Re Theorizing Literacy Practices

Moving beyond current theories on literacy practices, this edited collection sheds new light on the complexities inherent to the social, cultural, and ideological contexts in which literacy practices are realized. Building on Brian V. Street’s scholarship, contributors discuss literacy as intrinsically social and ideological, and examine how the theorizing of literacy practices has evolved in recognition of the diverse contexts in which written language is used. Breaking new intellectual and theoretical ground, this book brings together leading literacy scholars to re-examine how educational and sociocultural contexts frame and define literacy events and practices. Drawing from the richness of Brian V. Street’s work, this volume offers insights into fractures, tensions, and developments in literacy for scholars, students, and researchers.

This book explores the impact of sensation, affect, ethics, and place on literacy learning from early childhood through to adult education. Chapters bridge the divide between theory and practice to consider how contemporary teaching and learning can promote posthuman values and perspectives. By offering a posthuman approach to literacy research and pedagogy, Affect, Embodiment, and Place in Critical Literacy re-works the theory-practice divide in literacy education, to emphasize the ways in which learning is an affective and embodied process merging in a particular environment. Written by literacy educators and international literacy researchers, this volume is divided into four sections focussing on: Moving with sensation and affect; becoming worldmakers with ethics and difference; relationships that matter in curriculum and place; before drawing together everything in a concise conclusion. Affect, Embodiment, and Place in Critical Literacy is the perfect resource for researchers, academics, and postgraduate students in the fields of literacy education and philosophy of education, as well as those seeking to explore the benefits of a posthumanism approach when conceptualising theory and practice in literacy education.

This book is a guide to current research and debate in the field of literacies practice and education. It provides both an historical and lifespan view of the field as well as an overview of research methodologies with first-hand examples from a range of researchers involved in literacy research.

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

This book explores the impact of sensation, affect, ethics, and place on literacy learning from early childhood through to adult education. Chapters bridge the divide between theory and practice to consider how contemporary teaching and learning can promote posthuman values and perspectives. By offering a posthuman approach to literacy research and pedagogy, Affect, Embodiment, and Place in Critical Literacy re-works the theory-practice divide in literacy education, to emphasize the ways in which learning is an affective and embodied process merging in a particular environment. Written by literacy educators and international literacy researchers, this volume is divided into four sections focussing on: Moving with sensation and affect; becoming worldmakers with ethics and difference; relationships that matter in curriculum and place; before drawing together everything in a concise conclusion. Affect, Embodiment, and Place in Critical Literacy is the perfect resource for researchers, academics, and postgraduate students in the fields of literacy education and philosophy of education, as well as those seeking to explore the benefits of a posthumanism approach when conceptualising theory and practice in literacy education.

Novice and early career researchers often have difficulty with understanding how theory, data analysis and interpretation of findings “hang together” in a well-designed and theorized qualitative research investigation and with learning how to draw on such understanding to conduct rigorous data analysis and interpretation of their analytic results. Data Analysis, Interpretation, and Theory in Literacy Studies Research demonstrates how to design, conduct and analyze a well put together qualitative research project. Using their own successful studies, chapter authors spell out a problem area, research question, and theoretical framing, carefully explaining their choices and decisions. They then show in detail how they analyzed their data, and why they took this approach. Finally, they demonstrate how they interpreted the results of their analysis, to make them meaningful in research terms. Approaches include interactional sociolinguistics, microethnographic discourse analysis, multimodal analysis, iterative coding, conversation analysis, and multimediated discourse analysis, among others. This book will appeal to beginning researchers and to literacy researchers responsible for teaching qualitative literacy studies research design at undergraduate and graduate levels. Perfect for courses such as: Literacy Research Seminar | Introduction to Qualitative Research | Advanced Research Methods | Studying New Literacies and Media | Research Perspectives in Literacy | Discourse Analysis | Advanced Qualitative Data Analysis | Sociolinguistic Analysis | Classroom Language Research

A 2022 SPE Outstanding Book Award Winner How do ideas change practices and people? In Ideas That Changed Literacy Practices, 32 influential scholars in literacy education get personal about how they have worked on ideas and how those ideas have worked on them. Together, the essays offer never-before revealed personal histories of the authors’ published writing about ideas that have shaped the field of literacy education. As a collection, the essays highlight some of the major themes that have guided and changed literacy practices over the last few decades. They also offer a rare glimpse into the complex ways histories of research emerge alongside personal and political influences on policy and practice. The volume includes an introductory chapter by Sumara and Alvermann in which they detail the processes they used in creating a context for the significance of this work. They begin with the premise that most literacy scholars rarely, if ever, reveal their personal and intellectual investments in ideas that have animated their research and other scholarly endeavors. That this observation rang true for all of the contributors was evidenced in their responses to the invitation. For example, some replied by saying this was the most exciting project they had engaged in because it required reflection on what motivated them to write the requested 3,500-word essay; others mentioned they were looking forward to reading what their peers would share. Ideas That Changed Literacy Practices is a unique collection of autobiographical essays that situates literacy learning and teaching in a rich context of personal and professional knowledge that highlights and celebrates the vibrant complexities of the field of literacy education. It is a unique and valuable resource for researchers and educators, whether in K-12 or higher education. Perfect for courses such as: Introduction to Literacy Research ӏ Literacy Research and Methods ӏ Language, Literacy and Culture ӏ Literacy Policy and Practice ӏ Narrative Research ӏ Interpretive Inquiry ӏ Research Methods in Education ӏ Foundations of Literacy Education ӏ Research Methods in Language and Literacy ӏ Popular Culture in Literacy Classrooms ӏ New and Digital Literacies ӏ History of Literacy Practices ӏ Educational Philosophy ӏ Reading and Language Arts ӏ Critical Theory ӏ Poststructuralism ӏ Digital Media Education ӏ Creative Writing ӏ Politics of Literacy

Originally published in 1992. What kinds of literacy are appropriate for life and work in the late twentieth century? What historically is the relationship between curriculum and literacy, and how is it changing? The essays in this book provide an innovative forum for discussion for what are often two quite distinct enterprises: literacy research and curriculum studies. They re-frame and redraw the traditional boundaries between these two disciplines, examining socio-cultural theories and classroom practices in a diverse and lively debate. They explore readings of the modernist/postmodernist debate and specific studies in curriculum politics and history, rhetoric, language and literacy education, media studies and educational linguistics. This multi-voiced anthology brings together researchers from Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States in a common critical reassessment of the curriculum/literacy nexus.