Embodying critical literacy in a dual language classroom: critical discourse analysis in a case study

ABSTRACT This case study focuses on the diverse discourses Latinx bilingual students bring to class to make sense of power relations in the world. The study implements critical literacy practices such as read-alouds, discussions, writing, and drawing activities that help students critique and disrupt power discourses embedded in texts and visuals. With the implementation of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and social semiotics, the collected data were examined. The objectives of this study are, first, to discover the students’ culturally and socially learned power discourses through the critical literacy practices used in a dual language classroom; second, to examine the student’s multiple English and Spanish literacies used as mediated tools for becoming dynamic readers and writers; and third, to employ CDA and social semiotics to unravel meaning systems, language use, and their concurrent relationships to power discourses. Results showed that through critical literacy practices, the participants used English and Spanish to comprehend texts, and to learn about dominant ideologies and practices that position people with advantaged and disadvantaged roles within a society.