Dialogism: Feminist Revision of Argumentative Writing Instruction

According to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), to be college and career ready students must be able to construct logical arguments using facts and reason. A feminist perspective provides an alternative point of view on the value of argumentation. The purpose of this study was to question the theories that frame the current CCSS 9–12 English language arts (ELA) standards and to propose alternative theories to be considered by literacy pedagogues in teaching of the standards. I conducted a thematic content analysis of the 9–12 the grade writing standards and related content in the CCSS for ELA. Data revealed two shared areas between feminist pedagogy and ELA CCSS: (a) value of critical thinking; and (b) teachers’ and students’power to make decisions about class content. However, three points of differences also became clear: (a) view of literacy as classified; (b) lack of women’s voices; and (c)hierarchy of academic writing styles. Implications for practice require teachers to use a dialogic rather than a monologic framework for writing instruction.