Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Copyright Status, No Creative Commons License

All Rights Reserved

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership for Diverse Learning Communities

Department

Education

School

School of Education and Human Services

Abstract

Developing critical consciousness is an integral component of literacy instruction in education. Using Freire’s Conscientização, or Critical Consciousness, Theory, I conducted a qualitative action research study to examine how engaging in the dialogic writing processes contributes to the development of critical consciousness among students in an 8th-grade literacy classroom. Additionally, this study seeks to unpack, further understand, and make meaning of the instructional practices and experiences in my writing course. Utilizing ethnographic methods such as reflective field notes and memos, critical observation, and inductive/deductive coding helped me trace class and dialogue group conversations for arising themes and examine student work samples closely to successfully answer this study’s research questions. Throughout the class and dialogue group conversations, as well as the examination of students’ journals and benchmark writing assignments, four major interconnected themes emerged from the data collection and analysis: a) Recognition of School-level Power through Restricted Curriculum Control; b) Political Critique and Economic Disparities/Privilege; c) Interconnected Spiraling to move forward between Self, Others; d) Thinking Beyond the Classroom/Thinking More Globally. The emergence of these themes, along with several sub-themes, revealed how students developed critical awareness within a dialogic writing classroom. Ultimately, students showed a growing critical awareness of local, community, and global dominant power structures that cause injustice. This research contributes to broader conversations about writing and literacy instruction, critical consciousness development, promoting equity, and taking informed action.

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