Cultural Resources and Literacy Instruction

Abstract

Established within the context of adolescent literacy and its challenges, this review of literature presents the case for developing culturally responsive literacy instruction to meet the needs of African American adolescents. Looking across four domains of education: Learners and Learning, Learning Environment, Curriculum and Instruction, and Assessment, the review highlights the connection between culture and literacy and the ways in which educators can help students draw from cultural literacy knowledge to bridge understanding to academic knowledge. Specifically, the review presents the Cultural Modeling framework as an example to follow for creating culturally responsive instruction. Finally, a unit plan following the Cultural Modeling framework and subsequent rationale offer a concrete example of what that instruction might look like in a classroom.