Using Lyrics to Develop Students’ Critical LiteracySong lyrics can be used effe

Using Lyrics to Develop Students’ Critical Literacy
    Good morning, everyone. Today we are going to talk about song lyrics as texts to develop students’ critical literacy. Lyrics and music of popular songs can represent alternative perspectives to the dominant ideologies of a particular time or place. (1) As such, they can be used effectively in classrooms to provide the voices rarely heard in textbooks.
    Critical theorists describe schools as places in which students should come to understand how and why knowledge and power are constructed. (2) Critical literacy, one application of critical theory, involves "reading the world" : understanding how we encode power structures, and our role in these processes. Within this framework, reading has the potential to transform and to assist in preparing students for participation in a democratic society. From a reading methods perspective, the use of these song lyrics was a "pre-reading strategy" ; (3)It served to activate or build on students’ prior knowledge of content to be learned.
    Along with literacy educators and researchers, social studies and science educators argue for instruction that is based on critical literacy. They explain that by disrupting typical ways of doing and writing about science, for example, science will become embedded in the lives of students. Using popular culture in social studies gives children the opportunity to identify and critique power relationships, an essential process in a democracy.
    The lyrics I use as examples are drawn from songs of various types, including folk, alternative rock, rock, rhythm and blues, soul, and hip-hop. (4)Their common thread is their portrayal of events or circumstances that promote critical literacy through their storytelling or poetic presentation of social injustice, government action, or disenfranchised of various groups of people. I have organized my examples into four topics; the environment, United States history, economics, racism and racial issues. Many songs overlap categories, but for each, I selected the one category that seemed to be the major emphasis.
    Firstly, the environment. There are multiple perspectives involved in debates over environmental issues. In schools, we need to expose students to those perspectives within the framework of scientific inquiry.
    Tracy Chapman’s song "The Rape of the World" confronts us with our abuse of our environment. The use of the word rape, described in the song as "the most heinous of crimes," is powerful. Marvin Gaye’s "Mercy, Mercy Me" could be included as another text in discussion about the environment. Exploration of these songs, the issues they address, and the tone each takes could promote critical conversations about the environment. Each asks the listener to consider various ways in which people have altered the environment and the consequences of those actions.
The second topic is the US history. History is usually taught to students through textbooks. Much debate has occurred, especially in the last decade, over whether those sources always contain appropriate content.
    Many popular songs tell stories rarely included in textbooks. (6)" Buffalo Soldier," written by Bob Marley, tells about the black soldiers of the 19th century—who were named "buffalo soldiers" by the Indians against whom they fought after the Civil War. Marley’s lyrics intersect these freed slaves’ histories with their patriotism. Woody Guthrie described other injustices as well. "Ludlow Massacre" vividly illustrates the 1914 massacre of poor miners in Colorado by militia hired by the mining company they worked for.
    Thirdly, economics. Several songs describe how the underclass—whether the homeless or poorly paid immigrant laborers—is often treated. The economic perspectives in these songs could be examined in economics or US government courses, or in more general social studies classes.
    Tracy Chapman describes the homeless in " Subcity. " (8) She tells us how the poor see the relationships between government, big business. and their unrewarded efforts. (9) "Trouble in the Fields" also describes the difficulties faced by the family farmer. Written by Nanci Griffith at the end of the 1980s, the song compares farmers during dustbowl times with their more contemporary counterparts. Griffith puts the bankers at the center of the problem, saying that you know there is " trouble in the fields when the bankers swarm like locust. "
    Finally, we will mention racism and racial issues. Confronting racism is often uncomfortable. A song that can begin the conversation in classrooms is " Your Racist Friend," by They Might Be Giants. The song describes a party. However, between each verse about the party is a chorus in which the singer wonders how his host " can stand by his racist friend. "
    Continue the conversation about racism with Bruce Hornsby’s "The Way It Is. " (10) The song refers to the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964. Though this law gave legal rights to people of color, the lyrics remind us that "the law don’t change another’s mind" when it comes to prejudice. The lyrics would also add to a discussion of the Civil Rights Act and its time period in a high school American history course.
    I have not attempted to provide an exhaustive review of song lyrics that can be used to promote critical literacy. Rather, I provide some examples to encourage educators to incorporate these into relevant lessons and to find other songs that provide students with a politically contextualized understanding of important issues. Though much of the work on critical media literacy centers on using current media, we can expand this perspective to media created in or about the past. In this article we have discussed how song lyrics can be used as texts to develop students’ critical literacy. Then, we described several songs and offer some teaching suggestions for implementing this approach. Thanks for your listening.