Abstract
Defining the concept of critical literacy is a difficult task because of its inherently murky boundaries. As time has progressed in the last four to five decades, attitudes and perceptions of literacy have shifted in ways which necessitate a redefining of the concept. This paper presents a retelling of an actual task presented to a graduate student by his committee. In that task, the committee asked for a concise (150 words or fewer) construction of a definition of critical literacy. This article begins with a very brief reflection on the task itself followed by the execution that attempted to circumvent the word count rules set forth by the committee. The reproduction of the task has been edited in certain places for the purposes of an academic journal, but these changes are mostly cosmetic in nature. Simply put, the graduate student argues critical literacy can be defined as a textual study of power structure challenges distributed across four categories: early definitions, multiple modalities, sociopolitical issues of power, and equity in classrooms.
Repository Citation
Albert, M. (2022). Defining Critical Literacy: A Challenge to a Power Structure. Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education, 21 (1). Retrieved from https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/taboo/vol21/iss1/2