Boyd, F. B., & Ikpeze, C. H. (2007). Navigating a literacy landscape: Teaching conceptual understanding with multiple text types. Journal of Literacy Research, 39(2), 217-248.
Critical literacy isn't mentioned once in this article, but that's what juxtaposing multiple texts and multiple viewpoints is all about. It's about the notion that complex issues and events cannot be treated in superficial and simplistic ways.
Here, an extraordinary teacher tackled a difficult and complex event, the desegregation of Little Rock's Central High School, with a small class of seventh graders in an elite private school. She used several types of texts that presented the event through different lenses. The evidence argues that this approach produced deepened conceptual understanding of complex issues of discrimination and racism. It remains to be seen if that head knowledge resulted in any change of heart, though it did seem that those kids were developing a sense of social justice.
Interestingly, these kids were considered "low" learners by private school norms, but were mostly above average by national norms. It's always all about the context. Wonder how this would work in other contexts?
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