Wading through the Muddy Ground of Critical Thinking and Critical Literacy: Toward an Accessible Framework of Critical Literacy

Abstract: This paper presents the differences between critical thinking and critical literacy as well as a pragmatic way to teach critical literacy through a children’s book. First, the concepts of critical thinking and critical literacy are reviewed. Then, an example is provided to demonstrate how to help students distinguish critical thinking from critical literacy. Finally, the four dimensions of critical social practices are proposed as a framework to show how critical literacy can be implemented in a classroom through the use of children’s literature.