Critical literacy development with the use of narratives

Abstract

Critical Literacy aims at developing students’ consciousness of their experiences to approach the understanding of the world through language. Our project centers on visual narratives to allow learners to use their individual experience to help them reflect on themselves and on the world around them. In a qualitative action research study, we explored narratives for critical literacy development with a basic-level English class in a university in Bogotá. A survey, teacher’s journals, interviews and students’ artifacts looked into visual narratives and their influence on the development of Critical Literacy. The data analysis suggests that the pedagogical intervention awoke awareness of language use as a vehicle for students to understand themselves as individuals and as members of a community. Moreover, the development of critical literacy seemed to foster a critical approach to the social topics proposed.