Affordances for Empowerment: a pedagogical, analytical and heuristic tool for textual and discoursal uncloaking

Abstract

This paper presents a pedagogical, analytical and heuristic tool for the critical analysis of texts and discourses, the Critical Literacy Frame. It is grounded in a social-constructionist orientation to language, and is underpinned theoretically by insights from Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Literacy. The intention of the paper is to offer a classroom tool for teachers to use with learners in a range of classroom contexts (English, Media Studies, Communications, Literacy, etc.) that alert the students and raise awareness of the ways in which, through language use, individuals construct, understand and represent reality, often in opaque ways. The analytical potential of such a frame is considered and recommendations relating to its pedagogical affordances are offered.