Preservice teachers often ask how to build the critical literacy skills needed to recognize bias, foster social justice education, and use diverse young adult texts meaningfully. In this study, Katherine E. Batchelor demonstrates how creating and critiquing linked text sets—collections of print and nonprint texts connected by a shared social justice theme—helps future educators examine their assumptions and design more inclusive curricula. By engaging with topics such as racism, rape culture, and mental health, participants learned to identify whose voices were centered, whose were missing, and how texts shape power.

Batchelor guided preservice teachers as they curated young adult novels, picture books, TED Talks, music videos, podcasts, and news articles related to a chosen equity issue. Linked text sets supported advocacy by encouraging readers to make intertextual connections and compare how race, gender, sexuality, and ability are portrayed. This process mirrors critical literacy practices, which ask readers to consider how language and representation influence social systems. After assembling their sets, participants examined their choices for implicit bias—an exercise that revealed patterns such as the predominance of white, heterosexual protagonists even within socially conscious texts.

The study found that linked text sets helped preservice teachers gain confidence in selecting diverse materials and envisioning inquiry-centered learning. Many described feeling more prepared to include social justice themes in their future classrooms and to guide students in recognizing the “single story” that can dominate curricula. By combining critical literacy with multimodal reading, linked text sets offer a powerful foundation for equity-minded teaching.

Faculty author: Katherine E. Batchelor, Miami University
Keywords: critical literacy, linked text sets, social justice education, preservice teacher learning, diverse young adult literature
Publication details: Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(4), 2019. “Using Linked Text Sets to Promote Advocacy and Agency Through a Critical Lens.” https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.906