Critical literacy in China.pdfVIP

YAN06207 University of Tasmania CRITICAL LITERACY FROM A CHINESE PERSPECTIVE Yang Yang University of Tasmania Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Adelaide, Australia, November 27, 2006 - December 1, 2006 Address for correspondence: Yang Yang School of Education University of Tasmania Locked Bag 1307 Tasmania 7250 Australia Phone + 61 3 6324 3792 Email Admin@.ru Critical literacy from a Chinese perspective Abstract: Communication plays a significant role in both teaching and learning. The process of communication connects with transmitter and receiver which is always altered by texts, society and culture. Texts, as a visual language, are often encoded with presuppositions, prejudice, and discrimination. Literacy therefore does not just refer so much to encoding and decoding a text. Literacy should be seen as a meaning- making process in which readers and writers construct and deconstruct various kinds of texts to unearth hidden meanings intentionally embedded by the writers in the text. Critical literacy, as a type of pedagogical guideline thus does not only promote intellectual developments but also contributes to a profound understanding of discourse alternative critical views. Recently there is a tendency to promote critical literacy in countries whose cultures are vastly different from Australia and other Western countries. In the Chinese context, the introduction of critical literacy can be a challenge, culturally and educationally. This paper will include an exercise with a different understa