Critical Literacy

Critical literacy is an approach to reading and teaching, grounded in critical social theory, that treats texts as embedding particular views of power and social norms rather than as neutral carriers of information. It asks students to actively analyze texts for their underlying messages, examining not only what a text claims but why some perspectives appear in it while others are left out, and it looks specifically for embedded discrimination and bias in media. The approach is distinguished from critical thinking, which centers on logical reasoning and weighing evidence, because critical literacy focuses more specifically on the power dynamics that shape how the written and spoken texts of a society come to be produced in the first place. Teachers use critical literacy to help students become more perceptive and socially aware, recognizing how language, politics and grammar shape meaning, with the ultimate aim of preparing students to identify injustice and take social action in their own communities. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/