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Critical culturalized comprehension: Exploring culture as learners thinking about texts

Taylor & Francis
Educational Psychologist
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... Specifically, surface-level strategies, such as underlining the text, rereading, or paraphrasing, help the reader form a basic understanding of the text or solve a problem (e.g., Alexander et al., 2004;Dinsmore & Alexander, 2016). Deep-level strategies, such as making inferences or questioning the credibility of an author, help the reader delve into the text and transform their understanding of a domain or shift their schemas (Alexander, 2004;Dinsmore & Alexander, 2016;List et al., 2024). Metacognitive strategies support the reader in monitoring their thinking and understanding, including knowing how to process information under different conditions (e.g., Garner, 1988). ...
... Moreover, collaborative reading can facilitate the development of critical thinking skills, as readers engage in discussions, debates, and negotiations of meaning (List et al., 2024;Murphy et al., 2018). Therefore, shifting instructional practices in ways that allow students to engage in structured collaboration and discussion around texts, which amplify diverse perspectives and community voices, may be a valuable path forward when considering links between theory, research, and practice. ...
... Recognizing the complexity of reading as a collaborative activity, both among peers and with machines (computers, robots, AI-driven chatbots; Allen & Kendeou, 2024), is also a key aspect of this view. When individuals read together, they have the opportunity to share knowledge, perspectives, and interpretations, leading to a richer understanding of the text and the development of critical thinking skills (Klingner & Vaughn, 1999;List et al., 2024;Vaughn et al., 2011). ...
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In studies of educational achievement, students’ self-reported number of books in the family home is a frequently used proxy for social, cultural, and economic background. Absent hard evidence about what this variable captures or how well, its use has been motivated by strong associations with student outcomes. I show that these associations rest on two types of endogeneity: Low achievers accrue fewer books and are also prone to underestimate their number. The conclusion is substantiated both by comparing reports by students and their parents and by the fact that girls report on average higher numbers despite being similar to boys on other measures of social background. The endogenous bias is large enough to overturn classical attenuation bias; it distorts cross-country patterns and invalidates many common study designs. These findings serve as a caution against overreliance on standard regression assumptions and contribute to ongoing debates about the empirical robustness of social science.
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When their teachers are well equipped to foster inclusive and equitable classrooms, students from marginalized communities show higher rates of academic achievement, motivation, self-confidence, and self-efficacy. However, many teachers complete preparation programs feeling underprepared to work in culturally diverse classrooms, making high-quality professional development (PD) in this area crucial. We undertook a meta-ethnographic, systematic literature review of 40 studies of multicultural education–focused PD programs in order to better understand the forms and features of such programs that contribute to teachers’ self-efficacy and success in working with culturally diverse students. We found a small literature base with too much variation across types of programs studied and outcomes analyzed to draw conclusions about the factors that contribute to effectiveness. However, the extant literature does point to important questions and considerations for both providers and researchers of multicultural education PD. One area for future research is how PD providers navigate tensions or challenges arising from resistance to discussions of diversity and equity. Another is locating the balance between providing specific knowledge about students’ cultures and guarding against promoting stereotypes or broad generalizations. Researchers and PD developers should also pay close attention to their underlying theories related to both teacher learning and multicultural education.
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News framing choices remain critical components in the formation of political attitudes and public opinion. Early findings, which indicated that episodic framing of national issues like poverty and unemployment informed public opinion about minority group members, asserted that these framing choices often resulted in the attribution of societal ills to individuals rather than society at-large. Moving this analytical framework into the twenty-first century, I engage with literature on racial messaging to show that shifting social norms surrounding implicit versus explicit racism have transformed the ways that news frames function in mass media. As such, this essay examines the canonical theory of news frames as falling along a thematic-episodic continuum. Fundamentally, I argue that implicit and explicit racial messaging in news media coverage of crime could change the way viewers form opinions of Black Americans and criminality. Thus, it is critical to revisit longstanding theories of news frames to accommodate the present political moment.
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The use of culturally relevant texts can support students’ reading development, foster a love of reading, help students form positive identities, and broaden their social consciousness. Well‐matched culturally relevant texts have particular promise in increasingly diverse classrooms. Drawing on the academic literature and their experience as teachers and literacy coaches, the authors present six tips for the effective use of culturally relevant texts. Tips and suggestions for practice focus on teachers examining their positionality, creating a safe learning environment, learning about their students’ backgrounds, selecting texts that are culturally relevant, creating transformative reading experiences, and extending beyond the text.
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The author focuses on selecting texts for disciplinary literacy instruction in elementary grades. Disciplinary literacy instruction is a promising approach to engage students in socially and culturally relevant learning, and the selection of a variety of informational texts is important to planning this type of instruction. Currently, most resources on selecting socially and culturally relevant texts pertain to fiction texts in the discipline of English. Yet, informational texts are critical to learning in all disciplines and must be considered when planning for relevant literacy instruction. The Disciplinary Text Selection Table and examples of its use are presented as a resource for teachers to use in planning for disciplinary literacy in elementary grades.