Literacy Practices Research Articles

Financial Challenges Among Public School Teachers: Basis for Proposed Program

Financial challenges can arise from various personal and external factors, and understanding the intersection of individual perspectives and societal influences is crucial for addressing these challenges effectively. To understand the lived experience of financial challenges, a qualitative research design, precisely Moustakas’ Transcendental Phenomenological approach, was employed. The selected public school teachers of District 5, Division of Oroquieta City, served as the key informants. The prevailing financial challenges teachers encounter in public schools represent a pressing matter that warrants attention and proactive measures. The study revealed that public school teachers face financial challenges due to their family needs, education for their children, stagnant salaries, rising healthcare expenses, and the necessity of personally funding classroom supplies. The prevailing issue of teachers' loans has become increasingly over the years due to their commitment to provide for the needs of their family, personal, and even work. Their financial literacy practices could better determine how they manage their finances. Thus, authorities should discuss the salary wages of public school teachers, giving incentives and other funds to support any contingency that might occur to alleviate the financial constraints they experience.

Tempos de mudança em uma universidade brasileira: percepções de pesquisa sobre as práticas de linguagem, letramento e digitais de acadêmicos

ABSTRACT: With the current policy of internationalization of federal universities in Brazil, with the design of an appraisal system, and with the rapid trend towards digitization, there have been far-reaching changes in the day-to-day organization of academic life and in the communicative practices of academics. Before the internationalization policy, the main language of research was Portuguese, but now there is a growing shift to English in some fields. This article focuses on the impact of these changes on the language and literacy practices of academic staff, and on the stances and strategies they have adopted vis-à-vis the changes. It draws on interviews conducted with academics during a critical ethnographic research project carried out in two federal universities in 2019. The focus was on their academic trajectories over time, their techno-linguistic biographies and their views on the changes. I present detailed insights from research conducted with three academics at one of the federal universities.

Information fusion technology helps promote the teaching practice of art design specialty in colleges and universities

Abstract This study explores the application of information fusion technology in teaching art and design majors in colleges and universities, aiming to improve the teaching effect and students’ practical ability. The study adopts the flipped classroom teaching model and combines the multiple linear regression method to analyze the effectiveness of the teaching model. The model includes three stages: teaching preparation, teaching process and teaching reflection. The practice teaching system includes online and offline integration of on-campus practice, humanistic literacy practice, on-site participation practice and other multivariate systems. The study results showed that the students who adopted this teaching model scored 4.237, 4.388, and 4.186 (out of 5) in learning self-efficacy, learning adaptability, and learning engagement, respectively, indicating that the students were in the middle to upper level in these areas. The results of regression analysis showed that learning self-efficacy and learning adaptability had a significant positive effect on learning engagement. The conclusion indicates that the application of information fusion technology can significantly improve the learning self-efficacy, learning adaptability and learning engagement of art and design majors, thus improving the quality of teaching and students’ practical ability. This provides new perspectives and methods for teaching art design majors in colleges and universities.

Jane Heath: Clement of Alexandria and the Shaping of Christian Literary Practice. Miscellany and the Transformation of Greco-Roman Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge UP 2020.

Jane Heath: Clement of Alexandria and the Shaping of Christian Literary Practice. Miscellany and the Transformation of Greco-Roman Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge UP 2020.

Artificial intelligence and performance management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled tools have increasingly becoming popular in our societies and are increasingly being used by students and practitioners, among others. Within corporations, numerous different applications have been identified where AI-enabled tools have been applied with different levels of success. In this article, we explore the pros and cons of using AI in performance management (PM). We draw upon the practitioner literature to summarize the current status of AI and AI-enabled tools. We also interviewed 8 HR professionals from around the world to learn about their experience(s) with the tools and to gain an insight into the future. In doing so, we explore the various components of performance management systems (PMS) and discuss how each might be impacted by the use of AI. Finally, we discuss the pros and cons of such usage and make recommendations for organizations that are considering using AI or AI enabled tools in their PMSs.

Digital Generations Paradox in Pre- and In-service Teachers’ Literacy Practices: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study/Hizmet Öncesi ve Hizmet İçi Öğretmenlerin Okuryazarlık Uygulamalarında Dijital Nesiller Paradoksu: Açıklayıcı Sıralı Karma Yöntemler Araştırması Çalışması

Digital practices have become more prominent due to the growing demand in digital exposure in education. While technology has been used as a metaphorical divide between generations in many studies, very few studies include individuals’ definitions of their generational sense of belonging. By administering an online questionnaire (N=111) and conducting semi-structured interviews with pre-service and in-service teachers (n=6), this mixed methods study aimed to capture participants’ self-definitions and changes in these definitions. The results of this study provided evidence about the convergence impact of technology in educators’ personal and professional lives. This study contributes to the field of digital literacy by offering different perspectives about digital generations and discussing the use of technology to create collaborative and cooperative educational settings.

Algorithmic power and scientific knowledge

Abstract This paper critically revisits traditional perspectives on technology within academic and scientific writing studies. It aims to comprehend the intricate, emerging, and dynamic sociotechnical configurations that underlie contemporary scientific practices. These practices increasingly involve language, text, and literacy practices, seen as products of the collaboration between humans and machines. The paper draws on empirical research on influential institutional metadiscourses in high-impact scientific writing produced and/or disseminated by public universities and a research institute in the State of São Paulo (Brazil), whose local policies of globalization are driven by international university rankings. I use a qualitative content analysis approach grounded in socio-anthropological, socio-semiotic, and pragmatic studies of linguistic ideologies to shed light on how ideological and socio-semiotic processes support the metapragmatics of scientific writing in university policy documents. This metapragmatics is utterly alien to the role of performative sociotechnical infrastructures in the production, distribution, and hierarchization of scientific texts. Additionally, these documents do not account for the diverse conditions and restrictions that shape the production and circulation of academic knowledge in geopolitically marginal and equally diverse regions within the country, including those within São Paulo.

THE HASHTAG SYLLABUS AS CLASS ASSIGNMENT: FROM CRITICAL INFORMATION LITERACY TO CULTURAL CRITIQUE

In the immediate aftermath of the 2014 murder of 18-year Michael Brown in Missouri, hashtags like #ferguson, #justiceformikebrown, and #handsupdontshoot begin trending on Twitter. At the same time, Marcia Chatelain, Georgetown University Professor of History and American Studies, began crowdsourcing materials for educators trying to address what happened in their classrooms using the hashtag #fergusonsyllabus. What resulted was a list of highly interdisciplinary and multimedia sources including scholarly texts, news stories, songs, poems, films, public addresses, and children’s books. Chatelain’s call spoke both to the present crisis, the murder of a Black teenager by police, and to the historical and cultural context in which this shooting happened. The efforts of Chatelain and the community that came together around this hashtag expanded our understanding of information production and curation and the function of a syllabus beyond the college classroom. In introducing our undergraduate classes to the idea of the hashtag syllabus, we attempt to engage our students in practices of information literacy with the hope of providing them tools to look critically at the inequities that permeate academic and non-academic spaces. Here, we explore the ways in which this format operates in interdisciplinary social science programs and the ways in which it supports unique learning objectives in both introductory and upper-level courses. In doing so, we hope to engage in pedagogical praxis that connects our fields and our students with questions of social justice and to do so in a way that prepares them for meaningful civic engagement.

Effect of Social Practice Approach on Academic Achievement of Adult Learners in Basic Literacy

The challenge of low academic achievement among adult learners has been continuously reported in adult basic literacy. Adult literacy programs prioritize integrating basic life-related literacy, empowering learners to manage daily responsibilities independently and enhancing academic achievement. Therefore, the present study was conducted to empirically investigate the effect of the social practice approach on learners' academic achievement through pretest, protest control group design. They involved 70 learners, with 35 assigned to each experimental and control group. A worksheet (pretest/posttest) was employed for data collection. Data were analyzed by using an independent sample t-test. The findings revealed that the experimental group, exposed to the social practice approach in their literacy activities, showed improved academic achievement. The study recommended conducting learner assessments before literacy content development to align with identified social needs, offering context-based literacy training for teachers, and establishing an assessment and evaluation system that forges connections between learners' daily lives and literacy practices. Furthermore, it suggested implementing virtual and physical feedback mechanisms to gather input from adult learners to enhance adult basic literacy consistently.

Community-Based Critical Literacy Practices: A Reflective Study of Literacy Implementation in School

This article examines critical literacy practices carried out by the informal education community thoughtfully and potentially so that they can be applied to developing the school literacy movement program. Statistically, 95.66% of Indonesia's population can read, but on the other hand, the reading literacy score in the PISA study is still below average. So far, there have been different perspectives regarding literacy as a reading activity and literacy as an activity to process information. These differences result in different interpretations and attitudes in processing information in a text. Critical literacy relates reading analysis skills to the realities faced by students. This study aimed to find patterns of critical literacy carried out by the Ngampar Boekoe community and Jamaah Maiyah Al Manhal about the inherent development of the school literacy movement program. The research method used is qualitative with an auto-ethnographic approach. The data comes from the researcher's personal experience, observation, in-depth interviews and artefacts. Data analysis uses triangulation with a bottom-up pattern to find critical literacy formulas and can be reflected in the school literacy movement program. The results found are in the form of alternative formulations which consist of critical material that can develop students' critical power, dialectical methods filled with a sense of trust, and quality-based evaluation using response journal instruments and written works. The results of this study can be used as policy-making considerations for relevant stakeholders to build the qualifications of a literate society.

Insights into Teachers' Funds of Knowledge:

Over more than a century of formal schooling in literature, generations of students have become acculturated to authoritative school-based discourses that devalue everyday literary practices. However, research indicates that when students draw on their everyday practices in the classroom, they engage in rich literary reading experiences. In the current study, we argue that school-based discourses may limit teachers just as they limit students, and that teachers’ literary funds of knowledge may be another potentially powerful resource for closing the distance between school and everyday reading. Drawing on social and literary metaphors of distance and closeness, we compared the discussions of the same teachers reading the same poems in personal (book club) and professional (lesson planning) settings. Analysis showed that teachers’ literary stances differed across conditions. For instance, in the book club condition, teachers were more than twice as likely to enact a close stance when reading—immersing themselves in the text-world and empathizing with characters. We recommend that researchers and teacher educators attend more closely to and make visible the constraints of school-based discourses and the value of everyday funds of knowledge—not just for students, but for teachers.

Practical Construction of Professional Core Elements for Higher Vocational Students

Education practice is a scientific way to realize the core professional quality of vocational college students characterized by professional attributes and era implication; Sort out and disclose the connotation and representation dimension of professional core quality of vocational students in the new era; Build the "four platforms+four modules" practical teaching and education model, track and evaluate the effect through the whole process based on the data platform, and provide reference and inspiration for the cultivation practice of vocational students' professional core literacy.

Snapshots of learning: exploring the meaning making potential of everyday visual literacy practices

ABSTRACT This article explores the meaning making potential of everyday multimodal text production from a group of students’ communication in Snapchat. By in-depth analysis of three examples, the characteristics of the snaps are explored, and the students are interviewed to find out what they thought about the texts’ function, content, and use. We find this vernacular communication being strongly shaped by the applications’ scripts and affordances, by usage patterns and by the context in which they are created. We also find that the students’ vernacular multimodal communication is time-effective, easy and intuitive, and mainly based on visuals. The vernacular communication thus differs clearly from the typical, verbal-based communication in school, but the article still argues there is some learning value in everyday digital communication. Being able to communicate adequately in visuals is found to be an important digital skill, developed informally, which can be significant for meaning making in school.

PRÁCTICAS DE LECTURA Y LETRAMENTOS COMO CAMINOS HACIA UN PROCESO DE ALFABETIZACIÓN SIGNIFICATIVO

This article aims to bring to the discussion the practices of reading and the importance of teacher mediation in partnership with families of children aged 2 to 4 years in the context of literacy and literacy education. The work is linked to research conducted by the "Literacy Practices and Teaching and Learning Processes of the Mother Language" research group. The theoretical and methodological framework for this discussion is based on Bakhtinian, Vygotskian, and Freirean theories. Considering reading as the production of meaning and readings and rereadings of the world, this study seeks to highlight, through data and its analysis, the importance of reading practices in Early Childhood Education schools and the beginning of the literacy process.

ALFABETIZAÇÃO COMO APROPRIAÇÃO DA CULTURA ESCRITA

The aim of this article is to discuss a notion of literacy as the appropriation of written culture. The discussion is grounded in anthropological references of literacy, drawing from the contributions of the field of New Literacy Studies (NLS) and the formulations of Paulo Freire regarding literacy and written culture. Empirical foundation is anchored in the productions carried out within the scope of the Research Group on Literacy, Language, and Coloniality (GPEALE). It problematizes the established dichotomy between early literacy and literacy practices in both the theoretical field and pedagogical practices, a result of decades of circulation of these concepts within established frameworks in the country. The article presents three examples of "literacy events," ethnographically analyzed, and concludes that these events, observed in classes of different teachers, constitute possibilities for breaking the dichotomy, as the proposed writing situations simultaneously involve social uses and knowledge of the alphabetic writing system.

Irish apprenticeships in financial services: negotiating gender and navigating social justice

PurposeSet within the context of International Financial Services (IFS), this research aims to considers the demographic profile of IFS apprenticeship candidates in relation to gender equality and social mobility in Ireland. This study also offers valuable insights as to the gendered nature of these “new” apprenticeships and examine whether these programmes provide opportunities for social mobility.Design/methodology/approachImplementing a quantitative approach, underpinned by a positivist stance, this study analyses Irish national apprenticeship data relating to IFS programmes (n = 1118). Non-parametric tests were applied in the analysis of the gender dimension, while to analyse social mobility, the socio-economic status and spatial profile of candidates were compiled and analysed using the Pobal HP Deprivation Index (SA).FindingsThe findings revealed more women are undertaking non-traditional apprenticeship programmes as compared with traditional craft apprenticeships. Within the IFS context, while female participation was seen to be growing, gender divergence was observed in terms of programme level, with a greater number of men, as compared with women, engaging in higher-level degree apprenticeship programmes. The findings also show that IFS apprentices are primarily from socio-economic areas that are above average. This trend indicates a distinctive candidate who is more aligned with the sectoral profile of IFS than that of traditional apprenticeship programmes. Such findings reveal that the “widening participation” aim of IFS apprenticeships is not yet fully realised with issues of gender inequality and social mobility persistent within the wider IFS sector.Originality/valueThis study provides an important dimension to both academic and practitioner literature concerning apprenticeships. To date, there has been a proliferation of publications concerning the beneficial impact of skills and vocational-led apprenticeships. However, limited attention has been directed to non-traditional apprenticeships and even less still within the setting of IFS. This research initiates the process of addressing that gap within an Irish context. This study also adds to the existing apprenticeship discourse regarding issues of gender and social mobility by examining the gendered nature of IFS apprenticeships and well as assessing whether these apprenticeships aid social mobility.

Financial Literacy and Financial Well-Being Among Businesspersons from Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico

This study aims to analyze the relationship between financial literacy and financial well-being among businesspersons in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, México. The applied methodology includes confirmatory factor analysis and multiple linear regression models. Our results indicate that financial literacy is related to financial well-being directly through its financial behavior component and inversely through financial attitude. Moreover, financial knowledge was not significantly associated with it. Hence, we propose the following recommendations for businesspeople and entrepreneurs: becoming more involved in healthy financial inclusion and financial literacy practices and inspiring their transition from models focused solely on profits to others considering their self-realization and satisfaction. Its main limitations and implications are the scarcity of data to perform an analysis by industry, its geographical outreach, and its public policy repercussions. Its originality lies in analyzing financial well-being among businesspeople, a topic rarely studied in Mexico. Our conclusions impact the implementation of the financial inclusion policy in Mexico and, therefore, contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

‘That Was Our Little Five Minutes of Shush . . . a Kiss and Cuddle and Have Our Books’: Sensory Affinities among Families during Shared Reading with Children

This article interrogates shared reading between parents and young children, theorised as ‘sensory affinities’, understood through a sociological lens. I argue that reading cannot be confined to educational aspects, and towards increased prominence for relational dimensions. I explore the narratives of 29 parents/carers of reading with young children. Drawing on data on the embodied aspects of reading, Mason’s concept of affinities illuminates the sensory facets of reading applied to family intimacies. Interventions have hitherto distilled literacy from the wider social context. However, an understanding of reading in the context of families from diverse backgrounds, yields insights into the sensory character of everyday family life. Findings are of significance to sociology broadly, and specifically, families and relationships. Centring families facilitates a fuller understanding of literacy practices. Finally, the focus on an everyday, tangible practice such as reading can support understandings of hidden and taken-for-granted dimensions of family life.

Text]uring: writing through fashion for a new literacies dissertation

The term 'literacy' encompasses reading and writing practices, each with distinct meanings and histories. Scholars define individuals as 'literate' or 'illiterate' based on these practices, a point not to be taken lightly. New literacies studies have expanded literacy from print to encompass all forms of meaning-making, leading to an expansion of associated terminology. In American higher education, despite the expanded meanings of terms like 'writing' and 'text,' the term 'research' remains dominated by written language, even within dedicated disciplines (Coiro et al. 2008; New London Group 1996; Wilber 2008). Through a cultural studies perspective, I traced the historical evolution of American literacy to the present day. The study revealed darker consequences of literacy's past, providing insights for scholars to understand silenced voices and advocate for their inclusion in the future. Given the ever-expanding practices of literacy, the need for increased attention to writing instruction, and the problematic otherness of arts-based disciplines such as fashion, my goal is to broaden the range of accepted scholarly compositions in higher education. I believe this pursuit is key to the advancement of academic research publications. To address this paradox, I actively embraced new literacy practices by creating a dissertation supported by Barone & Eisner’s (2012) concept of arts based research. Drawing on my experiences in the industry, I sought to challenge views of fashion as frivolous by writing my dissertation in the language of dress, offering a new perspective on the interwovenness of literacy and fashion. My dissertation argues that fashion is a form of writing by exploring nonverbal communication in scholarly work. This move reconciled the perceived frivolity with the substantive nature of fashion and ignited my commitment to the acceptance of research in diverse language forms.

Athens Seen from Praeneste: Reforming the Image of the Prestigious City Sketched in Claudius Aelianus’ Miscellaneous Compilations

This article addresses the question of how the prestigious city of Athens, so central in the literary movement of the Second Sophistic, was represented in Claudius Aelianus’ miscellaneous compilations. These texts are the product of his readings and demonstrate the choices he made when selecting those facts that he thought worth remembering from the sources of which he made use. Therefore, the image of Athens reconstructed through the analysis presented in this article demonstrates how Aelianus refers to some well-chosen aspects of the city’s past and communicates them to his readers while reforming a specific image of the city. Indeed, the emphasis he uses when resorting to the use of literary practices, such as selection or collecting information, illustrates the cultural values of his time, characterized by a predilection for classical Athens.