ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews conceptual approaches and their intersection with RACE in English Language Arts (ELA) research, while simultaneously acknowledging that the methodologies and methods do not alter, ameliorate, or replace ideological ignorance, theoretical blindness, or historical amnesia. Traditional ELA research reflects the dominant or prevailing thinking. A history of the Traditional ELA approach supports notions of scientific racism. Cultural Buy-in approaches may include issues of RACE, however, when applied during ELA research, the focus primarily is on cultural and linguistic sameness/differences, as a substitute for actively deconstructing the influence of RACE. Critical Theory ELA research seeks to dismantle power and hegemonic structures that erase, oppress, and suppress people, with a focus on social economic class. The hallmarks of Critical Race Theory (CRT) have been summarized as follows: belief that racism is normal or ordinary, not aberrational; interest convergence or material determinism; race as a social construction, intersectionality and anti-essentialism, and voice or counternarratives.
