Enhancing Critical Literacy through Concept-Based Instruction in Elementary English Education

The rapid transformations and challenges of the current society underscore the need for English education to reassess its role and adopt an approach that fosters critical literacy. This approach is essential for enabling learners to analyze and interpret texts and engage in actions that contribute to creating a more just and sustainable world. Despite its importance, critical literacy remains marginal in English education in Korea. To address this gap, the present study explored ways to enhance critical literacy through concept-based inquiry (Erickson et al., 2017; Lanning, 2013; Marshall & French, 2018) framework, which aligns with the Korean national revised 2022 English curriculum. The study followed three key steps: First, it examined the theoretical foundations and existing literature on critical thinking and critical literacy, as critical literacy is rooted in critical thinking. Second, it inquired into theories and literature on the role of critical literacy in the context of elementary English education. Third, it used concept-based inquiry as a framework for critical literacy instruction, and provided a brief outline of an example lesson. This paper offers suggestions for classroom implementation and teacher education that support the concept-based critical literacy inquiry.