Critical Literacy

Literacy in its most basic form is the ability to read and write. However, literacy goes far beyond that definition. Literacy is everywhere. We see it on television, in and out of school, advertisements, and many other places. Critical literacy encompasses a vast array of communication. Ernest Morrell and Jeff Duncan-Andrade’s article “What They Do Learn in School: Hip-Hop as a Bridge to Canonical Poetry,” the students’ critical literacy is hip-hop; the students understand it and relate to hip-hop.


Morrell and Duncan-Andrade engages his students in critical literacy by allowing hip-hop into the classroom. Morrell and Duncan-Andrade realized that “many students could critically analyze complex and often richly metaphoric hip-hop music that they listened to and then effectively articulate that analysis to others. Yet, most of these students were failing to exhibit the same analytical skills in class with regard to canonical texts” (247). Instead of forcing the students to read only canonical texts, Morrell and Duncan-Andrade introduced hip-hop as a bride to canonical poetry.


Youth research played a large role in Morrell and Duncan-Andrade’s research. Many students failed because they felt that the texts they were reading were inaccessible to them. Often times, students not from the dominant culture often struggle to bridge home life with school life. In contrast, those of the dominant culture often yield higher levels of literacies (248). By combining hip-hop with canonical poetry, the students were able to build a bridge between home life and school life.


Morrell and Duncan-Andrade assigned groups a poem and a song. They were to prepare an interpretation of their poem and song with respect to the historical and literary period and provide links between the poem and the song. For example, one group had “Kubla Khan” by Coleridge and “If I Ruled the World” by Nas. This assignment “reflected the basic tenets of critical pedagogy in that it was situated in the experiences of the students, called for critical dialogue, critical engagement with texts, and related the focus texts to larger social and political issues” (265). Morrell and Duncan-Andrade brought in something that their students could relate to. They built a bridge from canonical texts to what the students can relate to. In other words, they made canonical texts more accessible.


Morrell and Duncan-Andrade’s approach for cultivating critical literacy should be brought into every classroom. While hip-hop may not work in every classroom, there are ways that educators can make material more assessable to everyone. Fortunately for me there are many ways to connect students’ lives with English Language Arts.