This essay argues that the concepts of literacy, authorship, and voice are also social practices and as such are always the effects of many determinations and contradictions. A pedagogy for critical literacy, as it is a pedagogy for learning to locate oneself in history, can make it possible for students to begin reclaiming their voices, their rights to authorship by making it possible for them to discover the social construction of their voices in contradiction. The essay brings forward one student paper in the context of one class discussion, presenting it as an example of students looking at themselves and their language dialectically, as an example, in short, of getting there.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AronowitzS. (1985, May 7). Why should Johnny read?Village Voice Literary Supplement, pp. 12–13.
2.
BerthoffA. (1981). The making of meaning.Upper Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook.
3.
FarbP. (1973). Word play.New York: Bantam.
4.
FreireP., & MacedoD. (1987). Literacy: Reading the world and the word.South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey.
5.
GirouxH. (1987). Literacy and the pedagogy of political empowerment. In FreireP., & MacedoD., Literacy: Reading the world and the word.South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey.
6.
HymesD. (1974). Foundations in sociolinguistics.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
