EDUC4704

Engaging in critical literacy allows students to look at written, visual & spoken texts and question the attitudes, values and beliefs that lie beneath the surface. Readers are encouraged to actively analyse texts; considering the purpose for the text and the author’s motives and constructing alternative perspectives. This enables students to consider and clarify their own attitudes and values towards the issue; take a stance and take social action.

Changing societal structures, increasing social and cultural diversity and the marketing of ideas and products through multimedia mean that we need to think about literacy for lifelong learning in new ways. Information is reaching us in new ways; we are swamped by masses of information from sources across the globe. We need to be able to make meaning from the array of multimedia, complex visual imagery, music and sound, even virtual worlds that confront us each day in addition to written and spoken words.

Children are ‘consumers’ of a great deal of ‘text’ (including television, movies, webpages, music and art) and as such may be vulnerable to persuasive argument. Developing critical literacy skills enables them to become more discerning and informed consumers.

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