Importance of critical literacy

Being critical of digital media and literacy of all kinds is very important for students. As adolescents grow and learn more they have to understand where the information is coming from. When David Foster Wallace brought up the idea of blind certainties in his “What is Water” speech, this really shows why students need to be critical of their literacy. You never really know what you could be reading and what opinion the author could be trying to get across. Not having blind certainty with digital media will really help students today. If they do not do this then they have the chance of getting something completely wrong without even knowing. Teachers have to take this idea of critical literacy very serious when teaching adolescents. There are many techniques to teaching students to be critically literate. Teachers need to begin by asking the students to think of two questions when using sources. “Where did it come from, and where is it going?” (Heick) When students start with these two questions they already are on the right track to understand the source they are using. The first part of that where did it come from is the most important. Sources vary from all kinds of websites and authors. The students need to know how to tell the difference between a scholarly article and just a regular article. The second part of the statement where is it going is also important. What the author is trying to get across and what the attitude the author has. This is very crucial for students when being critical about literacy. You need to know if the author is opinionated or is telling the straight facts about the topic the student is learning about. If the student does not notice this then the knowledge they are gaining from the source could be wrong.

Being critically literate helps expands adolescents’ minds as well. Having the skill and the ability to look deeper into the meaning of a source will make the students use parts of thinking they never have before. They must think about all the factors that go into the text they are analyzing. Students that are being critically literate achieve the skill to “critique their taken-for-granted- assumptions.” (Arthur, 2001) I really like this statement and it brings back in the David Foster Wallace speech as well. When students and just adolescents in general begin to look deeper and deeper into the meaning of the source they get rid of the assumptions and begin to learn the facts. Buckingham brings up some good points in his article as well. Adolescents being critically literate with digital media can help them be safe from online pedophiles. Buckingham then brings back that critical literacy is important with finding the validity of a source as I discussed in the beginning. Buckingham then brings up the idea of “hyperreaders” which was coined by Nicholas Burbules and Thomas Callister. What the two men defined hyperreaders as were people “who are able to read selectively, and the evaluate and question the information they encounter online.” (Buckingham)

Being critically literate is important for all ages and is needed for students in this age of technology for them to succeed. Having these skills gives adolescents the ability to look deeper into the meaning of text and also understand what is right and what is wrong. Teachers need to take this education seriously as technology gets more advanced every year.

Sources:

David Foster Wallace, “This is Water”, Commencement Speech

“Why Is Critical Literacy Important for Children?” Junwentangarw, 2 May 2011, junwentangarw.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/why-is-critical-literacy-important-for-children/.

Heick , Terry. “Teaching Students To Respond To Digital Media.” TeachThought, 29 Aug. 2017, teachthought.com/technology/teaching-students-to-respond-to-digital-media/.

Buckingham, David. Digital Media Literacies: “Rethinking Media Education in the Age of the Internet”, Research in Comparative and International Education, Volume 2, Number 1, 2007