ABSTRACT

Manifest in research, national policy, and instructional standards, the United States has a long-documented interest in teachers as ‘content experts.’ Yet, research offers limited empirical examinations of teachers’ discipline-specific critical content knowledges—their curricular agility in noticing and disrupting power and oppression, and working to promote empowerment, joy, and liberation. Accordingly, this study asks: what critical content knowledges are most prominent among social justice-oriented secondary English language arts (ELA) teachers, and how do teachers understand and describe these knowledges? Using collective case study methodologies, this study investigates interview data from five ELA teachers to understand participants’ critical content knowledges and their descriptions of these knowledges. Data were interpreted through deductive and inductive coding and analysis. Findings reveal that teachers’ most prominent critical content knowledges include a) knowledge of disciplinary critique; b) knowledge of marginalized identities; and c) knowledge of supplementary content. Limitations to teachers’ critical content knowledges include a narrow race and gender foci, and discursive avoidance of explicitly naming marginalized identities. Implications for future research aimed at better understanding, supporting, and expanding teachers’ critical content knowledges are discussed.

摘要

在研究，国家政策和教学标准方面，美国表现出长期的浓厚兴趣，希望教师成为“内容专家”。然而，研究提供了对教师特定学科的关键内容知识的有限实证检验，即他们在注意和破坏力量与压迫，并努力促进赋权，喜悦和解放方面的课程敏捷性。因此，本研究提出了一个问题：在面向社会正义的中学英语艺术（ELA）教师中，哪些关键内容知识最为突出？教师如何理解和描述这些知识？本研究使用集体案例研究方法，调查了五位ELA老师的访谈数据，以了解参与者的关键内容知识及其对这些知识的描述。通过演绎和归纳编码和分析来解释数据。研究结果表明，教师最重要的关键内容知识包括：a）学科批评知识；b）边缘身份的知识；c）补充内容的知识。教师的关键内容知识的局限性包括种族和性别关注点狭窄，以及避免明确命名边缘化身份的话。讨论了旨在更好地理解，支持和扩展教师的关键内容知识的未来研究的含义。教师的关键内容知识的局限性包括种族和性别关注点狭窄，以及避免明确命名边缘化身份的话。讨论了旨在更好地理解，支持和扩展教师的关键内容知识的未来研究的含义。教师的关键内容知识的局限性包括种族和性别关注点狭窄，以及避免明确命名边缘化身份的话。讨论了旨在更好地理解，支持和扩展教师的关键内容知识的未来研究的含义。