This course focuses on critical literacy and the theories that underpin it. Throughout the course participants are asked to explore issues raised by critical literacy in relation to their own circumstances, particularly as these pertain to educational issues within society. This course challenges participants to develop critical questions with application to personal/professional contexts. Video clips of interviews with renowned scholars in literacy studies form the basis of this interactive course. Major questions discussed throughout the course are: What is literacy? What is critical literacy? What is the history of critical literacy? - What is so critical about critical literacy? What are the theoretical underpinnings of critical literacy? How do critical literacies converge and diverge with multiliteracies? What does critical literacy look like in practice? Graduate students will be asked to generate additional critical questions that contribute to individual or collective critical inquiry projects such as a critical literature review, a thesis research project or a curriculum analysis that investigates burning questions about critical literacies.