Critical Literacy, Disciplinary Literacy: Reading the Engineering-Designed World

• Published in: Theory into practice Vol. 56; no. 4; pp. 238 - 245
• Main Authors: Wilson-Lopez, Amy, Strong, Kristin, Sias, Christina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Columbus Routledge 02.10.2017; Taylor & Francis, Ltd; Ohio State University, College of Education
• Subjects: Case Method (Teaching Technique); Critical Literacy; Cultural Pluralism; Design; Design engineering; Disproportionate Representation; Engineering Education; High School Students; Interdisciplinary Approach; Language Usage; Literacy; Marketing; Power Structure; Social Justice; Teachers; Teaching
• ISSN: 0040-5841; 1543-0421
• DOI: 10.1080/00405841.2017.1389219

Globally, many people spend most of their time interacting with the products of engineering design as they wear clothes, drink clean water, use transportation systems, and more. Given the omnipresence of engineering design, whose material results are felt daily in people's lives, it seems especially important that students learn to recognize and question how certain designs promote the welfare and interests of some while remaining inaccessible to others. In this article, we outline a vision for critical literacy instruction in engineering that simultaneously incorporates and challenges professional standards. We-an associate professor of literacy, an engineer, and a teacher at an engineering-focused high school-illustrate how critical literacy instruction might be enacted in the context of engineering design instruction in high schools. We describe how critical literacy can complement disciplinary literacy instruction in engineering as students use critically-focused, disciplinary lenses to move toward social justice.