Purpose

There is a pressing need to teach students how to talk critically about race to understand the personal and political implications of racism in the contemporary US society. Classroom race talk, however, often includes moments of discomfort or confusion as teachers and students navigate new norms for making sense of race and racism. The purpose of this paper is to examine how one white teacher and her multiracial class of fourth-grade students navigated race talk tensions while reading and discussing shared texts.

Design/methodology/approach

Data for this paper were collected as part of a larger, year-long qualitative study on antiracist pedagogy. In this paper, the author analyzes video data of classroom race talk recorded during whole-class and small-group literacy lessons. Using inductive coding and reconstructive critical discourse analysis, the author examines how the teacher and students co-constructed meaning during tense or confusing conversational moments.

Findings

The findings demonstrate that the teacher and students jointly mediated tensions by using the practices of racial literacy, which included learning about the history of racial inequality in the USA, considering racism as structural and systemic rather than individual and asking and answering questions for continued inquiry and critical self-reflection. While previous research studies have characterized race talk tensions as problems or obstacles to student learning, the findings from this study suggest that tensions can be generative to developing and enacting racial literacy.

Originality/value

In the current political climate, alarmist rhetoric issued by conservative politicians and media outlets has discredited race talk as harmful or damaging to children. This study offers a positive reframing of tensions, which may provide teachers encouragement to pursue literacy instruction that equips students with knowledge and skills to better understand and confront racism.

中文翻译：

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种族谈话紧张：在四年级课堂上练习种族素养

目的

迫切需要教学生如何批判性地谈论种族，以了解种族主义在当代美国社会对个人和政治的影响。然而，课堂上的种族话题通常包括教师和学生在理解新规范以理解种族和种族主义时感到不适或困惑的时刻。本文的目的是研究一位白人教师和她的多种族四年级学生在阅读和讨论共享文本时如何应对种族谈话的紧张局势。

设计/方法/途径

本文的数据是作为一项为期一年的大型反种族主义教育定性研究的一部分收集的。在本文中，作者分析了全班和小组扫盲课期间录制的课堂种族谈话视频数据。作者使用归纳编码和重建的批判性话语分析，研究了教师和学生在紧张或混乱的对话时刻如何共同建构意义。

发现

研究结果表明，教师和学生通过种族素养的实践共同调解了紧张局势，其中包括了解美国种族不平等的历史，将种族主义视为结构性和系统性而非个人，并提出和回答问题以继续探究和解决问题。批判性的自我反省。虽然之前的研究将种族谈话紧张描述为学生学习的问题或障碍，但本研究的结果表明，紧张可以促进发展和制定种族素养。

原创性/价值

在当前的政治气候下，保守派政客和媒体发表的危言耸听的言论使种族言论被认为对儿童有害或有害。这项研究对紧张局势进行了积极的重构，这可能会鼓励教师进行扫盲教学，使学生具备更好地理解和对抗种族主义的知识和技能。