December 12, 2021
Research

Rebecca Lorimer Leonard's article, "The Role of Writing in Critical Language Awareness" was recently published in the November issue of College EnglishCE is one of the National Council of Teachers of English's (NCTE) flagship journals for the college scholar-teacher.

Abstract:

Drawing on a multi-year study of a community-engaged writing project, this article examines the role writing plays in shaping the critical language awareness (CLA) of four language minoritized writers. Qualitative analysis of project participants’ writing activities—family language histories, community interviews, writing-based language tutoring, collaborative curriculum design—shows how writing reveals and furthers existing CLA. Writing for CLA proves to be not a linear progression toward heightened awareness but rather an ongoing navigation of language tension over time, which the article categorizes as practices of literate viewing, tracing, resisting, and mending. Ultimately, the article argues that framing CLA as a culturally sustaining practice can help guide writers toward their families as sources of language knowledge and toward forms of language justice grounded in their communities.

For more information about Lorimer Leonard's work, please see her faculty page.