Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Education

Supervisor

Heydon, Rachel

2nd Supervisor

Zhang, Zheng

Co-Supervisor

Abstract

The aim of this study was to produce understandings of programmatic literacy curricula in an age of cultural, linguistic, and modal diversity. Relative to this diversity, I applied van Dijk’s (2011) Critical Discourse Analysis to the case of the programmatic literacy curricula in Ontario, Canada to investigate how the discourses of these curricula positioned learners, teachers, literacy learning, and the learning environment. Ontario is an important case to study since it has been identified as a model of successful literacy education innovation (e.g., Luke, 2018) in a context that contains hyper diversity within the student population. The study drew on a Pedagogy of Multiliteracies as adapted by Kalantzis and Cope (2015) to conceptualize literacy. The study findings included the identification of metaphors, themes, instances of intertextuality, and syntax structures that suggested an ironic standardization of literacy learning in a context of diversity. I concluded that the discourses across documents conceptualize successful students as a specific and standardized type of learner. Moreover, teachers are positioned as agents of delivery rather than active designers of literacy learning opportunities. I also found that literacy learning in the documents is primarily monomodal and in service of standard outcomes rather than an exploration of diverse ways of knowing and transformative learning. In the conclusion of the paper, I provide implications, recommendations for new curriculum development, and suggestions for future research, all of which promote means through which curricula may be built that are open to cultural, linguistic, and modal diversities.

Summary for Lay Audience

The aim of this study was to produce understandings of official literacy curricula in an age of cultural, linguistic, and modal diversity. Ontario is an important case to study since it has been identified as a model of successful literacy education innovation (e.g., Luke, 2018) in a context of student diversity. Using van Dijk's Critical Discourse Analysis, I investigated how learners, teachers, literacy learning, and the learning environment are spoken about to understand power relations vis-a-vis literacy education. To conceptualize literacy, I drew on a Pedagogy of Multiliteracies as adapted by Kalantzis and Cope (2015). The study findings included the identification of metaphors, themes, instances of intertextuality, and syntax structures that suggested an ironic standardization of literacy learning in a context of diversity. I concluded that the discourses across documents conceptualize successful students and teachers as passive and standardized agents. I also found that literacy learning in the documents is based heavily on print and in service of standard outcomes rather than an exploration of diverse ways of knowing. In the conclusion of the paper, I provide implications, recommendations for new curriculum development, and suggestions for future research, all of which promote diverse ways of knowing, communicating and learning.

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