February 02, 2026
By Arielle Hammond
This research uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) to analyze the National Standards for Personal Finance Education. CDA researchers operate from the assumption that language has power solely through its use in social practices. Language that does not impact social interactions has no power. Language sources that are “in use” are ideal sources for analysis. Current national learning standards meet this end, as they inform multiple levels of macro to micro social interactions. CDA applied to this research seeks to clarify how language in the national financial literacy standards interacts with race and power.