Adding Walls

Awareness of Street Art for Critical Literacy in Ras Beirut

Abstract

This study investigates Grade 10 English teachers’ awareness of place and street art in two schools’ learning environments in Ras Beirut, Lebanon. Overall, this study aims to demonstrate the gap in and need for teaching critical literacy and advocates street art as a multimodal text to accomplish this. This research employs mixed methods in multiple case studies to address research questions. Teachers were given a mapping activity to gauge awareness and a follow-up semi-structured interview was conducted. This study engages with literature from fields of street art, place-based learning, multimodality, critical literacy, and teacher identities to create a theatre in which to advocate using street art for critical literacy pedagogy. These fields of literature then shaped a discussion, which ultimately revealed low awareness of place and street art and a need for richer cultural connections with place for both students and teachers.