Critical Literacy and its Impact on Children's Development
Critical literacy is considered to have its roots in critical theory. Therefore, it is based on the idea that through language as well as literacy an individual can understand and express their views concerning others (McNaughton, 2009). This has an impact on children literacy development, as they can enjoy the transactional method of everyday literacy's particularly when they deconstruct and later become self-reflective with their engagement with the popular culture (McNaughton, 2009).
The Importance of Critical Literacy in Children's Learning
The inclusion of critical literacy is of great importance to the children as it is one way of inviting children to make meaning concerning a given text. Also, it enables children to analyze a given text and understand how they work and what they can do to the world. However, the inclusion of critical literacy's might have a negative impact on childhood development, since it can result in distrust and unpleasurable work (McNaughton, 2009). For that reason, critical literacy's can only be made pleasurable when the matters addressed are familiar and essential in an individual life. In addition, critical literacy's can have an impact on diverse learners in different ways since each person cannot integrate all they have learned in class to their real-life situations.
Integrating Critical Literacy Learning through a Play-Based Approach
Critical literacy learning can be integrated to facilitate optimal learning through a play-based approach by making sure the environment is conducive for children to learn. A surrounding that encourages play is essential for developing children senses, and they are also likely to lead more naturally to an interest in writing together with reading. Through play, children can learn different skills especially when touching objects and relate it to classroom learning (McNaughton, 2009).
References
McNaughton, G. (2009). Exploring critical constructivist perspectives on children’s learning
London, UK: Sage
