Critical Discourse Analysis in Literacy Education: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThis article is a critical, integrative literature review of scholarship in literacy studies from 2004 to 2012 that draws on critical discourse analysis ( CDA ). We discuss key issues, trends, and criticisms in the field. Our methodology was carried out in three stages. First, we searched educational databases to locate literacy-focused CDA scholarship. Second, we completed an analytic review template for each article and encoded this data into a digital spreadsheet to assess macrotrends in the field. Third, we developed schemata to interpret the complexity of issues related to research design. Our examination of 76 literacy-focused empirical studies and theoretical papers in scholarly journals reveals trends in the questions that researchers find interesting enough to pursue, the theories they find useful, and the kinds of interactions that capture their attention. Our findings demonstrate that CDA scholarship has been conducted in many areas of literacy studies, including policy, academic writing, the preparation of literacy teachers, professional development, textbook content, curricular design, assessment, and bilingual education. We explore four foundational areas in the field that are especially ripe for debate and critique: context, reflexivity, social action, and deconstructive-reconstructive stance toward inquiry. In the discussion, we compare the findings of this literature review with an earlier review published in 2005, reflecting on three decades of CDA in literacy studies. We identify directions for future scholarship.

Critical Discourse Analysis Perspective on Norwegian Public Health Nursing Curriculum in a Time of Transition

“…They found that the participants in the reviewed studies mostly struggled against dominant ideologies, and many articles called for social action, both on microlevel and macrolevel. The researchers maintain this finding reject the understanding of CDA that it has no plan for constructive alternatives and social action [8].…”

“…Rogers & Shaenen focused on the use of CDA method when making a critical, integrative review of literacy education. They found the CDA method used in 76 literacy-focused studies, including curricular design [8]. They reflect on three decades of CDA in literacy studies.…”

Nexus analysis in the study of the changing field of language learning, language pedagogy and language teacher education

“…Journals tend to publish literature reviews in specific domains of research approaching a topic in different ways. Rogers and Schaenen (2014), for example, shed light on CDA studies in literacy education in a broad range of journals. Kleinsasser's (2013) review makes a synthesis of research published in one particular journal on the topics of language teachers, language teacher education, teaching and learning.…”

La cour de récréation au prisme du genre, lieu de transformation des responsabilités des enseignant-e-s à l’école primaire

“…Le contenu et la structure des données ont été analysées thématiquement à partir des grands ensembles qui se sont dégagés des entretiens et faisaient bien souvent échos aux recherches sur la mixité scolaire : 1) les savoirs disciplinaires (la grammaire, la littérature, l'éducation physique et sportive, l'histoire, l'éducation à la sexualité et l'éducation civique), 2) le cadre scolaire (la récréation, la gestion des interactions verbales, le placement dans la classe et la question des insultes), puis 3) un domaine transversal plus composite au sein duquel figuraient des questions liées à la forme scolaire et à la légitimité, pour l'école laïque et obligatoire, d'aborder en son sein des questions ne faisant pas consensus. La méthode d'analyse retenue s'inscrit dans les cadres de l'analyse critique de discours définis par Rogers (2011) et Rogers et ses collaboratrices (Rogers, Malancharuvil-Berkes, Mosley, Hui et Joseph, 2005 ;Rogers et Schaenen, 2013).…”