Date Approved
10-11-2024
Embargo Period
10-15-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
Department
Critical Literacy, Technology, and Multilingual Education
College
College of Education
Advisor
Susan Browne, Ed.D.
Committee Member 1
Xiufang Chen, Ph.D.
Committee Member 2
Stephanie Abraham, Ph.D.
Keywords
critical consciousness; critical literacy; culture; lived experience; racism; religion
Subject(s)
Anti-racism; Muslim students; Reading (Elementary)
Disciplines
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Education | Elementary Education | Language and Literacy Education
Abstract
The Critical Literacy (CritLit) project promotes using critical texts to engage readers in examining their lived experiences and understanding of social justice issues. This study used a qualitative participatory approach with a narrative design to research the students’ engagement in a book club using critical texts. Participants were fourth- and fifth-grade African American students who participated in a 4-week project at a weekend Islamic school in Philadelphia. I organized my study into four sessions. Three book club sessions were audio-recorded and observed. Field notes were taken; pre and post-interviews were conducted; student/teacher reflections were collected with students’ notes and handouts; and cultural artifacts were collected by the participants. Data were collected and transcribed, and themes were identified. Findings show that engaging students in critical literacy enabled them to be critically conscious through deep analysis of social justice themes in the text. They also showed a connection between their personal narratives and systemic injustice expressing it through multimodality. Finally, they gained racial and cultural empowerment and envisioned change as individual and group responsibility. This study has significant implications for literacy education theory, methodology, practice, and policy.
Recommended Citation
Baroudi, Faten, ""If Someone Had Stopped the First World Racist, There Would Be No Racism Today": Empowering African American Muslim Elementary Students Through a Critical Literacy(CritLit) project" (2024). Theses and Dissertations. 3307.
https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/3307
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Elementary Education Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons