Definitions of literacy and becoming literate are constantly changing. Literacy transcends code breaking, meaning making, and text using--it is about understanding, questioning, and participating in a critical social work. This paper delineates a Chinese EFL teacher's journey of action research when applying critical literacy theory with Chinese eighth-grade students to address sociopolitical issues that they grapple with while immersed in daily life. Using a book set of accessible young adult literature on global sociopolitical issues alongside critical literacy engagements, the teacher attempted to raise students' awareness to issues of privilege and power and ignite in them the desire for taking action to challenge injustice. The focus of this study is students' critical responses in multimodal forms. Analyzing the responses against the four-dimension framework of critical literacy reveals students' emerging consciousness of problematic political issues and willingness to take action.

critical literacy, EFL, young adult literature