Deconstructing representations of reading disability: critical literacy book clubs for literacy specialists

Abstract

Despite renewed attention to dyslexia in the science of reading debate, how teachers discuss representations of reading disabilities in children’s literature is often overlooked. This article shares findings on literacy specialist graduate students’ use of critical literacy in book clubs to analyse texts representing individuals with reading disabilities. Centring reading disability as an identity worthy of study, findings suggested that participants were able to use critical literacy strategies to critique and question text representation. They benefited from scaffolding tools, instructor feedback and small group interaction. Drawing on the different frameworks for dyslexia presented in the course, participants exhibited nonbinary thinking, defining dyslexia through a complex embodiment stance.