Through critical sociological appraisals of literary theory, research and pedagogy, this volume presents challenges to dominant psychological approaches in reading research and to mainstream discourses about reading and writing pedagogy. Bringing together the recent work of literacy researchers in Australia, Europe and North America, the volume offers novel critiques and theorizations from within political economy, neomarxist and critical theory, ethnomethodology, interactive sociolinguistics, poststructuralism and postmodernism. The volume is arranged in four sections; The Politics of Pedagogy; Reading in Classrooms; Reconstructing Theory; Reading the Social. This collection is provocative and innovative, offering clear alternatives for conceptualizing literacy, for conducting literacy research, and for reconstructing the discourses and practices of reading and writing in schools. The volume is addressed to a broad audience of researchers, educators and students.
Reissuing works originally published between 1971 and 1994, this collection includes books which offer a broad spectrum of views on curriculum, both within individual schools and the wider issues around curriculum development, reform and implementation. Some cover the debate surrounding the establishment of the national curriculum in the UK while others are a more international in scope. Many of these books go beyond theory to discuss practical issues of real curriculum changes at primary or secondary level. The Set includes books on cross-curricular topics such as citizenship and environment, and also guidance, careers, life skills and pastoral care in schools. A fantastic collection of education history with much still relevant today.
"This volume examines early literacy research on a global scale and puts social, cultural, and historical analyses in the front seat--without losing sight of individual and family-level matters in the process. It is comprehensive, ground-breaking, and provocative, and should help literacy researchers to think differently about the field." --Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University "No other publication that I am aware of brings together views from such diverse disciplines, contributing to a comprehensive statement about early childhood literacy. The Handbook not only reviews the current field of situated literacy but presents some important and exciting new research. It is a significant resource that promises to become a landmark text." --Eve Bearne, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education, U.K. "This handbook brings together an astonishing array of writers who explore contemporary political, cultural, and cognitive understandings of early childhood literacy. Literacy and literacy acquisition are broadly defined here to encompass not just traditional notions of reading and writing, but multimodalities, multiliteracies, and critical literacies. . . It is rich and comprehensive, an invaluable resource for scholars, educators, and students of early childhood literacy." --Elsa Auerbach, Professor of English, University of Massachusetts, Boston "This book is unique in its broad consideration of topics and its global focus . . . I particularly appreciate how the editors have situated current research in an historical context. They have also included development issues, pedagogy, research, and the newest areas of interest--critical literacy and popular culture." --Diane Barone, University of Nevada, Reno In recent years there has been a virtual revolution in early childhood studies, with a mass of books and papers seeking to re-examine and reposition childhood. At the same time an equally significant area has developed within literacy studies, reflecting a growing interest in the nature of literacy as a socially situated phenomenon. There is increased interest in literacy as a multimodal concept in which symbolic meaning is a central concept, rather than more conventional and narrower notions of literacy. The Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy is central in providing access to all these different perspectives. The Handbook offers a way through the vast diversity of publications on early childhood literacy by providing comprehensive and up-to-date reviews of research and thinking in early childhood literacy. The arrangement of chapters reflects a contemporary perspective on research into early childhood literacy. Major sections include: the global world of early childhood literacy; childhood literacy and family, community and culture; the development of literacy in early childhood; pedagogy and early childhood literacy and researching early childhood literacy. Contributions by leading authorities focus on literacy as a socially situated and global experience, one that is evolving in relation to changes in contemporary culture and technological innovation.
This study addresses the critical issue of literacy crises around the world questioning their wider sociological and educational impact and demonstrating how literacy crises in one country can stimulate and shape literacy crises elsewhere.
Reading Across International Boundaries, edited by Roger Openshaw and Janet Soler, clearly demonstrates these broader characteristics of debates about the teaching of reading. It sets the educational issues firmly in the context of the social, cultural and political dynamics that inform and animate them and give them their meaning. It does so by setting out to understand their historical and comparative dimensions. Establishing the historical context highlights the origins and also the longevity of the problems and conflicts that are now widely familiar. The comparative approach also gives purchase on the wide range of approaches taken to these issues in nations around the world. More than this, however, this collection takes us into the realm of international influences. It underlines how debates in this area are not simply national, but are international and global in their scale. Moreover this is the case not only in relation to the broad fabric of policy debate, but also in the everyday struggles of pupils, parents and teachers in schools, classrooms and homes. Such an agenda is unsettling and provocative. It has the potential to challenge received opinion, to hustle preconceptions. It may also propose alternative visions for the improvement of teaching in this area that might be taken up and taken seriously in different localities or even more broadly. Most of all, it enables us to enrich and broaden our understanding of the learning and the teaching of reading at a time when awareness and vision are sorely needed. This collection of articles by leading scholars based in several different countries will be a significant contribution to the research field, but also a major resource when put to good use by policy makers and practitioners, as it should surely be.
This book brings together selected papers from a conference focusing on Redesigning Pedagogy, organized by the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice, National Institute of Education, Singapore. The papers are organised around seven key themes: Literacy Education, Relations of Power, Reflection, Meaning Making, Evaluation, and Mathematics and Science
The essays in this volume explore the educational implications of unsettling shifts in contemporary culture associated with postmodernism. These shifts include the fragmentation of established power blocs, the emergence of a politics of identity, growing inequalities between the haves and the have-nots in a new global economy, and the rise in influence of popular culture in defining who we are. In the academy, postmodernism has been associated with the emergence of new theoretical perspectives that are unsettling the way we think about education. These shifts, the authors suggest, are deeply contradictory and may lead in divergent political directions?some of them quite dangerous. Power/Knowledge/Pedagogy examines these issues with regard to four broad domains of educational inquiry: state educational policy and curriculum reform, student identity formation, the curriculum as a text, and critical pedagogy. The book contributes to the dialogue on the forging of a new commonsense discourse on democratic educational renewal, attuned to the changing times in which we live.
Examines how the social and cultural contexts of classroom and community shape four classroom practices involving literature - read aloud, peer-led literature discussions, teacher-led literature discussions, & independent reading.
This work examines spoken language as a field of study, looking at the various ways in which we can both theorize the place of talk in education, and examine the way talk is actually done in educational settings. It brings quite different and important perspectives to the study of education. It is relevant to teachers at primary, secondary and tertiary levels and for researchers interested in spoken language in educational contexts.
In the World Library of Educationalists series, international scholars themselves compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces – extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and/or practical contributions – so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands of their work and see their contribution to the development of a field, as well as the development of the field itself. Allan Luke’s work on critical literacy, schooling, and equity has influenced the fields of literacy education, teacher education, educational sociology, and policy for over three decades. This volume brings together Allan Luke’s key writings on literacy and schooling. Chapters cover a range of topics and theories, including the development and application of a social and cultural analysis of literacy education and schooling; a primer on literacy as a social construction; classroom-based case studies of literacy teaching and learning; major theoretical and philosophic essays; practical programmatic work on school reform and enabling curriculum policies; and classroom approaches to teaching critical literacy and multiliteracies.
