| Summary: | 碩士 === 東海大學 === 外國語文學系 === 100 === The purpose of this study is to explore the implementation of two critical- literacy-based activities with Taiwanese college students involving two picture books that feature the issue of self-identity. The present study also aims at examining how students responded to multiple learning sources offered in the class from a critical literacy perspective. Finally, this study investigates students’ perception of these two activities in relation to their previous English learning experiences in junior and senior high school.
Participants were 22 non-English majors from different departments taking a semester-long course in Intermediate English during the 2011 spring semester at a private university in central Taiwan. Data were collected mainly from the researcher’s journal entries, video-taped classroom observation, field notes, students’ classroom worksheets and artifacts, their reflective journals, and follow-up interviews. Various data were analyzed through two methods. First, Luke and Freebody’s (1999) Four Resources Model of Reading served as the analytical framework to examine the practice of the two activities. Second, grounded theory was employed to analyze data in order to examine (1) students’ reactions to different learning materials from a critical literacy perspective and (2) students’ reflections on their current learning in relation to their prior English studying experiences in Taiwan.
The study has the following findings. First, students experienced four reader roles, including code breakers, text participants, text users and text critics. Second, students took a critical stance in response to diverse learning materials through (1) students examining themselves and using life experiences for reflection, (2) students trying out alternate ways of being through individual writing, (3) disrupting the commonplace by investigating multiple perspectives, (4) developing resistant reading on the texts, and (5) exploring self-identity from a sociocultural aspect. Third, students described their previous English learning experiences in junior and senior high school as exam-oriented instruction in which students acquired knowledge passively. Students maintained that the two activities discussed in this study made them become active learners and facilitated their English skills.
Three implications are generated based on the results of the present study in order to help EFL educators implement critical literacy practices. First, Luke and Freebody’s Four Resources Model of Reading can serve as a guide for critical instructors to integrate comprehension instruction and students’ critical practices. Second, critical educators should fully understand what critical literacy actually is, especially the disparity between critical thinking and critical literacy. Then they will be able to propose questions that are critical rather than comprehension-based. Third, picture books are valuable learning materials for college students in order to initiate critical discussion and advance their language development. Finally, limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are also provided.
Keywords: Critical Literacy, Picture Books, Self-Identity, Language Learning as a
Social Practice
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