Critical Literacy

When should we help students to develop information literacy/critical literacy? Critical literacy is a skill which is learnt over time with the understanding of and exposure to a wide variety of text types. Being able to analyse a text in regards to its truth, accuracy, currency, relevance and so on, requires knowledge and comparison with other texts (triangulation). It also requires a baseline of knowledge which can only be grasped over years of education. However, despite this exposure to texts, it is possible to start developing critical literacy in younger students by encouraging questioning and inquiry. It is difficult to determine when we should start developing critical literacy in students - it should be an ongoing process and some critical literacy skills can only be developed slowly and over time. Questions of authorship, for example, can only be explored once students have learnt that texts are written from different point of views for different purposes. So, perhaps some critical literacy skills can be developed from the moment a child is born, while others require the building of knowledge in a developmental kind of fashion.

How can critical literacies be developed? Through looking at a variety of different sources, where and how they were written, and particularly by whom and for what purpose. Encouraging students to look at currency and relevance of articles, books and so on is also essential when teaching students to search for accurate information. Comparing and contrasting sources in relation to a particular issue could also be an interesting angle with which to take with students.