Inquiries In Literacy Theory And Practice

This comprehensive textbook introduces readers to the most influential theories and models of reading and literacy, ranging from behaviorism and early information-processing theories to social constructionist and critical theories. Focusing on how these theories connect with different curricular approaches to literacy instruction (pre-K to grade 12), the author shows how they both shape and are shaped by everyday literacy practices in classrooms. Readers are invited to explore detailed vignettes that offer a practice-based view of theories as they are brought to life in the classroom. Unlike other books on literacy theories, this one devotes substantial attention to linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms and 21st-century technologies. Book Features: Descriptions of well-known curricular models and assessment approaches. Detailed examples from specific areas of reading and literacy instruction that are prominent in today’s schools. Textbox discussions exploring histories, terminology, and debates relevant to the theories presented. Examination of how theories and practices relate to current policy initiatives, such as the Common Core State Standards.User-friendly text features, such as charts, reference lists, and inset boxes to help clarify complex concepts. “In these times, when teachers are maligned in both the popular press and professional literature, a volume such as this offers the potential to provide intellectual freedom in the complex work of teaching.” —From the Foreword by Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar, University of Michigan “Finally, a text that brings together and honors multiple perspectives and makes clear the power of a good theory for making sense of our worldviews. Handsfield provides elegant demonstrations of the relations of literacy theories to actions, decisions, and practices. A must-read for literacy educators and researchers.” —Victoria Risko, Vanderbilt University

Invigorate your teaching and simplify your lesson planning with inquiry! With this book, learn to develop an essential question that students will be engaged by, and then plan lessons, activities, and projects that support students as they pursue answers and understandings. Addresses all the content areas.

This research-based book dissects and explores the meaning and nature of Inquiry in teaching and learning in schools, challenging existing concepts and practices. In particular, it explores and contests prevailing attitudes about the practice of inquiry-based learning across the Science, Geography and History disciplines, as well as focusing on the importance of the role of teacher in what is frequently criticised as being a student-controlled activity. Three frameworks, which are argued to be necessarily intertwined for discipline-specific literacy, guide this inquiry work: the classroom goals; the instructional approach; and the degree of teacher direction. The foundation of the analysis is the notion of educational inquiry as it is structured in the Australian Curriculum, along with the locating of the study in international trends in inquiry learning over time. It will be of great interest to researchers, higher degree students and practicing professionals working in Education and Sociology.

Offering an overview of the major fields in literacy studies, this book presents a detailed and accessible discussion of key theories and their relevance in the primary classroom. Each chapter uses a real life case study to explore the application of theory in practice, followed by a detailed discussion of the case study material by a leading name in the field, including contributions from Barbara Comber, Michele Knobel, Colin Lankshear, Gunther Kress, Brian Street, Kevin Leander and Patricia Enciso. The text also offers reflections on theoretical foundations for research, exploring literacy as a practice grounded in social, cultural, historical and political contexts and in relationships of power. This second edition includes: New chapters covering digital literacy, space and play, and multimodality Examples and contributions from a range of international contexts, including US, UK, Canada, Australia and South Africa Further reading links. Essential reading for students at undergraduate and post-graduate level on primary education courses and an invaluable guide for anyone wanting to understand literacy theory and successfully apply this to the classroom.

This book addresses the current 'literacy crisis' alleged in professional journals and the popular press. Literacy is at once a contentious social and educational issue, a continuing concern of parents and teachers, and the focal point of a range of disciplinary inquiries. Literacy, Society, and Schooling draws together especially commissioned essays on the nature, history, and pedagogy of literacy by social historians, philosophers, literary scholars, linguists, educators, and psychologists. The editors have attempted to convey, in an accessible format, the range and diversity of the scholarly debate about literacy-theory, research, and practice. Students, teachers, and researchers will find Literacy, Society, and Schooling an invaluable resource.

This book, part of the Whole Language Umbrella Series, offers a critical reexamination of "inquiry" and "whole language" as tools for rethinking literacy, schooling, and humanistic citizenship in the complexities of today's multicultural world. The essays in the book explore the political implications of literacy theories and practices by asking what kinds of inquiries promote or hinder the acquisition of literacies as tools for envisioning, critically exploring, and reconstructing knowledge and societies that are socially just. After an introduction ("The Inquirers and Their Questions" by the editors), essays in the book are: (1) "What Education as Inquiry Is and Isn't" (Jerome C. Harste); (2) "Curriculum as Inquiry" (Kathy G. Short and Carolyn L. Burke); (3) "The Journey from Pedagogy to Politics: Taking Whole Language Seriously" (Susan M. Church); (4) "What's It Going To Be?" (Patrick Shannon); (5) "Critical Inquiry or Safe Literacies: Who's Allowed To Ask Which Questions?" (Barbara Comber); (6) "Writing for Critical Democracy: Student Voice and Teacher Practice in the Writing Workshop" (Timothy J. Lensmire); (7) "Classrooms in the Community: From Curriculum to Pedagogy" (Timothy Shannon and Patrick Shannon); (8) "'I Knew That Already': How Children's Books Limit Inquiry" (Jennifer O'Brien); (9) "Examining Poverty and Literacy in Our Schools: Janice's Story" (Connie L. White); (10) "Classroom Inquiry into the Incidental Unfolding of Social Justice Issues: Seeking Out Possibilities in the Lives of Learners" (Vivian Vasquez); (11) "Our Kinds of Questions You Wouldn't Find in a Book" (Robyn Jenkin); (12) "Young Researchers in Action" (David Wray, Maureen Lewis, with Carolyn Cox); (13) "Different Cultural Views of Whole Language" (Lee Gunderson); and (14) "Inviting Reflective Global Inquiries: Politicizing Multicultural Literature, Mediated Student Voices, and English Literacies" (Sibel Boran). (RS)