COE Faculty Profile

Rebecca Rogers, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Division of Teaching And Learning

I am a literacy researcher and teacher educator. My research explores critical literacy development across the lifespan. I conduct studies in classrooms and with people in various stages across the lifespan to ask and answer questions about the complexities of literacy practices, social identities and social contexts. My current research focuses on how teachers learn to teach literacy. I am an ethnographer and discourse analyst and draw from a wide range of research methods in my research.

I have written several books including Adult Education Teachers: Designing Critical Literacy Practices (with M.A. Kramer, 2008, Routledge), Critical Literacy/Critical Teaching (C. Dozier, P. Johnston & R. Rogers, 2005, Teachers College Press), An Introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis in Education (2004, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates) and A Critical Discourse Analysis of Family Literacy Practices: Power in and out of Print (2003, LEA) which was awarded the Edward Fry Book Award for outstanding contribution to literacy research.

My new book (with M. Mosley & M.A. Kramer & the LSJTRG) is called “Designing Socially Just Communities: Critical Literacy Education across the Lifespan.” This book demonstrates the power and potential of educators working together to use literacy practices that make changes in people's lives. Since 2001, a group of educators, including K-12 classroom teachers, adult educators, university professors, and community activists have worked together to better understand the relationship between literacy and social justice in a teacher led professional development group called the Literacy for Social Justice Teacher Research Group. This book joins these educators’ stories with the history and practices of the teacher inquiry group, providing a two-fold emphasis on critical literacy education. The book will be available through Routledge in 2009.

I am active in several literacy networks in the St. Louis region, including The Literacy Roundtable, the Acting for a Better Community (ABC’s) and the Literacy for Social Justice Teacher Research Group (LSJTRG) – a teacher-led professional development and advocacy network for educators in the St. Louis metro-area. The website for LSJTRG is: http://www.umsl.edu/~lsjtrg/

I was awarded the Early Career Award by the National Reading Conference and the Outstanding Young Alumni Award by the University at Albany Alumni Association. I have also been honored with several teaching and mentoring awards. I am an active member of several professional organizations including the National Reading Conference, International Reading Association and National Council of Research on Language and Literacy. I have served on the editorial boards of Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Teachers College Record, and The Reading Teacher among other journals. I currently serve on the Board of Directors of the National Reading Conference and am the Membership and Elections Chair for the National Council of Research on Language and Literacy (NCRLL).

Before entering higher education, I was a literacy specialist in an elementary school and in a community based adult education program. I also served as the program coordinator for a grassroots literacy organization in New York State. I earned my Ph.D. (Literacy Education), MS (Literacy Specialist), MA (English) and BA (English) all from the University at Albany. I earned an Associates degree from Fulton Montgomery Community College, located in the foothills of the Adirondacks in upstate New York.

Representative Publications

• Rogers, R. & Mosley, M. (2008). A Critical Discourse Analysis of Racial Literacy in Teacher Education. Linguistics and Education, 19, 107-131.
• Pole, K. & Rogers, R. (2007). Educating for peace and justice: Using literacy as a tool for social change. The Missouri Reader, 32 (1), 27-32.
• Rogers, R. (2007). A Case Study of Teaching for Literacy Acceleration within a Critical Literacy Framework: Reconstructing Pedagogical Approaches. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 2 (4), 233-250.
• Rogers, R. & Christian, J. (2007) “What could I say?”: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Construction of Race in Children’s Literature. Race, Ethnicity, and Education, 10 (1), 21-46.
• Rogers, R. & Mosley, M. (2006) Racial Literacy in a Second Grade Working Class Classroom: Critical Race Theory, Whiteness Studies and Literacy Research. Reading Research Quarterly, 41 (4). 462-495.
• Rogers, R., Berkes, E., Mosley, M., Hui, D., O-Garro, G. (2005). A Critical Review of Critical Discourse Analysis. Review of Research in Education, 75 (3), 365-416.
• Rogers, R., Kramer, M., & Mosley, M. (2005). Becoming Socially Just across the Lifespan: A Portrait of the Literacy for Social Justice Teacher Research Group. The Missouri Reader, 29 (3), 76-87.
• Rogers & The Literacy for Social Justice Teacher Research Group (2005). The Long Haul: Professional Development as Social Change. Language Arts, 82 (5), 347-358.
• Rogers, R. (2004). Storied Selves: A Critical Analysis of Adult Learners’ Literate Lives. Reading Research Quarterly, 39 (3), 272-305.
• Rogers, R. & Light, R, Curtis, L. (2004). “Anyone Can be an Expert in Something”: Exploring the Complexity of Discourse Conflict and Alignment in a 5th Grade Classroom. Journal of Literacy Research, 36 (2), 177-210.
• Rogers, R. (2003). Constructing Consent: Histories of Participation. Discourse, 24 (2), 139-158.
• Rogers, R. (2002). Between Contexts: A Critical Analysis of Family Literacy, Discursive Practices, and Literate Subjectivities. Reading Research Quarterly 37 (3) 248-277.
• Rogers, R. (2002). Through the Eyes of the Institution: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Decision Making in Two Special Education Meetings. Anthropology and Education Quarterly 33 (2), 213-237.
• Rogers, R. (2002). “That’s What You’re Here for, You’re Supposed to Know”: Teaching and Learning Critical Literacy. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 45 (8), 772-787.