of singular notions of student voice.

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How am I doing? Soliciting student feedback in the secondary English classroom10.1108/ETPC-08-2022-0100English Teaching: Practice & Critique2023-03-23© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedNatalie Davis-PoradaEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critique2242023-03-2310.1108/ETPC-08-2022-0100https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2022-0100/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
Building a community of allies and upstanders: Using to disrupt hate, bias and antisemitismhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-01-2023-0005/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestRecognizing that hate crimes and antisemitic attacks are increasing, the purpose of this article is to discuss ways The Assignment by Liza Wiemer, a contemporary young adult novel that depicts curriculum violence and its effects on students, acts as a “disruptor” in young adult literature. The authors present a rationale for using young adult literature on The Holocaust in high school classrooms to challenge the status quo and identify ways to become upstanders in the face of hate. Through a content analysis using a critical literacy framework, the authors analyzed The Assignment for pedagogical ways to use the novel to challenge educators and students to examine and rethink how they feel about hate, bias and antisemitism. Four ways the novel can be used as a disrupter were identified: text structure and language, pedagogical practices and curriculum violence, the student/peer/authority figure power dynamic and challenging accepted beliefs that can lead to bias, hate and antisemitism. Although all individuals can be impacted by hate and antisemitism, this article focuses on young adults as they are the novel’s target audience. However, the authors believe people of all ages have the potential to disrupt societal practices and become upstanders and suggest ideas in this article be applied broadly to other novels and teaching situations. A focus is on the ways the novel can build a community of allies and upstanders – students as agents of change rather than complacent bystanders. As bias, hate and antisemitism are on the rise, this article presents a unique way to combat it through literature and critical discussion.Building a community of allies and upstanders: Using to disrupt hate, bias and antisemitism
Melanie D. Koss, Deborah Greenblatt
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.404-417

Recognizing that hate crimes and antisemitic attacks are increasing, the purpose of this article is to discuss ways The Assignment by Liza Wiemer, a contemporary young adult novel that depicts curriculum violence and its effects on students, acts as a “disruptor” in young adult literature. The authors present a rationale for using young adult literature on The Holocaust in high school classrooms to challenge the status quo and identify ways to become upstanders in the face of hate.

Through a content analysis using a critical literacy framework, the authors analyzed The Assignment for pedagogical ways to use the novel to challenge educators and students to examine and rethink how they feel about hate, bias and antisemitism.

Four ways the novel can be used as a disrupter were identified: text structure and language, pedagogical practices and curriculum violence, the student/peer/authority figure power dynamic and challenging accepted beliefs that can lead to bias, hate and antisemitism.

Although all individuals can be impacted by hate and antisemitism, this article focuses on young adults as they are the novel’s target audience. However, the authors believe people of all ages have the potential to disrupt societal practices and become upstanders and suggest ideas in this article be applied broadly to other novels and teaching situations.

A focus is on the ways the novel can build a community of allies and upstanders – students as agents of change rather than complacent bystanders. As bias, hate and antisemitism are on the rise, this article presents a unique way to combat it through literature and critical discussion.

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Building a community of allies and upstanders: Using to disrupt hate, bias and antisemitism10.1108/ETPC-01-2023-0005English Teaching: Practice & Critique2023-07-13© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedMelanie D. KossDeborah GreenblattEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critique2242023-07-1310.1108/ETPC-01-2023-0005https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-01-2023-0005/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
Attempts at anti-racist teaching by white English teachers of black studentshttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0071/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestResearch has documented how white teachers often fall short of their anti-racist intentions. However, much of this research is done with preservice teachers or teachers across disciplines. The authors investigate stories in which white English teachers who teach substantial proportions of black students and who self-reported anti-racist goals nevertheless fell short of those goals. The purpose of the study is to understand the tensions between racial liberalism and racial literacy in their pedagogy. The authors snowball sampled 12 veteran white high school English teachers (3–27 years’ experience) who taught in schools with substantial proportions of black students. The authors used a two-stage interview process to narrow the sample to 7 teachers who confirmed their anti-racist intentions and who wrote narratives of moments when they tried to be anti-racist, but the lesson failed in some way. The authors used a three-stage narrative analysis to analyze how racial liberalism and racial literacy were reflected in the narratives. The veteran English teachers, despite their anti-racist intentions, told narratives that reflected racial liberalism, portraying racism as an individual and interpersonal phenomenon. Some narratives showed teachers who had taken steps toward racial literacy, but no narratives showed a fully developed sense of racial literacy, portraying the layers of institutional and structural racism in English education. The sample suggests that veteran white English teachers are subject to similar limited racial literacies as novice teachers. While the authors found glimmers of racial literacy, they still note the work necessary to equip veteran English teachers with the racial literacies necessary for anti-racist instruction. The authors propose directions for teacher education, systemic support and professional development.Attempts at anti-racist teaching by white English teachers of black students
Josephine G. Schuman, Dan Reynolds
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.418-432

Research has documented how white teachers often fall short of their anti-racist intentions. However, much of this research is done with preservice teachers or teachers across disciplines. The authors investigate stories in which white English teachers who teach substantial proportions of black students and who self-reported anti-racist goals nevertheless fell short of those goals. The purpose of the study is to understand the tensions between racial liberalism and racial literacy in their pedagogy.

The authors snowball sampled 12 veteran white high school English teachers (3–27 years’ experience) who taught in schools with substantial proportions of black students. The authors used a two-stage interview process to narrow the sample to 7 teachers who confirmed their anti-racist intentions and who wrote narratives of moments when they tried to be anti-racist, but the lesson failed in some way. The authors used a three-stage narrative analysis to analyze how racial liberalism and racial literacy were reflected in the narratives.

The veteran English teachers, despite their anti-racist intentions, told narratives that reflected racial liberalism, portraying racism as an individual and interpersonal phenomenon. Some narratives showed teachers who had taken steps toward racial literacy, but no narratives showed a fully developed sense of racial literacy, portraying the layers of institutional and structural racism in English education.

The sample suggests that veteran white English teachers are subject to similar limited racial literacies as novice teachers. While the authors found glimmers of racial literacy, they still note the work necessary to equip veteran English teachers with the racial literacies necessary for anti-racist instruction. The authors propose directions for teacher education, systemic support and professional development.

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Attempts at anti-racist teaching by white English teachers of black students10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0071English Teaching: Practice & Critique2023-07-21© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedJosephine G. SchumanDan ReynoldsEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critique2242023-07-2110.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0071https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0071/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
Reading the Tulsa Race Massacre: a study exploring a white reader’s shifts in stance across genres of historical texthttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0064/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestUsing a discourse analytic approach, the purpose of this paper is to examine how genre impacts white readers when reading about historic acts of racial violence. Specifically, this study explores one white high school student’s stance-taking as she read an informational text and an eyewitness narrative about the Tulsa Race Massacre. This study used discourse analysis (Gee, 1999) and the think-aloud method (Pressley and Afflerbach, 1996) to explore the white student’s interactions with genres of historical texts. The authors coupled iterative coding and memoing with discourse analysis to analyze the stances she adopted while reading. The findings illustrate that the informational text allowed for a distancing from the racialized violence in the text, whereas the narrative created an opportunity for more connection to those who experienced the violence. While genre and reader response has long been explored in English Education research, little research has examined the impact of genre on reading historical texts. This study demonstrates the influence that genre may have on white readers’ emotional responses and stance-taking practices when reading about historic acts of racial violence.Reading the Tulsa Race Massacre: a study exploring a white reader’s shifts in stance across genres of historical text
Emma Bene, Stephanie M. Robillard
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.433-446

Using a discourse analytic approach, the purpose of this paper is to examine how genre impacts white readers when reading about historic acts of racial violence. Specifically, this study explores one white high school student’s stance-taking as she read an informational text and an eyewitness narrative about the Tulsa Race Massacre.

This study used discourse analysis (Gee, 1999) and the think-aloud method (Pressley and Afflerbach, 1996) to explore the white student’s interactions with genres of historical texts. The authors coupled iterative coding and memoing with discourse analysis to analyze the stances she adopted while reading.

The findings illustrate that the informational text allowed for a distancing from the racialized violence in the text, whereas the narrative created an opportunity for more connection to those who experienced the violence.

While genre and reader response has long been explored in English Education research, little research has examined the impact of genre on reading historical texts. This study demonstrates the influence that genre may have on white readers’ emotional responses and stance-taking practices when reading about historic acts of racial violence.

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Reading the Tulsa Race Massacre: a study exploring a white reader’s shifts in stance across genres of historical text10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0064English Teaching: Practice & Critique2023-08-22© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedEmma BeneStephanie M. RobillardEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critique2242023-08-2210.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0064https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0064/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
Playful literacies and pedagogical priorities: digital games in the English classroomhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-01-2023-0002/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestThis paper aims to explore the characteristics of playful literacies in case study research examining digital games in secondary English classrooms. It analyzes how educators use play as a resource for meaning-making and the impacts of play on student learning. The authors used a keyword search in relevant academic databases to identify articles within specified search parameters. This was followed by bibliographic branching to identify additional articles. Following the identification of 30 articles, two rounds of open coding were used to identify themes for analysis. The literature revealed five types of playful pedagogical practices: single-player gameplay, turn-taking gameplay, multiplayer play, play-as-design and little or no gameplay. Discussion of these findings suggests that classroom play was a highly social activity across case studies. Furthermore, boundaries between types of play and their contributions to learning were blurred and often disrupted normative approaches to curriculum and teaching. Given the novelty of replacing traditional texts with digital games in English classrooms, this study represents an important moment to pause and review the literature to date on a particular, understudied aspect of digital games in English curricula: their playfulness. This is especially important given the innovative ways in which digital play can shift thinking about meaning-making and narrative, two historically dominant concerns within the discipline of English.Playful literacies and pedagogical priorities: digital games in the English classroom
Alexander Bacalja, Brady L. Nash
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.447-461

This paper aims to explore the characteristics of playful literacies in case study research examining digital games in secondary English classrooms. It analyzes how educators use play as a resource for meaning-making and the impacts of play on student learning.

The authors used a keyword search in relevant academic databases to identify articles within specified search parameters. This was followed by bibliographic branching to identify additional articles. Following the identification of 30 articles, two rounds of open coding were used to identify themes for analysis.

The literature revealed five types of playful pedagogical practices: single-player gameplay, turn-taking gameplay, multiplayer play, play-as-design and little or no gameplay. Discussion of these findings suggests that classroom play was a highly social activity across case studies. Furthermore, boundaries between types of play and their contributions to learning were blurred and often disrupted normative approaches to curriculum and teaching.

Given the novelty of replacing traditional texts with digital games in English classrooms, this study represents an important moment to pause and review the literature to date on a particular, understudied aspect of digital games in English curricula: their playfulness. This is especially important given the innovative ways in which digital play can shift thinking about meaning-making and narrative, two historically dominant concerns within the discipline of English.

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Playful literacies and pedagogical priorities: digital games in the English classroom10.1108/ETPC-01-2023-0002English Teaching: Practice & Critique2023-10-06© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedAlexander BacaljaBrady L. NashEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critique2242023-10-0610.1108/ETPC-01-2023-0002https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-01-2023-0002/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
Sonic play: on the B-side of literacy and songwritinghttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0091/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestThis paper aims to explore sonic play in close proximity to a music, literacy and songwriting for social change community-based initiative. The authors leverage ideas about time, space and narrative under the concept of sonic flux to understand youth’s sonic and aural play on digital beatmaking technologies. In doing so, the authors break from a fixation on the written and spoken word and address sound, aurality and Blacktronika creative technologies that are often present but muted in literacies and songwriting scholarship. The authors’ team consisted of three community-based teaching artists who situated this inquiry around their own practice with youth. The authors conducted this inquiry through a qualitative, participatory and community-engaged research approach. As such, the authors codeveloped and carried out research questions and sense-making protocols that balance the power of interpretation and epistemologies among us. The findings address how the joy, laughter and play of one young musician, Malik, moved across different conceptions of time while learning to make beats in proximity to peers writing lyrics for songs. Specifically, the authors unpack how Malik’s play with mobile sound-making technologies moved across linear and nonlinear time that characterize sonic space and sound art, not music and lyric writing. In doing so, the loops and durations of his sonic play were sometimes unbound by narrative structures that often code literacy and songwriting initiatives. The authors’ inquiry speaks into literacy and songwriting initiatives that privilege spoken, written and performed word over sound. The authors ask what kind of participating structures, collaborations, ontologies and youth epistemologies open up if we think of youth in these spaces not only as performers but as programmers tinkering with time in the machine. In addition, the authors ask what literacy and songwriting spaces might look like when the duration, loops and drones of sonic space and not music are the structuring codes over narratives and linearity.Sonic play: on the B-side of literacy and songwriting
Emery Petchauer, Tia Harvey, Rolando Ybarra
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.462-481

This paper aims to explore sonic play in close proximity to a music, literacy and songwriting for social change community-based initiative. The authors leverage ideas about time, space and narrative under the concept of sonic flux to understand youth’s sonic and aural play on digital beatmaking technologies. In doing so, the authors break from a fixation on the written and spoken word and address sound, aurality and Blacktronika creative technologies that are often present but muted in literacies and songwriting scholarship.

The authors’ team consisted of three community-based teaching artists who situated this inquiry around their own practice with youth. The authors conducted this inquiry through a qualitative, participatory and community-engaged research approach. As such, the authors codeveloped and carried out research questions and sense-making protocols that balance the power of interpretation and epistemologies among us.

The findings address how the joy, laughter and play of one young musician, Malik, moved across different conceptions of time while learning to make beats in proximity to peers writing lyrics for songs. Specifically, the authors unpack how Malik’s play with mobile sound-making technologies moved across linear and nonlinear time that characterize sonic space and sound art, not music and lyric writing. In doing so, the loops and durations of his sonic play were sometimes unbound by narrative structures that often code literacy and songwriting initiatives.

The authors’ inquiry speaks into literacy and songwriting initiatives that privilege spoken, written and performed word over sound. The authors ask what kind of participating structures, collaborations, ontologies and youth epistemologies open up if we think of youth in these spaces not only as performers but as programmers tinkering with time in the machine. In addition, the authors ask what literacy and songwriting spaces might look like when the duration, loops and drones of sonic space and not music are the structuring codes over narratives and linearity.

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Sonic play: on the B-side of literacy and songwriting10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0091English Teaching: Practice & Critique2023-11-22© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedEmery PetchauerTia HarveyRolando YbarraEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critique2242023-11-2210.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0091https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0091/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
Reading with love: the potential of critical posthuman reading practices in preservice English educationhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0074/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestPreservice English teachers are expected to use literary theories and criticism to read and respond to literary texts. Over the past century, two of the most common approaches to literary encounters in secondary schools have been New Criticism – particularly the practice of close reading – and Rosenblatt's transactional theory, both of which have been expanded through critical theorizing along the way. Elucidated by data produced in iterative experiments with Frost's “The Road Not Taken,” the authors reconceptualize the reader, the text, and close reading through the critical posthuman theory of reading with love as a generative way of thinking outside of the habitual practices of European humanisms. In “thinking with” (Jackson and Mazzei, 2023) desiring-machines, affect, Man and critical posthuman theory, this post qualitative inquiry maps how the “The Road Not Taken” worked when students plugged into it iteratively in processes of reading with love, an affirmative and creative series of experiments with literature. This study mapped how respect for authority, the battle of good v evil, individualism and meritocracy operated as desiring-machines that channeled most participants’ initial readings of “The Road Not Taken.” In subsequent experiments with the poem, the authors demonstrate that reading with love as a critical posthuman process of reading invites participants to exceed the logics of recognition and representation, add or invent additional ways of being and relating to the world and thereby produce the possibility to transform a world toward greater inclusivity and equity. The authors reconceptualize the categories of “the reader” and “the text” from Rosenblatt’s transactional theory within practices of reading with love, which they situate within a critical posthuman theory. They eschew separating efferent and aesthetic reading stances while also recuperating practices of “close reading,” historically associated with the New Critics, by demonstrating the generativity of critically valenced “close reading” within a Deleuzian process of reading with love.Reading with love: the potential of critical posthuman reading practices in preservice English education
Karen Spector, Elizabeth Anne Murray
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.482-514

Preservice English teachers are expected to use literary theories and criticism to read and respond to literary texts. Over the past century, two of the most common approaches to literary encounters in secondary schools have been New Criticism – particularly the practice of close reading – and Rosenblatt's transactional theory, both of which have been expanded through critical theorizing along the way. Elucidated by data produced in iterative experiments with Frost's “The Road Not Taken,” the authors reconceptualize the reader, the text, and close reading through the critical posthuman theory of reading with love as a generative way of thinking outside of the habitual practices of European humanisms.

In “thinking with” (Jackson and Mazzei, 2023) desiring-machines, affect, Man and critical posthuman theory, this post qualitative inquiry maps how the “The Road Not Taken” worked when students plugged into it iteratively in processes of reading with love, an affirmative and creative series of experiments with literature.

This study mapped how respect for authority, the battle of good v evil, individualism and meritocracy operated as desiring-machines that channeled most participants’ initial readings of “The Road Not Taken.” In subsequent experiments with the poem, the authors demonstrate that reading with love as a critical posthuman process of reading invites participants to exceed the logics of recognition and representation, add or invent additional ways of being and relating to the world and thereby produce the possibility to transform a world toward greater inclusivity and equity.

The authors reconceptualize the categories of “the reader” and “the text” from Rosenblatt’s transactional theory within practices of reading with love, which they situate within a critical posthuman theory. They eschew separating efferent and aesthetic reading stances while also recuperating practices of “close reading,” historically associated with the New Critics, by demonstrating the generativity of critically valenced “close reading” within a Deleuzian process of reading with love.

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Reading with love: the potential of critical posthuman reading practices in preservice English education10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0074English Teaching: Practice & Critique2023-11-07© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedKaren SpectorElizabeth Anne MurrayEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critique2242023-11-0710.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0074https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0074/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
Claiming a space in the W/writerly community to increase English Language Arts teacher agencyhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-04-2023-0032/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestBy engaging levels of W/writerliness, this paper aims to identify how English Language Arts teachers’ personal and professional W/writerly identities impact their performance of pedagogical agency. In this narrative inquiry, the author draws on theories of writing identity and agency to analyze how four mid-career English teachers’ personal beliefs around writing intersect with their professional practice. Data sources include interviews, journal entries and classroom observations. Nuanced differences in teachers’ W/writerly identities produce more substantial differences in their pedagogy, especially impacting their performance of agency to (re)define successful writing outcomes and to balance process and product in their writing instruction. This paper presents one method to expand preservice and in-service English Language Arts (ELA) practitioners’ approaches to teaching writing even alongside limitations of their teaching context by (1) emphasizing their ownership over their own writing in university methods courses; (2) leading teachers on an exploration of W/writerly identities; and (3) investigating ways teachers can transfer their personal and professional learning to students via their own pedagogical agency. The study extends the work of scholars in the National Writing Project, suggesting that nuanced exploration of ELA teachers’ W/writerly identities in preservice and in-service settings could increase their sense of agency to work against and within cultures of standardization.Claiming a space in the W/writerly community to increase English Language Arts teacher agency
Christy Goldsmith
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.515-530

By engaging levels of W/writerliness, this paper aims to identify how English Language Arts teachers’ personal and professional W/writerly identities impact their performance of pedagogical agency.

In this narrative inquiry, the author draws on theories of writing identity and agency to analyze how four mid-career English teachers’ personal beliefs around writing intersect with their professional practice. Data sources include interviews, journal entries and classroom observations.

Nuanced differences in teachers’ W/writerly identities produce more substantial differences in their pedagogy, especially impacting their performance of agency to (re)define successful writing outcomes and to balance process and product in their writing instruction.

This paper presents one method to expand preservice and in-service English Language Arts (ELA) practitioners’ approaches to teaching writing even alongside limitations of their teaching context by (1) emphasizing their ownership over their own writing in university methods courses; (2) leading teachers on an exploration of W/writerly identities; and (3) investigating ways teachers can transfer their personal and professional learning to students via their own pedagogical agency.

The study extends the work of scholars in the National Writing Project, suggesting that nuanced exploration of ELA teachers’ W/writerly identities in preservice and in-service settings could increase their sense of agency to work against and within cultures of standardization.

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Claiming a space in the W/writerly community to increase English Language Arts teacher agency10.1108/ETPC-04-2023-0032English Teaching: Practice & Critique2023-10-31© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedChristy GoldsmithEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critique2242023-10-3110.1108/ETPC-04-2023-0032https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-04-2023-0032/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
“I’m really just scared of the White parents”: a teacher navigates perceptions of barriers to discussing racial injusticehttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0067/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestThis study aims to explore the perceived barriers that a secondary English teacher faced when attempting to discuss racial injustice through young adult literature in Mississippi. The authors rely on Critical Whiteness Studies and qualitative methods to explore the following research question: What are the barriers that a White ELA teacher perceives when teaching about racial injustice through The Hate U Give? The authors found that there were several perceived barriers to discussing modern racial injustice in the Mississippi ELA classroom. The participating teacher indicated the following barriers: a lack of racial literacy, fears of discomfort and an urge to avoid politics. Much has been written about the urgent need for antiracist teaching practices in secondary English classes. This article explores the barriers a white ELA teacher perceived when attempting to discuss modern racial injustice through literature instruction in a white context of the “four pandemics” (Ladson-Billings, 2021).“I’m really just scared of the White parents”: a teacher navigates perceptions of barriers to discussing racial injustice
Shimikqua Elece Ellis, Christian Z. Goering
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.531-545

This study aims to explore the perceived barriers that a secondary English teacher faced when attempting to discuss racial injustice through young adult literature in Mississippi.

The authors rely on Critical Whiteness Studies and qualitative methods to explore the following research question: What are the barriers that a White ELA teacher perceives when teaching about racial injustice through The Hate U Give?

The authors found that there were several perceived barriers to discussing modern racial injustice in the Mississippi ELA classroom. The participating teacher indicated the following barriers: a lack of racial literacy, fears of discomfort and an urge to avoid politics.

Much has been written about the urgent need for antiracist teaching practices in secondary English classes. This article explores the barriers a white ELA teacher perceived when attempting to discuss modern racial injustice through literature instruction in a white context of the “four pandemics” (Ladson-Billings, 2021).

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“I’m really just scared of the White parents”: a teacher navigates perceptions of barriers to discussing racial injustice10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0067English Teaching: Practice & Critique2023-10-27© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedShimikqua Elece EllisChristian Z. GoeringEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critique2242023-10-2710.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0067https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0067/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
Experiencing the cycles of love in teaching: the praxis of an early career Asian American ELA teacherhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2022-0099/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestEarly career teachers (ECTs) of Color are key in making change, resisting racism and pushing back against white supremacy in K-12 education, specifically in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms. Through a narrative telling inquiry (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000) of Nora, an Asian American ELA ECT in the Midwest, and by drawing on Fisher’s (2011) Critical Integral Pedagogy of Fearlessness, this study aims to recognize the narrative power within teaching praxis as Nora stories herself toward becoming a critical pedagogue. Using narrative inquiry methodology and methods (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000), the authors simultaneously considered the commonplace tenets of narrative inquiry – temporality, sociality and place – of the intertwined relationships of the participants and observers. The field texts included in the corpus of data include myriad tellings of Nora’s experiences in her initial years of teaching ELA. Data were analyzed in stages of parsing out narrative blocks and structures. The findings indicate that Nora, as an ECT, went through recursive cycles of fear as conceptualized by Fisher (2011) – bravery, courageousness and being fear-less – of working toward radical love (Hooks, 2000) within her ELA instruction. The authors argue that Nora confronted her personal and professional fears as she strove to become a critical pedagogue in her ELA classroom. Current scholarship portrays ECTs as lacking agency in their development and/or effectiveness in the classroom and little is said about Asian American ELA ECTs and critical instruction. The authors present Nora’s counter-narrative to make visible what is right with ELA ECTs, specifically teachers of Color, as they transform their fear into courage to fight for educational equity.Experiencing the cycles of love in teaching: the praxis of an early career Asian American ELA teacher
Kelli A. Rushek, Saba Khan Vlach, Tiphany Phan
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp.546-564

Early career teachers (ECTs) of Color are key in making change, resisting racism and pushing back against white supremacy in K-12 education, specifically in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms. Through a narrative telling inquiry (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000) of Nora, an Asian American ELA ECT in the Midwest, and by drawing on Fisher’s (2011) Critical Integral Pedagogy of Fearlessness, this study aims to recognize the narrative power within teaching praxis as Nora stories herself toward becoming a critical pedagogue.

Using narrative inquiry methodology and methods (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000), the authors simultaneously considered the commonplace tenets of narrative inquiry – temporality, sociality and place – of the intertwined relationships of the participants and observers. The field texts included in the corpus of data include myriad tellings of Nora’s experiences in her initial years of teaching ELA. Data were analyzed in stages of parsing out narrative blocks and structures.

The findings indicate that Nora, as an ECT, went through recursive cycles of fear as conceptualized by Fisher (2011) – bravery, courageousness and being fear-less – of working toward radical love (Hooks, 2000) within her ELA instruction. The authors argue that Nora confronted her personal and professional fears as she strove to become a critical pedagogue in her ELA classroom.

Current scholarship portrays ECTs as lacking agency in their development and/or effectiveness in the classroom and little is said about Asian American ELA ECTs and critical instruction. The authors present Nora’s counter-narrative to make visible what is right with ELA ECTs, specifically teachers of Color, as they transform their fear into courage to fight for educational equity.

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Experiencing the cycles of love in teaching: the praxis of an early career Asian American ELA teacher10.1108/ETPC-08-2022-0099English Teaching: Practice & Critique2023-11-10© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedKelli A. RushekSaba Khan VlachTiphany PhanEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critique2242023-11-1010.1108/ETPC-08-2022-0099https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2022-0099/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
TikTok as a lens into teacher attrition: perspectives from #teacherquittokhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2023-0049/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestA key social networking site for teachers, TikTok offers a new and valuable lens on educator attrition. This study aims to explore social media’s role in the increased transparency around leaving the profession and the online narratives crafted around transitioning out of the classroom. Drawing on the conceptual framework of emergent storytelling and a recursive thematic analysis of videos and comments posted to the #teacherquittok hashtag on TikTok, this study examines how teachers are using social media to share their experiences of exiting the classroom. The authors find that teachers used TikTok to share personal accounts that form a meta-narrative that provides context to their decisions to leave, share stories of loss and gain through negotiating the transition out of the classroom and finally debate the implications for preservice teachers. The authors discuss key takeaways for rethinking teacher support, teacher education and the role of social media in teachers’ professional lives. While many studies seek to understand teacher attrition, this work examines how teachers’ stories shared on social media may be shaping attrition into an increasingly networked and narrated act.TikTok as a lens into teacher attrition: perspectives from #teacherquittok
Chelsey Barber, Ioana Literat
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-

A key social networking site for teachers, TikTok offers a new and valuable lens on educator attrition. This study aims to explore social media’s role in the increased transparency around leaving the profession and the online narratives crafted around transitioning out of the classroom.

Drawing on the conceptual framework of emergent storytelling and a recursive thematic analysis of videos and comments posted to the #teacherquittok hashtag on TikTok, this study examines how teachers are using social media to share their experiences of exiting the classroom.

The authors find that teachers used TikTok to share personal accounts that form a meta-narrative that provides context to their decisions to leave, share stories of loss and gain through negotiating the transition out of the classroom and finally debate the implications for preservice teachers. The authors discuss key takeaways for rethinking teacher support, teacher education and the role of social media in teachers’ professional lives.

While many studies seek to understand teacher attrition, this work examines how teachers’ stories shared on social media may be shaping attrition into an increasingly networked and narrated act.

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TikTok as a lens into teacher attrition: perspectives from #teacherquittok10.1108/ETPC-05-2023-0049English Teaching: Practice & Critique2024-01-17© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedChelsey BarberIoana LiteratEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiqueahead-of-printahead-of-print2024-01-1710.1108/ETPC-05-2023-0049https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2023-0049/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
“This is my hill to die on”: effects of far-right conservative pushback on US English teachers and their classroom practicehttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2023-0053/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestFrom book challenges to anti–critical race theory and anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning legislation, US English teachers have been on the receiving end of a considerable amount of far-right conservative pushback. This study aims to explore the effects of conservative pushback on individual English teachers and their classroom practice. What pushbacks have individual English teachers faced? How has pushback impacted their teaching? What strategies have they developed for navigating pushback? This qualitative study explores secondary English teachers’ reported experiences with conservative backlash as reported in 15 semi-structured interviews conducted between May 2022 and August 2023. Participants reported feeling the pressure of increased levels of pushback, and many reported censoring their book selections to avoid additional public scrutiny. At the same time, they also described a range of strategies they have developed for protecting themselves and their practice, such as codifying curriculum, increasing transparency, formalizing review processes for challenging books and strengthening their resolve to resist. This study offers a timely window on a pressing problem affecting the daily practice of English teachers in the USA.“This is my hill to die on”: effects of far-right conservative pushback on US English teachers and their classroom practice
Carlin Borsheim-Black
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-

From book challenges to anti–critical race theory and anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning legislation, US English teachers have been on the receiving end of a considerable amount of far-right conservative pushback. This study aims to explore the effects of conservative pushback on individual English teachers and their classroom practice. What pushbacks have individual English teachers faced? How has pushback impacted their teaching? What strategies have they developed for navigating pushback?

This qualitative study explores secondary English teachers’ reported experiences with conservative backlash as reported in 15 semi-structured interviews conducted between May 2022 and August 2023.

Participants reported feeling the pressure of increased levels of pushback, and many reported censoring their book selections to avoid additional public scrutiny. At the same time, they also described a range of strategies they have developed for protecting themselves and their practice, such as codifying curriculum, increasing transparency, formalizing review processes for challenging books and strengthening their resolve to resist.

This study offers a timely window on a pressing problem affecting the daily practice of English teachers in the USA.

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“This is my hill to die on”: effects of far-right conservative pushback on US English teachers and their classroom practice10.1108/ETPC-05-2023-0053English Teaching: Practice & Critique2024-01-17© 2024 Emerald Publishing LimitedCarlin Borsheim-BlackEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiqueahead-of-printahead-of-print2024-01-1710.1108/ETPC-05-2023-0053https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-05-2023-0053/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2024 Emerald Publishing Limited
Emotions, empathy and social justice educationhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-06-2023-0055/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestThis study aims to consider the role of emotions, especially those related to empathy, in promoting a more humane education that enables students to reach out across kinship chasms to promote the development of communities predicated on a shared value on mutual respect. This attention to empathy includes a review of the rational basis for much schooling, introduces skepticism about the façade of rational thinking, reviews the emotionally flat character of classrooms, attends to the emotional dimensions of literacy education, argues on behalf of taking emotions into account in developmental theories and links empathic connections with social justice efforts. The study’s main thrust is that empathy is a key emotional quality that does not come naturally or easily to many, yet is important to cultivate if social justice is a goal of education. The author clicked Essay and Conceptual Paper. Yet the author required to write the research design. The author clicked Essay and Conceptual Paper. Yet the author required to write the research design. The author clicked Essay and Conceptual Paper. Yet the author required to write the research design. The paper challenges the rational emphasis of schooling and argues for more attention to the ways in which emotions shape thinking.Emotions, empathy and social justice education
Peter Smagorinsky
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-

This study aims to consider the role of emotions, especially those related to empathy, in promoting a more humane education that enables students to reach out across kinship chasms to promote the development of communities predicated on a shared value on mutual respect. This attention to empathy includes a review of the rational basis for much schooling, introduces skepticism about the façade of rational thinking, reviews the emotionally flat character of classrooms, attends to the emotional dimensions of literacy education, argues on behalf of taking emotions into account in developmental theories and links empathic connections with social justice efforts. The study’s main thrust is that empathy is a key emotional quality that does not come naturally or easily to many, yet is important to cultivate if social justice is a goal of education.

The author clicked Essay and Conceptual Paper. Yet the author required to write the research design.

The author clicked Essay and Conceptual Paper. Yet the author required to write the research design.

The author clicked Essay and Conceptual Paper. Yet the author required to write the research design.

The paper challenges the rational emphasis of schooling and argues for more attention to the ways in which emotions shape thinking.

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Emotions, empathy and social justice education10.1108/ETPC-06-2023-0055English Teaching: Practice & Critique2024-03-18© 2024 Emerald Publishing LimitedPeter SmagorinskyEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiqueahead-of-printahead-of-print2024-03-1810.1108/ETPC-06-2023-0055https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-06-2023-0055/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2024 Emerald Publishing Limited
“Weaving tales of resilience”: cyborg composing with AIhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0087/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestThis paper aims to offer an approach to cyborg composing with artificial intelligence (AI). The author posits that the hybridity of the cyborg, which amalgamates human and artificial elements, invites a cascade of creative and emancipatory possibilities. The author critically examines the biases embedded in AI systems while gesturing toward the generative potential of AI–human entanglements. Drawing on Bakhtinian theories of dialogism, the author contends that crafting found poetry with AI could inspire writers to problematize the ideologies embedded into the corpus while teasing apart its elisions or contradictions, sparking new forms of expression at the interface of the organic and the artificial. To illustrate this approach to human–AI composing, the author shares a found poem that she wrote using ChatGPT alongside her reflection on the poem. The author reflects on her positionality as well as the positionality of her artificial interlocutor, interrogating the notion of subjectivity in relation to Bakhtinian dialogism and multivocality. Weaving tales of resilience in harmony or tension with AI could unravel threads of possibility as human writers enrich, deepen or complicate AI-generated texts. By composing with AI, writers can resist closure, infiltrate illusions of objectivity and “speak back” to AI and the dominant voices replicated in its systems. By encouraging students to critically engage with, question and complicate AI-generated texts, one can open avenues for alternative ways of thinking and writing, inspiring students to imagine and compose speculative futures. Ultimately, in animating assemblages of the organic and the artificial, one can invite transformative possibilities of being and becoming.“Weaving tales of resilience”: cyborg composing with AI
Ruth Li
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-

This paper aims to offer an approach to cyborg composing with artificial intelligence (AI). The author posits that the hybridity of the cyborg, which amalgamates human and artificial elements, invites a cascade of creative and emancipatory possibilities. The author critically examines the biases embedded in AI systems while gesturing toward the generative potential of AI–human entanglements. Drawing on Bakhtinian theories of dialogism, the author contends that crafting found poetry with AI could inspire writers to problematize the ideologies embedded into the corpus while teasing apart its elisions or contradictions, sparking new forms of expression at the interface of the organic and the artificial.

To illustrate this approach to human–AI composing, the author shares a found poem that she wrote using ChatGPT alongside her reflection on the poem. The author reflects on her positionality as well as the positionality of her artificial interlocutor, interrogating the notion of subjectivity in relation to Bakhtinian dialogism and multivocality.

Weaving tales of resilience in harmony or tension with AI could unravel threads of possibility as human writers enrich, deepen or complicate AI-generated texts. By composing with AI, writers can resist closure, infiltrate illusions of objectivity and “speak back” to AI and the dominant voices replicated in its systems.

By encouraging students to critically engage with, question and complicate AI-generated texts, one can open avenues for alternative ways of thinking and writing, inspiring students to imagine and compose speculative futures. Ultimately, in animating assemblages of the organic and the artificial, one can invite transformative possibilities of being and becoming.

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“Weaving tales of resilience”: cyborg composing with AI10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0087English Teaching: Practice & Critique2024-02-14© 2024 Emerald Publishing LimitedRuth LiEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiqueahead-of-printahead-of-print2024-02-1410.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0087https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0087/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2024 Emerald Publishing Limited
“Just a tool”? Troubling language and power in generative AI writinghttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0092/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestThe purpose of this paper is to share findings from empirically driven conceptual research into the implications for English teachers of understanding generative AI as a “tool” for writing. The paper reports early findings from an Australian National Survey of English teachers and interrogates the notion of the AI writer as “tool” through intersectional feminist discursive-material analysis of the metaphorical entailments of the term. Through this work, the authors have developed the concept of “coloniser tool-thinking” and juxtaposed it with First Nations and feminist understandings of “tools” and “objects” to demonstrate risks to the pursuit of social and planetary justice through understanding generative AI as a tool for English teachers and students. Bringing together white and First Nations English researchers in dialogue, the paper contributes a unique perspective to challenge widespread and common-sense use of “tool” for generative AI services.“Just a tool”? Troubling language and power in generative AI writing
Lucinda McKnight, Cara Shipp
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-

The purpose of this paper is to share findings from empirically driven conceptual research into the implications for English teachers of understanding generative AI as a “tool” for writing.

The paper reports early findings from an Australian National Survey of English teachers and interrogates the notion of the AI writer as “tool” through intersectional feminist discursive-material analysis of the metaphorical entailments of the term.

Through this work, the authors have developed the concept of “coloniser tool-thinking” and juxtaposed it with First Nations and feminist understandings of “tools” and “objects” to demonstrate risks to the pursuit of social and planetary justice through understanding generative AI as a tool for English teachers and students.

Bringing together white and First Nations English researchers in dialogue, the paper contributes a unique perspective to challenge widespread and common-sense use of “tool” for generative AI services.

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“Just a tool”? Troubling language and power in generative AI writing10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0092English Teaching: Practice & Critique2024-01-18© 2024 Emerald Publishing LimitedLucinda McKnightCara ShippEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiqueahead-of-printahead-of-print2024-01-1810.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0092https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0092/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2024 Emerald Publishing Limited
Speculative frictions: writing civic futures after AIhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0095/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestThe purpose of this study is to examine how young people imagine civic futures through speculative fiction writing about artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The authors argue that young people’s speculative fiction writing about AI not only helps make visible the ways they imagine the impacts of emerging technologies and the modes of collective action available for leveraging, resisting or countering them but also the frictions and fissures between the two. This practitioner research study used data from student artifacts (speculative fiction stories, prewriting and relevant unit work) as well as classroom fieldnotes. The authors used inductive coding to identify emergent patterns in the ways young people wrote about AI and civics, as well as deductive coding using digital civic ecologies framework. The findings of this study spotlight both the breadth of intractable civic concerns that young people associate with AI, as well as the limitations of the civic frameworks for imagining political interventions to these challenges. Importantly, they also indicate that the process of speculative writing itself can help reconcile this disjuncture by opening space to dwell in, rather than resolve, the tensions between “the speculative” and the “civic.” Teachers might use speculative fiction writing and the digital civic ecologies framework to support students in critically examining possible AI futures and effective civic actions within them. Speculative fiction writing offers an avenue for students to analyze the growing civic concerns posed by emerging platform technologies like AI.Speculative frictions: writing civic futures after AI
Alexandra Thrall, T. Philip Nichols, Kevin R. Magill
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-

The purpose of this study is to examine how young people imagine civic futures through speculative fiction writing about artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The authors argue that young people’s speculative fiction writing about AI not only helps make visible the ways they imagine the impacts of emerging technologies and the modes of collective action available for leveraging, resisting or countering them but also the frictions and fissures between the two.

This practitioner research study used data from student artifacts (speculative fiction stories, prewriting and relevant unit work) as well as classroom fieldnotes. The authors used inductive coding to identify emergent patterns in the ways young people wrote about AI and civics, as well as deductive coding using digital civic ecologies framework.

The findings of this study spotlight both the breadth of intractable civic concerns that young people associate with AI, as well as the limitations of the civic frameworks for imagining political interventions to these challenges. Importantly, they also indicate that the process of speculative writing itself can help reconcile this disjuncture by opening space to dwell in, rather than resolve, the tensions between “the speculative” and the “civic.”

Teachers might use speculative fiction writing and the digital civic ecologies framework to support students in critically examining possible AI futures and effective civic actions within them.

Speculative fiction writing offers an avenue for students to analyze the growing civic concerns posed by emerging platform technologies like AI.

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Speculative frictions: writing civic futures after AI10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0095English Teaching: Practice & Critique2024-02-28© 2024 Emerald Publishing LimitedAlexandra ThrallT. Philip NicholsKevin R. MagillEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiqueahead-of-printahead-of-print2024-02-2810.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0095https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0095/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2024 Emerald Publishing Limited
Writing with, for, and against the algorithm: TikTokers’ relationships with AI as audience, co-author, and censorhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0100/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestArtificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly important and influential in reading and writing. The influx of social media digital spaces, like TikTok, has also shifted the ways multimodal composition takes place alongside AI. This study aims to argue that within spaces like TikTok, human composers must attend to the ways they write for, with and against the AI-powered algorithm. Data collection was drawn from a larger study on #BookTok (the TikTok subcommunity for readers) that included semi-structured interviews including watching and reflecting on a TikTok they created. The authors grounded this study in critical posthumanist literacies to analyze and open code five #BookTok content creators’ interview transcripts. Using axial coding, authors collaboratively determined three overarching and entangled themes: writing for, with and against. Findings highlight the nuanced ways #BookTokers consider the AI algorithm in their compositional choices, namely, in the ways how they want to disseminate their videos to a larger audience or more niche-focused community. Throughout the interviews, participants revealed how the AI algorithm was situated differently as both audience member, co-author and censor. This study is grounded in critical posthumanist literacies and explores composition as a joint accomplishment between humans and machines. The authors argued that it is necessary to expand our human-centered notions of what it means to write for an audience, to co-author and to resist censorship or gatekeeping.Writing with, for, and against the algorithm: TikTokers’ relationships with AI as audience, co-author, and censor
Sarah Jerasa, Sarah K. Burriss
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly important and influential in reading and writing. The influx of social media digital spaces, like TikTok, has also shifted the ways multimodal composition takes place alongside AI. This study aims to argue that within spaces like TikTok, human composers must attend to the ways they write for, with and against the AI-powered algorithm.

Data collection was drawn from a larger study on #BookTok (the TikTok subcommunity for readers) that included semi-structured interviews including watching and reflecting on a TikTok they created. The authors grounded this study in critical posthumanist literacies to analyze and open code five #BookTok content creators’ interview transcripts. Using axial coding, authors collaboratively determined three overarching and entangled themes: writing for, with and against.

Findings highlight the nuanced ways #BookTokers consider the AI algorithm in their compositional choices, namely, in the ways how they want to disseminate their videos to a larger audience or more niche-focused community. Throughout the interviews, participants revealed how the AI algorithm was situated differently as both audience member, co-author and censor.

This study is grounded in critical posthumanist literacies and explores composition as a joint accomplishment between humans and machines. The authors argued that it is necessary to expand our human-centered notions of what it means to write for an audience, to co-author and to resist censorship or gatekeeping.

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Writing with, for, and against the algorithm: TikTokers’ relationships with AI as audience, co-author, and censor10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0100English Teaching: Practice & Critique2024-03-08© 2024 Emerald Publishing LimitedSarah JerasaSarah K. BurrissEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiqueahead-of-printahead-of-print2024-03-0810.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0100https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0100/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2024 Emerald Publishing Limited
“I can almost recognize its voice”: AI and its impact on ethical teacher-centaur laborhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0101/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestThis study builds on previous theoretical work that considered artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential for creating “teacher-centaurs” whose labor could be accelerated through the use of generative AI (Fassbender, in review). The purpose of this paper is to use empirical methods to study centaur teachers and the division of labor (Durkheim, 1893/2013) that arise from outsourcing teaching tasks to AI. Multiple case study (Stake, 2006) was used to collect data on two secondary English teachers who were early adopters of generative AI. Data included semi-structured interviews as well as ChatGPT chat logs, which helped in describing how teaching approaches evolved using AI technology. Results showed that teachers used AI for planning, instruction and assessment. AI-augmented teaching practices allowed teachers to complete tasks with greater speed, which in turn increased stamina and short-term work–life balance. Given the novelty of AI, concerns about data privacy and academic integrity raised ethical questions. ChatGPT’s rise to popularity in 2023 brought with it significant discussions about education, specifically how students would use AI primarily as a tool for plagiarism. This study takes a different focus, considering how early adoption of AI has begun changing teacher labor, offering implications for the future of the teaching profession.“I can almost recognize its voice”: AI and its impact on ethical teacher-centaur labor
William Joseph Fassbender
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-

This study builds on previous theoretical work that considered artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential for creating “teacher-centaurs” whose labor could be accelerated through the use of generative AI (Fassbender, in review). The purpose of this paper is to use empirical methods to study centaur teachers and the division of labor (Durkheim, 1893/2013) that arise from outsourcing teaching tasks to AI.

Multiple case study (Stake, 2006) was used to collect data on two secondary English teachers who were early adopters of generative AI. Data included semi-structured interviews as well as ChatGPT chat logs, which helped in describing how teaching approaches evolved using AI technology.

Results showed that teachers used AI for planning, instruction and assessment. AI-augmented teaching practices allowed teachers to complete tasks with greater speed, which in turn increased stamina and short-term work–life balance. Given the novelty of AI, concerns about data privacy and academic integrity raised ethical questions.

ChatGPT’s rise to popularity in 2023 brought with it significant discussions about education, specifically how students would use AI primarily as a tool for plagiarism. This study takes a different focus, considering how early adoption of AI has begun changing teacher labor, offering implications for the future of the teaching profession.

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“I can almost recognize its voice”: AI and its impact on ethical teacher-centaur labor10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0101English Teaching: Practice & Critique2024-03-05© 2024 Emerald Publishing LimitedWilliam Joseph FassbenderEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiqueahead-of-printahead-of-print2024-03-0510.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0101https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0101/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2024 Emerald Publishing Limited
Digital writing with AI platforms: the role of fun with/in generative AIhttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0103/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestWith the rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence (AI), it is important to consider how young people are making sense of these tools in their everyday lives. Drawing on critical postdigital approaches to learning and literacy, this study aims to center the experiences and perspectives of young people who encounter and experiment with generative AI in their daily writing practices. This critical case study of one digital platform – Character.ai – brings together an adolescent and adult authorship team to inquire about the intertwining of young people’s playful and critical perspectives when writing on/with digital platforms. Drawing on critical walkthrough methodology (Light et al., 2018), the authors engage digital methods to study how the creative and “fun” uses of AI in youths’ writing lives are situated in broader platform ecologies. The findings suggest experimentation and pleasure are key aspects of young people’s engagement with generative AI. The authors demonstrate how one platform works to capitalize on these dimensions, even as youth users engage critically and artfully with the platform and develop their digital writing practices. This study highlights how playful experimentation with generative AI can engage young people both in pleasurable digital writing and in exploration and contemplation of platforms dynamics and structures that shape their and others’ literate activities. Educators can consider young people’s creative uses of these evolving technologies as potential opportunities to develop a critical awareness of how commercial platforms seek to benefit from their users. This study contributes to the development of a critical and humanist research agenda around generative AI by centering the experiences, perspectives and practices of young people who are underrepresented in the burgeoning research devoted to AI and literacies.Digital writing with AI platforms: the role of fun with/in generative AI
Amy Stornaiuolo, Jennifer Higgs, Opal Jawale, Rhianne Mae Martin
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-

With the rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence (AI), it is important to consider how young people are making sense of these tools in their everyday lives. Drawing on critical postdigital approaches to learning and literacy, this study aims to center the experiences and perspectives of young people who encounter and experiment with generative AI in their daily writing practices.

This critical case study of one digital platform – Character.ai – brings together an adolescent and adult authorship team to inquire about the intertwining of young people’s playful and critical perspectives when writing on/with digital platforms. Drawing on critical walkthrough methodology (Light et al., 2018), the authors engage digital methods to study how the creative and “fun” uses of AI in youths’ writing lives are situated in broader platform ecologies.

The findings suggest experimentation and pleasure are key aspects of young people’s engagement with generative AI. The authors demonstrate how one platform works to capitalize on these dimensions, even as youth users engage critically and artfully with the platform and develop their digital writing practices.

This study highlights how playful experimentation with generative AI can engage young people both in pleasurable digital writing and in exploration and contemplation of platforms dynamics and structures that shape their and others’ literate activities. Educators can consider young people’s creative uses of these evolving technologies as potential opportunities to develop a critical awareness of how commercial platforms seek to benefit from their users.

This study contributes to the development of a critical and humanist research agenda around generative AI by centering the experiences, perspectives and practices of young people who are underrepresented in the burgeoning research devoted to AI and literacies.

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Digital writing with AI platforms: the role of fun with/in generative AI10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0103English Teaching: Practice & Critique2024-03-01© 2024 Emerald Publishing LimitedAmy StornaiuoloJennifer HiggsOpal JawaleRhianne Mae MartinEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiqueahead-of-printahead-of-print2024-03-0110.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0103https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0103/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2024 Emerald Publishing Limited
Generative AI and composing: an intergenerational conversation among literacy scholarshttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0104/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestThe purpose of this paper is to provide a transcript of a dialogue among literacy educators and researchers on the impact of generative aritficial intelligence (AI) in the field. In the spring of 2023, a lively conversation emerged on the National Council of Research on Language and Literacy (NCRLL)’s listserv. Stephanie initiated the conversation by sharing an op-ed she wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the rise of ChatGPT and similar generative AI platforms, moving beyond the general public’s concerns about student cheating and robot takeovers. NCRLL then convened a webinar of eight leading scholars in writing and literacies development, inspired by that listerv conversation and an organizational interest in promoting intergenerational collaboration among literacy scholars. As former doctoral students of two of the panel participants, webinar facilitators Grace and Victoria positioned themselves primarily as learners about this topic and gathered questions from colleagues, P-16 practitioners and those outside the field of education to assess the concerns and wonderings that ChatGPT and generative AI have raised. The following webinar conversation was recorded on two different days due to scheduling conflicts. It has been merged and edited into one dialogue for coherence and convergence. Panel participants raise a host of questions and issues that go beyond topics of ethics, morality and basic writing instruction. Furthermore, in dialogue with one another, they describe possibilities for meaningful pedagogy and critical literacy to ensure that generative AI is used for a socially just future for students. While the discussion addressed matters of pedagogy, definitions of literacy and the purpose of (literacy) education, other themes included a critique of capitalism; an interrogation of the systems of power and oppression involved in using generative AI; and the philosophical, ontological, ethical and practical life questions about being human. This paper provides a glimpse into one of the first panel conversations about ChatGPT and generative AI in the field of literacy. Not only are the panel members respected scholars in the field, they are also former doctoral students and advisors of one another, thus positioning all involved as both learners and teachers of this new technology.Generative AI and composing: an intergenerational conversation among literacy scholars
Grace Enriquez, Victoria Gill, Gerald Campano, Tracey T. Flores, Stephanie Jones, Kevin M. Leander, Lucinda McKnight, Detra Price-Dennis
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-

The purpose of this paper is to provide a transcript of a dialogue among literacy educators and researchers on the impact of generative aritficial intelligence (AI) in the field. In the spring of 2023, a lively conversation emerged on the National Council of Research on Language and Literacy (NCRLL)’s listserv. Stephanie initiated the conversation by sharing an op-ed she wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the rise of ChatGPT and similar generative AI platforms, moving beyond the general public’s concerns about student cheating and robot takeovers. NCRLL then convened a webinar of eight leading scholars in writing and literacies development, inspired by that listerv conversation and an organizational interest in promoting intergenerational collaboration among literacy scholars.

As former doctoral students of two of the panel participants, webinar facilitators Grace and Victoria positioned themselves primarily as learners about this topic and gathered questions from colleagues, P-16 practitioners and those outside the field of education to assess the concerns and wonderings that ChatGPT and generative AI have raised. The following webinar conversation was recorded on two different days due to scheduling conflicts. It has been merged and edited into one dialogue for coherence and convergence.

Panel participants raise a host of questions and issues that go beyond topics of ethics, morality and basic writing instruction. Furthermore, in dialogue with one another, they describe possibilities for meaningful pedagogy and critical literacy to ensure that generative AI is used for a socially just future for students. While the discussion addressed matters of pedagogy, definitions of literacy and the purpose of (literacy) education, other themes included a critique of capitalism; an interrogation of the systems of power and oppression involved in using generative AI; and the philosophical, ontological, ethical and practical life questions about being human.

This paper provides a glimpse into one of the first panel conversations about ChatGPT and generative AI in the field of literacy. Not only are the panel members respected scholars in the field, they are also former doctoral students and advisors of one another, thus positioning all involved as both learners and teachers of this new technology.

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Generative AI and composing: an intergenerational conversation among literacy scholars10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0104English Teaching: Practice & Critique2023-12-22© 2023 Emerald Publishing LimitedGrace EnriquezVictoria GillGerald CampanoTracey T. FloresStephanie JonesKevin M. LeanderLucinda McKnightDetra Price-DennisEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiqueahead-of-printahead-of-print2023-12-2210.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0104https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0104/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited
We need bigger mirrors: the importance of fat fiction for young readershttps://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-09-2023-0119/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatestThis paper aims to investigate how narrative is constructed to create connections with fat readers, how books function to envision spaces of fat liberation for young readers and to highlight the incredible importance of providing bigger mirrors (Bishop, 1990) for fat representation in children’s literature. This paper analyzes and reflects on two texts that contain counternarratives of fatness: The (Other) F Word: A celebration of the fat and fierce edited by Angie Manfredi (2019) and Big by Vashti Harrison (2023) to interrogate how these two narratives intentionally disrupt anti-fat bias. Body size and fatness are identities that need to be included in diversity efforts within education. Books like The (Other) F Word: A celebration of the fat and fierce (Manfredi, 2019) and Big (Harrison, 2023) offer positive representations of fatness, disrupt biases around body size and provide spaces that allow fat students to find joy, hope, connection and, more than anything, imagine a way toward liberation. This paper highlights the need to include more narratives of positive fat representation within children’s literature and calls for educators to interrogate their own anti-fat biases and practices. There is a lack of research on fat representation specifically within children and young adult literature. This paper provides an analysis of two pieces of literature with fat representation that brings attention to the need for this type of future research.We need bigger mirrors: the importance of fat fiction for young readers
Kristen A. Foos
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-

This paper aims to investigate how narrative is constructed to create connections with fat readers, how books function to envision spaces of fat liberation for young readers and to highlight the incredible importance of providing bigger mirrors (Bishop, 1990) for fat representation in children’s literature.

This paper analyzes and reflects on two texts that contain counternarratives of fatness: The (Other) F Word: A celebration of the fat and fierce edited by Angie Manfredi (2019) and Big by Vashti Harrison (2023) to interrogate how these two narratives intentionally disrupt anti-fat bias.

Body size and fatness are identities that need to be included in diversity efforts within education. Books like The (Other) F Word: A celebration of the fat and fierce (Manfredi, 2019) and Big (Harrison, 2023) offer positive representations of fatness, disrupt biases around body size and provide spaces that allow fat students to find joy, hope, connection and, more than anything, imagine a way toward liberation.

This paper highlights the need to include more narratives of positive fat representation within children’s literature and calls for educators to interrogate their own anti-fat biases and practices.

There is a lack of research on fat representation specifically within children and young adult literature. This paper provides an analysis of two pieces of literature with fat representation that brings attention to the need for this type of future research.

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We need bigger mirrors: the importance of fat fiction for young readers10.1108/ETPC-09-2023-0119English Teaching: Practice & Critique2024-02-16© 2024 Emerald Publishing LimitedKristen A. FoosEnglish Teaching: Practice & Critiqueahead-of-printahead-of-print2024-02-1610.1108/ETPC-09-2023-0119https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ETPC-09-2023-0119/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest© 2024 Emerald Publishing Limited