Information Literacy Strategy in Qaryah Thayyibah Learning Community: Literacy concepts, Lacanian four discourses theory, and critical pedagogy perspective

Abstract

Qaryah Thayyibah Learning Community (QTLC) is a non-formal school with an anti-mainstream method inspired by Freire and Ivan Illich, rather than adapting national-conventional curricula. In the age of information overload, in line with the emergence of digital natives in QTLC, it is important to discuss (1) how were the critical information literacy practice in this community; (2) teachers’ roles associated with the literacy; (3) and critical pedagogy perspective on the phenomenon. This research was designed using the ethnographic method with a qualitative approach. It was conducted from December 2016 until June 2017 in Kalibening village, Tingkir subdistrict, Salatiga district, Central Java province, Indonesia. The result was that the students of QTLC had been practicing critical information literacy although neither optimal nor ideal yet based on Potter’s criterion and DIKW diagram. The main supporting factors were the culture of discussion and expressing opinions that had been cultivated and ingrained in their school activities, in line with the product or works-based learning strategy. The efforts of the school committee and management to be on the "free school movement" track to some extent—compared to regular schools—freed this community to determine the most appropriate learning method with QTLC’s vision of critical pedagogy, one of which is the practice of critical information literacy. However, the interaction between students and teachers was dominated by hysteric discourse and showed very little of any analytic discourse which is an important factor to realize critical pedagogy. Despite the shortcomings that currently exist, QTLC represents a step toward the realization of critical pedagogical practices in information literacy.