Guest editorial

Citation

Barnes, M.E. and Avila, J. (2020), "Guest editorial", English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-04-2020-188

When we developed the call for papers for this special issue, themed

Critical Literacies in Community Contexts, we asked for papers that would challenge students and teachers to critically examine, disrupt and at times change the spaces, texts and practices that shape education and society writ large. The authors who have contributed to this special issue have done just that. The nine articles included in this issue use a range of research methodologies in a range of domestic and international, school and community-based spaces to consider the myriad identities, experiences, interactions and discourses that shape understandings of critical literacies and communities. Together, these articles provide insight into our shared inquiry into how English Language Arts educators might leverage students’ community contexts as they enact critical literacy.

In the first article, “Community cultural wealth and literacy capital in Latin American communities,” Lina Trigos-Carrillo conducts a transnational ethnography to explore the literacy practices of families and communities of first-generation college students in three Latin American public universities. Findings demonstrate that, although often overlooked in policy, research and media, these families and communities engaged in rich literacy practices. Trigo-Carrillo draws on findings to offer insight into the identities and cultural values of first-generation college students.

In “Centering Black mothers’ stories for critical literacies,” Elaine Richardson analyzes the narratives of Black mothers to investigate the critical literacy work they do both for themselves and their daughters. Through their stories, the mothers negotiated intersectional identities and multiple oppressions. Richardson argues that when positioned as critical literacy education, Black mothers’ voices may challenge oppressive politics and promote social justice aims.

In “Prescriptivism, linguicism and pedagogical coercion in primary school UK curriculum policy,” Ian Cushing explores how teachers talk about language and pedagogies. In particular, Cushing considers how teachers conceptualize, defend and resist linguicism to analyze the ways that linguicism manifests in UK education policy and shapes teacher discourse and practice.

Ashley Boyd and Janine J. Darragh explore preservice teachers’ conceptions and implementation of social actions in their article, “Critical literacies on the university campus: engaging pre-service teachers with social action projects.” Boyd and Darragh found that the preservice teachers’ experiences of self-efficacy and sense of impact were influenced by the nature of the social action project they completed. Boyd and Darragh draw from findings to offer recommendations for engaging preservice teachers in effective social action work.

In “These kids are rebelling”: a student-led transformation of community and critical literacy,” Stephanie Anne Shelton, Kelsey H. Guy and April M. Jones conduct a narrative-based descriptive case study to explore the ways that students shape and are shaped by community and critical literacy, as well as opportunities for student empowerment through community. Shelton, Guy and Jones found that a student-led rebellion reshaped the classroom community and also contributed to a teacher response that redefined his interactions with students and approach to critical literacy.

Vicki A. Hosek and Lara J. Handsfield inquire into teachers’ decisions about student voice, experiences and beliefs in digital classrooms in their article “Monological practices, authoritative discourses, and the missing “c” in digital classroom communities.” Hosek and Handsfield found that teachers’ monologic, rather than dialogic teacher pedagogies, were often shaped by school-based protectionist and digital citizenship policies, and a paucity of professional development aimed at connecting critical pedagogy to technology. Ultimately, Hosek and Handsfield argue for digital classroom communities that foreground critical examinations of current ideologies and opportunities for student voice.

In their article, “Opening spaces of restoration for youth through community-engaged critical literacy practices,” Heidi L. Hadley, Kevin Burke and William Terrell Wright analyze the critical literacy practices of youth in a community program. Through qualitative ethnographic methods, Hadley, Burke and Wright found that youth reclaimed historicized narratives about themselves, their families and their communities in an effort to create spaces of restoration. Through these spaces, youth were able to explore their own identities, analyze inequities and lead civic conversations with adults in their communities.

In “My life’s blueprint: publishing critical youth narratives in community-based organizations,” Crystal Chen Lee and Nina R. Schoonover consider the experiences of a group of underserved young adults as they participated in a community-based organization aimed at co-writing and publishing a book. Specifically, Lee and Schoonover questioned how youth demonstrated self-empowerment and agency through their narrative writing. Findings suggest that the narrative writing provided an outlet for the youth to challenge dominant narratives and to center their voices.

Finally, in “Assemblaging communities: looking at how communities work for enacting critical literacies pedagogy in the classroom,” Kelly C. Johnston considers how assemblaging communities de/re/territorialized one teacher’s critical literacies instructional practices. By considering the tension between two assemblaging communities – one that produced the enactment of critical literacies pedagogy and one that produced an emphasis on test preparation – Johnston argues that researchers and educators may be more well-prepared to consider the negotiations educators experience when enacting critical literacies pedagogy in the classroom.

Together, these articles extend and challenge understandings of communities and critical literacies in learning spaces. These articles consider communities to be expansive and students to be agentive. Specifically, these articles explore the role that dominant discourses in society play in shaping teacher work and talk (Cushing; Hosek and Handsfield; Johnston), they draw from student voices and experiences to consider implications for educators and community members (Boyd and Darragh; Hadley, Burke and Wright; Lee and Schoonover; Shelton, Guy and Jones), and they explore the ways that communities shape student identities and literacy experiences (Richardson; Trigos-Carrillo). These articles contribute to the complexity of enacting critical literacies in community spaces and encourage readers to question, challenge and celebrate the range of experiences, discourses and identities that shape learning and literacy.