Critical Literacy in a Digital and Global Textual World

In the CritLit project (Critical Literacy in a Digital and Global Textual World), researchers have collaborated with in-service teachers in lower secondary school to investigate how innovative pedagogical practices in the subject Norwegian can empower students to become critical readers and producers of texts. The contemporary global and digital textual world demands critical awareness of texts, focusing on how texts represent the world verbally and visually, how to evaluate various sources and blurry boundaries between commercial and noncommercial texts. The current need for increased attention to critical thinking is evident in the national curriculum in Norway (LK20), where 'critical approaches to texts' has been introduced as one of the core elements in the subject Norwegian. In the CritLit project, teachers and scholars have developed new pedagogical practices and learning tools for lower secondary school students and to strengthen the work with critical literacy in teacher education. The University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) is project owner, and the University of Agder (UiA) and the Australian Catholic University (ACU) are partners. One research team is located at USN, and collaborate with teachers and teacher students there, while another team is practicing the similar activities at UiA. The Norwegian research teams have also collaborated with the Institute for Learning Sciences & Teacher Education, ACU. The first stage of the CritLit project was completed spring 2021. Totally 228 students from six secondary schools answered an electronic survey regarding their critical literacy practices. Their teachers were interviewed regarding their current teaching practices in critical literacy. Stage two of the project were conducted from spring 2021 to June 2022 and involved series of workshops with teachers, as well as development and testing of new pedagogical models and learning tools in classrooms. At the third and last stage, data from the classroom implementations have been analysed and evaluated. Based on the classroom interventions, new and innovative learning tools for critical literacy have been produced, among these a learning resource for teachers www.tekstkritisk.no. The results of the project are published in Nordic as well as international journals and provide a stronger research-based foundation for critical literacy work in Norwegian lower secondary school and teacher education. By strengthening collaborations amongst core partners in teacher education, CritLit have brought forward increased critical literacy competence in schools and in teacher education programs.

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Critical Literacy in a Digital and Global Textual World (CritLit) aims to advance new learning and pedagogical models for critical literacy in lower secondary schooling (year 8-9, age 13-15) to enable students to become critical readers and creative producers of digital texts. The project will 1) Identify whether and how current literacy teaching practices in the subject of Norwegian cover critical perspectives, 2) Develop innovative learning tools for critical digital literacy and 3) Generate and implement new knowledge on critical literacy in digital environments in lower secondary schooling and teacher education. The project comprises collaboration with six praxis schools. In addition, students at MA level in teacher education at University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) and University of Agder (UiA) will be included. The research group comprises three researchers from USN, two from UiA and one from Australian Catholic University (ACU). The project consist of three stages: Stage 1: Identification of current teaching practices through semi-structured interviews with in-practice teachers and pre-tests of year 8 students.. Stage 2: Development and testing new learning tools. In-service teachers and MA students get pre-training and collaborate to examine the critical literacy implementation. Stage 3) Evaluation and mapping out learning outcomes through semi-structured interviews with in-practice teachers and post-test of year 9 students. The results will produce principles for the implementation of critical literacy pedagogy in lower secondary schooling and in teacher education. Findings will produce needed research-based knowledge, since studies from Scandinavia are under-represented within the research field of critical literacy. The outcomes will benefit policy by the concretisation of the forthcoming Norwegian National Curriculum. Improved critical consciousness will contribute to better social integration, democratic participation and global citizenship.