Examining the Literacy–Curriculum Relationship

Abstract

In this special issue, we invite readers to participate in a forum on what counts as valued in literacy in schooling and in literacy education research. In it, we share a selection of some different approaches and ways of thinking about literacy and curriculum, and provide new and innovative insights into what we refer to as literacies. Fundamental to the writing presented in the following pages is a recognition that current theories and methodologies of literacy and literacy research are diverse. This diversity provides a richness for examining pedagogy and the place of literacy in the enactment of the curriculum. It is our position that the diversity indicates the clear need for theoretical inclusivity in educational research in literacy, with no single theory or methodology of itself being sufficient to inform this complex area. Consistent with this position is a refusal to privilege or attribute value to one theoretical or methodological orientation over another. This position should not be interpreted as a declaration that all the research perspectives on offer in the writing that follows are equal or intrinsically compatible with one another. Also, we do not want to diminish or blur the distinctiveness of different theoretical orientations and methodologies. Instead, we take on the role of making a sample of orientations available to readers who in turn can ascribe their own values according to their own orientations and research and pedagogical needs. In this way, the issue contributes both to providing an informing analysis of the literacy demands of the curriculum as well as contributing to considerations about theory - research - practice relations.