Department of Spanish and Language

This article reviews critical discourse analysis scholarship in education research from 2004 to 2012. Our methodology was carried out in three stages. First, we searched educational databases. Second, we completed an analytic review template for each article and encoded these data into a digital spreadsheet to assess macro-trends in the field. Third, we developed sche-mata to interpret the complexity of research design. Our examination of 257 articles reveals trends in research questions, the theories researchers find useful, and the kinds of interactions that capture their attention. We explore areas in the field especially ripe for debate and critique: reflexivity, decon-structive–reconstructive stance toward inquiry, and social action. We compare the findings with an earlier review published in 2005, reflecting on three decades of critical discourse analysis in education research.

After 20 years of the New London Group's publication of A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies, we present an analytical literature review that traces the routes and roots of multi-literacies scholarship in Latin America. We found high research activity in Latin America in the areas of literacy education and critical literacy; indigenous, bilingual, and intercultural education; and technology and digital literacy. We argue that the inclusion of scholarship from the global South is essential to the goal of recognizing epistemological diversity. Further, different theories of knowledge need to coexist to transform diversity into cognitive justice. This article is an intercultural effort to widen the scope of literacy education inquiry in historically marginalized areas of the world. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the New London Group's (NLG) publication of A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies. The report has been influential in advancing theoretical , methodological, and, to a certain extent, pedagogical projects in the United States. The report contributed to a shift that was occurring in the field of literacy

In this editorial, the author reflects on the state of research on academic literacies in Latin American higher education. To this end, the author presents a description of the context of higher education in Latin America and an analysis of literature on academic literacies in the region through the lenses of three models: the study skills model, the academic socialization model, and the critical sociocul- tural model. Based on this analysis, the author argues that a critical sociocultural perspective is emerging in Latin America, which considers academic literacies as social practices embedded in systems of power. This transition to a critical socio- cultural perspective is important and timely because it challenges deficit views of students, and it addresses issues of power, identity, representation, and authority. The author invites Latin American scholars to consider the implications of a criti- cal sociocultural perspective on academic literacies and the possibilities it offers for understanding how youth interact with literacy in a region where education often reinforces deep inequalities.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the literacy practices of the families and communities of first-generation college students in Latin America, and how community and family literacies can inform the understanding of first-generation college students’ identity and cultural values.
Design/methodology/approach – This transnational ethnography was conducted in local communities around three public universities in Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica. Participants included nine fist- generation college students and more than 50 people in their families and communities (i.e. relatives, parents and friends). Data gathering occurred at the university outside the formal space of the classroom, at home, and in the community. Data were interpreted through the lens of the community cultural wealth framework.
Findings – The author found that first-generation college students and their families and communities engaged in rich literacy practices that have been overlooked in policy, research, and media. It is argued that the concept literacy capital is necessary to acknowledge the critical literacy practices communities engage in. Literacy capital was manifested in these communities to preserve cultural traditions, to sponsor literacy practices and to question and resist unjust sociopolitical circumstances.
Practical implications – The findings of this study should inform a culturally sustaining pedagogy of academic literacies in higher education. Beyond asset-based approaches to academic literacies in Latin America, critical perspectives to academic literacies teaching and learning are needed that acknowledge the Latin American complexities.
Originality/value – These findings are significant because they unveiled how people in local communities were informed about the sociopolitical dynamics at the national and international scale that affected or even threatened their local culture, and how they used their literacy capital to react critically to those situations.
Keywords Latin America, Higher education, Literacy, Community literacies, Family literacies, Literacy capital
Paper type: Research paper

In this editorial, the author reflects on the state of research on academic literacies in Latin American higher education. To this end, the author presents a description of the context of higher education in Latin America, and the analysis of literature on academic literacies in the region through the lenses of three models: the study skills model, the academic socialization model, and the critical sociocultural model. From this analysis, the author argues that a critical sociocultural perspective is emerging in Latin America, which considers academic literacies as social practices embedded in systems of power. This turn into a critical sociocultural perspective is important and timely because it challenges deficit views of students, and it includes issues of power, identity, representation, and authority. The author invites Latin American scholars to consider the implications of a critical sociocultural perspective to academic literacies and the possibilities it offers to understan...

Twenty years after the New London Group’s publication of A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies, we present an analytical literature review that traces the routes and roots of multiliteracies scholarship in Latin America. We found high research activity in Latin America in the areas of literacy education and critical literacy; indigenous, bilingual, and intercultural education; and technology and digital literacy. We argue that the inclusion of scholarship from the global South is essential to the goal of recognizing epistemological diversity. Further, different theories of knowledge need to coexist to transform diversity into cognitive justice. This article is an intercultural effort to widen the scope of literacy education inquiry in historically marginalized areas of the world.