| This ethnographic study explores the role(s) of popular media and media literacy in the secondary English classroom. Of particular interest are the ways in which popular media function in the classroom to support critical literacy, an approach that seeks to empower students to participate actively and reflectively in knowledge production and analysis. Much of the existent research in critical media literacy focuses on audience research and student identity, rather than on pedagogy and broader issues of literacy.; Data were gathered in two English classes taught by the same critically-focused and media-savvy teacher. One class was a full-year elective called Cultural and Media Studies (grades 10–12) and the other was a “regular.” English class (grade 10). Sources of data include focal student and teacher interviews, classroom observations, and classroom artifacts. The data were analyzed inductively, using qualitative techniques.; Analysis revealed that the intertextual space created by the teacher in both classes allowed a wide variety of texts into the classroom—including popular media, personal narrative, and community texts. The use of a variety of texts by the teacher and students scaffolded critical and reflective habits of mind for students. Student production of mixed-media compositions in the media elective provided a platform for experimenting with textuality and power, which in turn sharpened analysis of other media texts. Furthermore, the teacher's use of critical media literacy, in the context of an open social space, supported questioning stances for students. Tensions did arise in the class discussions, but these were part of the expanding possibilities and perspectives that students were exploring socially. Ultimately, the use of media and cultural texts in a dialogic English pedagogy seemed to support literacy in ways that helped students make new connections, demand new textual perspectives, and pursue an active participation in literacy and life. |
