Critical Literacy and the Social Studies Methods Course: How Pre-Service Social Studies Teachers Learn and Teach for Critical Literacy

Abstract

This study looks at the development of critical literacy for three pre-service teacher participants, relevant support systems, and pedagogies. It considers how pre-service teacher participants construct knowledge on critical literacy within the methods course. The participants started with their own literacy histories in order to began developing internalization and critical consciousness within the methods and field experience course. Throughout the course, the participants took social action by using some of the critical literacy approaches that were presented as instructional strategies in the methods course. However, the participants were still internalizing two essential components of critical pedagogy in their own teaching: problem posing and dialogue. They acknowledged the value of problem posing and dialogue in their own learning but had some difficulty using these methods in their own teaching. The implications from this study suggest that teacher educators and future teachers take a stance on critical education and push for structural changes in common teaching practices and school curriculum mandates.

Citation

Johnson, E.C. (2007), "Critical Literacy and the Social Studies Methods Course: How Pre-Service Social Studies Teachers Learn and Teach for Critical Literacy", Social Studies Research and Practice, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 145-168. https://doi.org/10.1108/SSRP-02-2007-B0001