Introduction

The theme of the 18th Biennial Conference, which coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Reading Association of Nigeria, meets the present situation in Nigeria and the world. Sustainable living is desirable in these circumstances where many nations in the world are facing various challenges which range from
Covid 19 and its effects, climate change, insecurity, economic recession, religious intolerance, poverty, poor governance, poor wealth fare, religious intolerance and poor attention to education by the government especially in Nigeria. These challenges have serious adverse effects on the citizens across the globe. It is therefore necessary to come together and brainstorm on how sustainable living will be
attained by the individuals in the society. It is imperative to encourage literate individuals to read critically while emergent readers are taught how to engage and profit from critical literacy. Sustainable living for this address is seen as individuals’ ability to provide for their own needs without or with or little help from others. It is observed today, that many literate individuals find it difficult to use their literacy skills to acquire desirable information that will enable them provide for their needs.
In addition, many literate individuals find it difficult to read and infer correct meaning from what they read. It is therefore necessary to encourage critical literacy across the educational levels.
This lead paper therefore, discusses meanings of critical literacy, history of critical literacy, Principles of critical literacy, critical literacy in the 21st century and critical literacy Practice.

What is Critical Literacy?

Critical Literacy is a term that is popular among literacy scholars. It has been around for many years. Critical literacy involves examining the relationship between language and power in a text. Luke (2000) defines critical literacy as the ability to analyse the relations and fields of social cultural and economic power shared within and through texts.
Lankshear, Mclaren (1993) says that critical literacy encourages students to become active readers and writer of cultural texts so that they can create their own meanings to shape and transform their social condition.
These definitions emphasize the need for students to be active readers and writers. They need to read and understand their culture before they can create their own ideas about shaping or transforming their society. Critical literacy is a learning approach where students examine texts in order to understand the relationship between language and the power it can hold. The ability of students to critically analyse and evaluate the meaning of texts as they relate to topics for example equity, power and social justice will equip them with critical stance, response or action towards an issue.

Critical literacy involves the questioning and examination of ideas. It requires the reader to synthesis, analyse, interpret, evaluate and respond to the texts they read. Critical literacy refers also to the process of becoming aware of one’s
experience relative to power relations, often realized through reading and writing. The experience of the reader plays a significant role in critical literacy activities.

Critical literacy assists individual to read text in deeper, more meaningful ways by encouraging readers of all ages to be more engaged in using their literacy skills to construct meaning of texts. They can use their understanding of a text to identify the intention of the author. Critical literacy encourages individuals to read in an active and reflective manner. Critical literacy is very important for all ages especially for students in this age of technology for them to succeed.

The skills require for critical literacy enhances the readers’ ability to look deeper into meaning of text and understand what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, critical literacy is based on the belief that reader should be encouraged to critique and challenge through in-depth analysis and investigation, the way in which language and text’s function. Critical literacy involves looking beyond the literal meaning of a text to determine what is present and what is missing in order to analyse and evaluate the texts complete meaning and the authors’ intent.

History of Critical Literacy

Critical literacy applied the tenets of critical theory to the education programme by examining how schools reproduce inequality and justice. Critical social theorists focused on oppressive and unjust relationships produced by traditional forms of schooling. They analyse the traditional models of education, which typically place the teachers at the front of the classroom transmitting the knowledge to students who sit passively clearing or receiving the information.

Paulo Freire, a protagonist of critical pedagogy beliefs that teaching should challenge learners to examine power of structure and patterns of inequality within the society. Paulo Freire (1970) in Pedagogy of the Oppressed provides an example of how critical literacy developed in an educational context. He proposes system in which students become more socially aware through critique of multiple forms of injustice. This awareness can be achieved by providing the students the opportunity to explore and construct knowledge. Freire identifies a traditional type of education called ‘banking concept of education’. This model of education turns students into containers to be filled by teacher. In this type of teaching, knowledge is seeing as a gift by the teachers to the students who are considered to know nothing. The teachers are therefore considered as the possessors of knowledge.

Therefore, the role of the teachers does not challenge the students to think authentically or value student’s own funds of knowledge. In opposition to the Freire banking model of instruction, teachers who knew the values of critical literacy do not see their students as containers or vessels to be filled. They often create experiences or situations that give the students opportunities to construct knowledge. Therefore, schools create situation that help students to interrogate social conditions through dialogue about issues that are significant to their lives. Teachers in critical literacy classroom serve less as instructor and more as facilitators of conversations.

Implications of Freire’s Ideas

 Teachers and Students are both learners.
Paulo Freire emphasized the collaborative, social nature of learning. He sees learning as a joint venture between the teachers and the learners instead of something more authoritarian.

  Develop Learners critical literacy. Learners should think critically about the things they read, saw, and heard. They are to be taught how to identify inequality or injustice. A learner with a critical consciousness can frame questions on issues and look for possible answers because they possess the language which asks, is this fair? Was that just? Was there equality.

 Teachers should encourage active enquiry and curiosity, which will lead to participation. Freire opines that preventing active inquiry in classroom is a means of denying learners the opportunities for growing up into mature autonomous people who can critically reflect on their world to make it a better place.
Principles of Critical Literacy

Pedagogy of critical literacy consists of the following:
(1) Teaching of multiple literacy
(2) Teaching continuous inquiry and (3) Teaching

Reflection.

 Teaching multiple Literacy : Multiple literacy are important for literacy development especially for middle and upper primary learners. They provide innovation for motivating and engaging the learners. Multiple literacy approach to the teaching of English as second language helps students to attain levels of language skills.
The term multiple literacy refer to the ability to interpret many formats, sources, or media through which we obtain information.
The sources of literacy are visual literacy, textual literacy, digital literacy and technological literacy.

Visual literacy: This refers to the ability to interpret, negotiate and make meaning from
information presented in the form of an image; it is a set of abilities that enable an individual to effectively: find, interpret, evaluate, use and create images and visual medial.
Visual literacy is important to readers’ development in many ways. It allows gradual development of the student’s readers understanding. It enables students to build their own interpretation and to rely on their own powers of critical thinking. Therefore, critical literacy teachers will develop the students’ ability to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use and create images and visual media. Visual literacy allows the examinations of different visual texts such as nonfiction, textbooks, picture books, art advertisements, poster, graphic novel comic strips, animations, films clips, and web pages. It is a good method for introducing critical literacy to emergent readers.

Strategies for teaching visual literacy in the classroom

 Picture analysis. Before reading a book or a chapter, talk about the picture on the cover page at the beginning
 Note Sketching – visual note taking reinforces concepts students are learning
 Take a colour test
 Insert memos

Visual literacy helps students to grasp content of what they are learning very quickly. It encourages students to make to critique and challenge through in-depth analysis and investigation, the ways in which
language and texts function to advantage or marginalized social group. The most important thing about critical literacy is that students are able to consider in-depth subjects they have read and not just brush it on the surface or cram the information.
In addition, students are equipped with skills with which they can analyse and reflect on aspects of meaning of what they read whether it is a textbook, novel and picture book. Critical literacy can be transformative as students who engage in it from young age are prepared to:
 (1) make informed decisions regarding issues such as power and control (2) engage in the practice of democratic citizenship and (3) develop an ability to think and act ethically.

Ways of Teaching Critical Literacy

Since critical literacy theme, focuses on the relationship between language power, social practice and access to social services there are numerous methods of engaging students to become critical members of their community. In order to enlist students’ interest in critical literacy and its skills, students can read novels, short stories, magazine articles and watch films.
Students can evaluate the social construction of the texts and question the factors that influenced the authors to create such texts. It is the duty of the critical literacy teacher to encourage students to look at texts from other perspectives based on their knowledge and recreate the text read.

A text on social groups can be evaluated from the standpoint of marginalized groups, in order to analyse the power relations and inequities promoted by the text.
Behirman (2006) explains that the development of critical literacy encourages social justice and exploration of language and literature in many forms. Critical literacy helps children to understand themselves, others, and the world around them. From literature, the most commonly used practices that support critical literacy include reading supplementary texts, reading multiple texts, producing counter texts, having students.conduct research about topics of personal interest, reading from a resistant perspective and challenging students to take social action. We shall look at each of the above very briefly.

Reading Supplementary Texts
Reading of supplementary texts assists students to confront social issues that may not be covered by the recommended texts. The media and technology provide opportunities for students to have access to many supplementary texts. They have the opportunity to analyse themes and related issues that are similar to the ones found in the recommended texts. If students are offered the opportunity to review appropriate internet resources such as: songs, television programming, and advertisements, as well as many other visual mediums, students will be exposed to popular texts which they can analyse outside the school. Lyrics from popular music can serve as part of supplementary texts in order to engage students in discussion on social issue.

Reading Multiple Texts
Allowing the students to have access to multiple texts on the specific theme will enable them to analyse the theme, the value, or voices being promoted in the recommended texts. This practice can encourage students to use evidence from different books to support their interpretation of the recommended texts. This may suggest that meaning is fixed. Teachers who use this method have to select authors who write about similar topics and themes during the same period. When students read these similar themes and evaluated the voices of these authors, they can assess the different views of the authors.

Producing Counter- Texts
A critical literacy teacher can encourage students to produce counter texts because of their experience from reading texts or experience gained through multi-media. In a class, some students are not often heard but if they are encouraged to create-counter texts their voices will be heard. The counter texts can validate the thought, observations and feelings of the students. Counter texts may be produced in reading
journals, book, weblogs, and personal narratives.

Social Action
Students can be involved in community activities such as projects, a field trip or observing or taking part in festivals. Through this, they can have insight in what is going on in the community.
They can identify what is lacking and make suggestions. In fact, when students are involved in social activities, they have better understanding of their society. Students can use the experience gained to improve their society.

Media and Technology
Another popular strategy for teaching critical literacy is the media and technological means. The internet and technological devices are now available and are very useful in teaching critical literacy. Television is available in almost every home while many people are learning using handsets. Torres and Mercado (2006) say that teachers must show students how to read between lines of the media messages, question the interest behind them and learn how to look for alternative ways to be informed or entertained. When students are taught to do all these, they are using the critical literacy skills that enable them to analyse, synthesize, that is they interrogate the text for implicit meanings.

Allowing Students Choice
Teachers who engaged students on critical literacy need to allow the students to choose or write and even read topic that are of interest to them. This will also boost the interest of the students. When they are engaged in project writing, the students must be able to identify the problems, conditions of society that created the problems and attempt to proffer solution.

Conclusion
Critical literacy when taught in classes will enhance students’ ability to think about reconstructing and redesigning texts, images and practices to convey different messages and ways of being that have real life effects and impacts.
Therefore, critical literacy work needs to focus on social issues, concerning the society, and the ways in which we use language and other semiotic resources to shape our understanding of issues.
It is important to note that students learn best when what they are learning is important to their lives and experiences. Therefore, teachers should use topics, issues and questions that are related to the learners’ conditions.

References
Behrman E. H. (2006). “Teaching About Language Power and Text: – A Reading of Classroom Practices That Support Critical Literacy. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 49 (6) 490-498.
Foss A. (2002). Peeling the Onion: Teaching Critical Literacy with Students of Privilege. Language Arts. 79 (4) 393 – 402
Freire P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London. Pengum Random House.
Gainer. J. (2013). 21st –Century Mentor Texts. Developing Critical Literacies in the Informative Age. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. Vol. 57 issue 1 P 16 – 19.