Emerging Reading and the Social Practice Turn in Literacy: StillBecoming a Nation of Readers

Abstract

In this article, we focus on the past, the present, and the future. We consider the ways in which Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading (BNR) (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985) fulfilled the authors’ aspirations to introduce into schools everywhere “the practices seen in the classrooms of the best teachers in the best schools” (p. 3). We focus on the emerging literacy chapter and conclude that the authors offered significant insights for the field at a critical time in reading research and in a way that anticipated the future. We also examine some changes in literacy theory and practice since the report was published, including fundamental shifts in the ways many researchers have come to explore literacy as an emerging social practice both at the individual and societal levels. We consider the literacy as a social practice turn, first in relation to literacy theory, and then in two areas critically related to literacy practices in schools today: teaching bi/multilingual children and teacher preparation in literacy. We conclude with a cautionary note regarding reports like BNR and their potential to shape policy, research, and practice.