Cross Cultural Approaches To Literacy

Cross-Cultural Approaches to Literacy, investigates the meanings and uses of literacy in different cultures and societies. In contrast to previous studies, where the focus of research has been on aspects of cognition, education and on the economic 'consequences' of literacy, these largely ethnographic essays bring together anthropological and linguistic work written over the last ten years. Accounts of literacy practices in a variety of locations, including Great Britain, the United States, Africa, the South Pacific and Madagascar, illustrate how these practices vary from one context to another, and challenge the traditional view that literacy is a single, uniform skill, essential to functioning in a modern society.

Originally published in 1992. This book advocates and demonstrates the benefits of an anthropological approach that recognizes the centrality of culture in the educational process. This approach encompasses knowledge and understanding of other cultures’ patterns of interaction, values, institutions, metaphors and symbols as well as cross-cultural communication skills. Ethnographic studies of multi-ethnic classrooms and schools in their community context are presented in this excellent volume with a view to informing practice and policy concerning the education of language minority students and teachers, and anyone with an interest in foreign language education and bilingual education.

With rapid technological and cultural advancements, the 21st century has witnessed the wide scale development of transnationalist economies, which has led to the concurrent evolution of language and literacy studies, expanding cross-cultural approaches to literacy and communication. Current language education applies new technologies and multiple modes of text to a diverse range of cultural contexts, enhancing the classroom experience for multi-lingual learners. The Handbook of Research on Cross-Cultural Approaches to Language and Literacy Development provides an authoritative exploration of cross-cultural approaches to language learning through extensive research that illuminates the theoretical frameworks behind multicultural pedagogy and its myriad applications for a globalized society. With its comprehensive coverage of transnational case studies, trends in literacy teaching, and emerging instructive technologies, this handbook is an essential reference source for K-20 educators, administrators in school districts, English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers, and researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). This diverse publication features comprehensive and accessible articles on the latest instructional pedagogies and strategies, current empirical research on cross-cultural language development, and the unique challenges faced by teachers, researchers, and policymakers who promote cross-cultural perspectives.

This book examines the linkage between literacy and linguistic diversity, embedding them in their social and cultural contexts. It illustrates that a more complete understanding of literacy among diverse populations and in multicultural societies requires attention to issues of literacy per se as well as to improving an educational process that has relevance beyond members of majority cultures and linguistic groups. The focus of the book is on the social and cultural contexts in which literacy develops and is enacted, with an emphasis on the North American situation. Educators and researchers are discovering that cognitive approaches, while very valuable, are insufficient by themselves to answer important questions about literacy in heterogeneous societies. By considering the implications of family, school, culture, society, and nation for literary processes, the book answers the following questions. In a multi-ethnic context, what does it mean to be literate? What are the processes involved in becoming and being literate in a second language? In what ways is literacy in a second language similar and in what ways is it different from mother-tongue literacy? What factors must be understood to better describe and facilitate literacy acquisition among members of ethnic and linguistic minorities? What are some current approaches that are being used to accomplish this? These are vital questions for researchers and educators in a world that has a large number of immigrants, a variety of multi-ethnic and multi-lingual societies, and an increasing degree of multinational activity. Beyond addressing applied concerns, attending to these questions can provide new insights into basic aspects of literacy.

This introduction to child literacy development looks at the subject from an international perspective and is appropriate for students and professionals across a wide-range of disciplines.

Social Literacies develops new and critical approaches to the understanding of literacy in an international perspective. It represents part of the current trend towards a broader consideration of literacy as social practices, and as its title suggests, it focuses on the social nature of reading and writing and the multiple character of literacy practices.

During the past decades, literacy has gradually become a major concern all over the world. Though there is a great diversity in both the distribution and degree of literacy in different countries, there has been an increasing awareness of the number of illiterates and the consequences of being illiterate. However, literacy is no longer seen as a universal trait. When one focuses on culturally-sensitive accounts of reading and writing practices, the concept of literacy as a single trait does not seem very feasible. A multiplicity of literacy practices can be distinguished which are related to specific cultural contexts and associated with relations of power and ideology. As such, literacy can be seen as a lifelong context-bound set of practices in which an individual's needs vary with time and place. This volume explores the use of literacy outside the mainstream in different contexts throughout the world. It is divided into four sections. Section 1 presents an anthropological perspective--analyzing the society and the individual in a society. Section 2 presents a psychological perspective--focusing on the individuals themselves and analyzing the cognitive and affective development of young children as they acquire literacy in their first and second languages. Section 3 presents an educational perspective--highlighting the variations in educational approaches in different societies as well as the outcomes of these approaches. Section 4 summarizes the studies presented in this volume. Both theoretical issues and educational implications related to the development of literacy in two languages are discussed. An attempt is also made to open up new directions in the study of literacy development in multilingual contexts by bringing these various disciplinary perspectives together.

First Published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.