“‘Popular culture can help students deconstruct dominant narratives and contend with oppressive practices in hopes of achieving a more egalitarian and inclusive society’” (Morell, 2002, 72, quoted by Gainer, 2007, 108).

Training in the Teaching French/TESOL program, employing songs in the foreign language classroom is a technique we discuss often and a particular passion of mine: in fact, I wrote my thesis last year in Paris on the role of songs in the French language classroom. Similar to Gainer’s “politics of pleasure” and “pleasure of politics” concept, a main point I uncovered in my research was that the pleasure of listening and singing must remain a priority, before any linguistic, communicative, or sociocultural objective is exploited (Gainer, 113). Before reading this article, I had no idea that this notion of critical media literacy could be at play as well. Critical media literacy is the ability to deconstruct, analyze, and create media texts, encouraging students to examine the messages behind popular texts, learn about themselves in the process, and produce their own creations that promote a better world.

I imagine that critical media literacy practices more commonly take place using popular culture texts in the first language because students are less likely to seek out and invest in foreign language songs on their own, and thus teachers are often the ones to introduce a foreign language song to students for the first time. However, I think many foreign language songs could spark social discussion after dissecting the comprehension piece. If students are at an introductory foreign language level, this may be an appropriate time to use the first language, in order to allow students to express themselves regarding social injustices, preparing them to then “right the world” through their own media creations (112).