Deconstructing information literacy discourse: Peeling back the layers in higher education

Alison Hicks · Annemareé Lloyd

45 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Librarianship and Information Science

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Library Science and Information Literacy Information Science and Libraries Educational Strategies and Epistemologies

Abstract

The discourses of information literacy practice create epistemological assumptions about how the practice should happen, who should be responsible and under what conditions instruction should be given. This paper employs a discourse analysis method (Potter, 2008) to identify discourses of information literacy and the learner from within higher education focused professional texts. Texts analysed include 4 recent English-language models of information literacy and 16 textbooks. Analysis suggests that within higher education, information literacy is shaped by 2 conflicting narratives. The outward facing narrative positions information literacy as an empowering practice that equips learners with the knowledge and skills that they need within complex and fast-paced information environments. The inward facing narrative positions learners as incompetent or as lacking the ability to operate within higher education. This deficit perception consequently threatens the sustainability of information literacy practice by reframing empowerment as a process of top-down behaviour modification. This paper represents the first in a research programme that interrogates the epistemological premises and discourses of information literacy within higher education.

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References

1992Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment.1990Positioning: The Discursive Production of Selves 1988Discourse and Social Psychology: Beyond Attitudes and Behaviour 2009The SAGE encyclopedia of qualitative research methods 1999Positioning theory : moral contexts of intentional action 1997The Seven Faces of Information Literacy 2011Reframing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy 2006Critical Information Literacy: Implications for Instructional Practice

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