Sarah Badwy | Learning to Read Ideologies for Citizenry
The focus of my research is the skill of ideological critical reading. This involves students analyzing imaginations in literary texts, examining so called “representations.” The premise of ideological critical reading is that language is inherently political, meaning that all texts convey a particular perspective on the world around us.
Using Educational Design Research (EDR), I am developing a didactic model for the analysis of representations, along with a series of lessons that will enable students not only to recognize different worldviews in texts, but also to question them critically. This research is grounded in ‘Critical Literature Pedagogy’, a teaching approach that encourages students to read canonical works ‘with’ and ‘against’ the text. For example, by examining who is given a voice and who is excluded or silenced. Additionally, this research draws on ‘Ethical Criticism’, a didactic that uses literature education to foster ethical coexistence with diverse others. Both didactics stem from the English-speaking academic tradition and share the goal of teaching students to read critically for citizenry. By interrogating the norms and values embedded in literary texts, students are encouraged to reflect on their own beliefs and prejudices.