Digital media are drastically redefining the ways we express ourselves and make sense of the world. Unfortunately, advocates of critical literacy often overlook the depths to which new media transform the nature of political expression. The purpose of this study is to begin exploring foundations for critical literacy theory and practice that better account for sensual and aesthetic aspects of meaning making. The researcher reports on a basic conversation course taught in a large university on the outskirts of Seoul. Data sources include field notes, student work from a collaborative class website, and small group interviews. Analysis suggests that learners utilized images, audio, video, and even physical objects to produce novel expressions with deliberate political consequences. While little explicit critique on the ideological content in digital texts emerged in the data, the analysis suggests that politically salient activities took place on the level of sensation. The paper concludes with a call to move beyond rational reflection as the sole foundation for critical thinking and a tentative framework that encompasses space, sensation and aesthetic production as viable spheres of critical literacy practice is offered.