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Sociocultural Contexts of Language and Literacy
01 Apr 2017-
TL;DR: Perez, B. B. et al. as discussed by the authors, Theoretical Perspectives on Language and Literacy, Diversity, and Programmatic Responses: Language, Literacy and Curriculum, and Language Diversity.
Abstract: Contents: Preface. Part I: Theoretical Perspectives on Language and Literacy. B. Perez, Literacy, Diversity, and Programmatic Responses. B. Perez, Language, Literacy, and Biliteracy. B. Perez, Writing Across Writing Systems. Part II: Language and Literacy Acquisition in Diverse Communities. T.L. McCarty, L.J. Watahomigie, Language and Literacy in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities. M.E. Torres-Guzman, Language, Culture, and Literacy in Puerto Rican Communities. T.T. Dien, Language and Literacy in Vietnamese American Communities. J-M. Chang, Language and Literacy in Chinese American Communities. H.L. Smith, Literacy and Instruction in African American Communities: Shall We Overcome? A. Davila de Silva, Emergent Spanish Writing of a Second Grader in a Whole-Language Classroom. Part III: Literacy Development in Multilingual, Multicultural Classrooms. B. Perez, A. Nordlander, Making Decisions About Literacy Instructional Practices. B. Perez, Creating a Classroom Community for Literacy. B. Perez, Literacy, Curriculum, and Language Diversity.
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TL;DR: The authors used the metaphor of ecology of language to explore the ideologies underlying multilingual language policies, and the continua of biliteracy framework as ecological heuristic for situating the challenges faced in implementing them.
Abstract: The one language—one nation ideology of language policy and national identity is no longer the only available one worldwide (if it ever was). Multilingual language policies,which recognize ethnic and linguistic pluralism as resources for nation-building, are increasingly in evidence. These policies, many of which envision implementation through bilingual intercultural education, open up new worlds of possibility for oppressed indigenous and immigrant languages and their speakers,transforming former homogenizing and assimilationist policy discourses into discourses about diversity and emancipation. This article uses the metaphor of ecology oflanguage to explore the ideologies underlying multilingual language policies, and the continua of biliteracy framework as ecological heuristic for situating the challenges faced in implementing them. Specifically, the paper considers community and classroom challenges inherent in implementing these new ideologies,as they are evident in two nations which introduced transformative policies in the early 1990s: post-apartheid South Africa's newConstitution of 1993 and Bolivia's National Education Reform of 1994. It concludes with implications for multilingual language policies in the United States and elsewhere.
561 citations
TL;DR: This article conducted an experimental study to examine the effects of collaborative strategic reading and metacognitive strategic learning on reading comprehension of students in seventh-and eighth-grade English/language arts classes in two sites (Texas, Colorado) and in three school districts.
Abstract: The authors conducted an experimental study to examine the effects of collaborative strategic reading and metacognitive strategic learning on the reading comprehension of students in seventh- and eighth-grade English/language arts classes in two sites (Texas, Colorado) and in three school districts Students were randomly assigned to classes and then classes were randomly assigned to treatment or business-as-usual comparison groups If a teacher had an uneven number of classes, we assigned extra classes to treatment The total number of classes randomized was 61, with 34 treatment and 27 comparison Treatment students received a multicomponent reading comprehension instruction (collaborative strategic reading) from their English/language arts/reading teachers that included teaching students to apply comprehension strategies in collaborative groups for 18 weeks, with approximately two sessions per week Findings indicated significant differences in favor of the treatment students on the Gates-MacGinitie Re
194 citations
TL;DR: Literacy studies provide a way of understanding these changes by drawing attention to the changing materiality of language and by recasting the role of language in interaction as mentioned in this paper, arguing that much everyday activity in the contemporary world is mediated by literacy and that people act within a textually mediated social world.
Abstract: This paper provides an overview of the field of Literacy Studies, describing the range of work which has been covered, identifying current unresolved issues as ways of suggesting future directions, and showing ways in which literacy can be seen as an integral part of the broader study of language. Various outstanding issues are discussed, including: the relation of print literacy to other media; questions of definitions and limits of what can be called literacy; what is meant by the key term practices and what are the components of practices; the relation of texts and practices; the relation of literacy theory to critical theory and social theory. One of the most salient aspects of contemporary life is change in communication technologies. Literacy Studies provides a way of understanding these changes by drawing attention to the changing materiality of language and by recasting the role of language in interaction. The paper concludes by arguing that much everyday activity in the contemporary world is mediated by literacy and that people act within a textually mediated social world. It is this textually mediated social world which Literacy Studies can continue to investigate, linking culture and cognition and analysing the dynamics of textually mediated communities of practice.
183 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated the writing processes of eight emergent bilingual children as they composed stories in two languages in a Writing Workshop (WW) context and found patterns of bilingual writing related to strategic codeswitching, positive literacy transfer, and interliteracy.
Abstract: This qualitative study investigated the writing processes of eight emergent bilingual children as they composed stories in two languages in a Writing Workshop (WW) context. The research was situated in two grade 1 classrooms in a Spanish/English Two-Way Bilingual Education program in the north-eastern USA. For six months, researchers observed students in Spanish and English WWs, interviewed students about their writing behaviors and understandings, and collected samples from all stages of the writing process. Cross-case analyses of individual bilingual writing profiles revealed similarities and differences in students’ cross-linguistic skills, as well as patterns of transfer. Patterns of bilingual writing related to strategic codeswitching, positive literacy transfer, and interliteracy led to the development of a preliminary model of bilingual writing development for English-dominant and Spanish-dominant bilingual learners.This model presents phenomena unique to bilingual writers, relates these to bilingu...
171 citations
TL;DR: Watahomigie as mentioned in this paper stated that elders and younger brothers were instructed through visions by the breath-giver to teach the newly created people how to live in the native language.
Abstract: In the beginning . . . Elder Brother and Younger Brother were instructed through visions by the breath-giver to teach . . . the newly created people [how] to live. All the instructions were in the native language. The people lived happily for many years. . . . Something bad happened and there was a battle among the peaceful people. The head chief then commanded that there would be many languages. . . . The people migrated and divided into different language groups. Lucille J. Watahomigie, “The Native Language Is a Gift” (1998, 5)
128 citations