Nature Of Literacy Research Articles

Young children’s writing in traditional and digital contexts

ABSTRACT Writing is a critical foundational literacy skill for preschool and kindergarten and has received increased attention in research and policy as a result. Further, the nature of literacy more broadly is shifting towards more digital forms and formats. Research suggests that children approach tasks with and without technology differently and similarly, other research suggests that young children approach writing differentially depending upon the task context. In a small sample (n = 35) of preschool and kindergarten children at university lab school, this study sought to understand children’s writing development in traditional (paper-pencil) and digital (iPad-stimulus/finger) contexts across a variety of writing skills. Results suggest that children have varied writing skills that develop considerably across the school year. Further findings indicate that children’s writing products and the ways they take up writing are often different depending on the context (traditional v. digital). Implications for practice are discussed

Without borders: youth debaters reimagining the nature and purpose of public dialogue

Purpose This paper aims to analyze how a group of middle-school debaters integrated their identities and epistemologies into the traditional literacy practice of debate to advocate for more expansive and inclusive forms of academic and civic discussion. The adult and youth co-researchers of the Debate Liberation League (DLL) detail their creation of a critical debate praxis through the use of spoken word and translanguaging and illustrate how they sought to redesign a foundational activity of English Language Arts on their own terms. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon critical race and borderlands theories, the authors use critical ethnographic and participatory action research methods to explore how the DLL deconstructed the boundaries of what counts as public dialogue and offered an alternative model of what intergenerational and multi-voiced democratic discourse could look like in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms and beyond. Findings The findings demonstrate how DLL students broke down normative binaries of affirmative/negative and objective/subjective in their debate performances and introduced testimonios as evidence for civic claims to make space for their voices and reimagine deliberation. Originality/value This study foregrounds dialogic data generation through a collaborative, intergenerational research approach. It highlights the constructed nature of literacy “rules,” demonstrates youth expertise in reimagining ELA, and offers a pathway toward a more compassionate public sphere.

The Consequences and Value of Literacy: A Critical Reappraisal

In many First World countries, the value of literacy is seldom questioned. Literacy, it is often believed, has certain consequences (e.g., economic growth, social mobility, and logical thought) which are highly desirable. This article problematizes commonplace assumptions about the nature of literacy. Rejecting the technological view of literacy (represented by theorists such as Goody and Ong), the author, drawing on the work of Lankshear and Lawler, argues that reading and writing need to be seen as complex social forms, dynamically interwoven with (and inseparable from) other dimensions of human activity. Literacies are seen as heterogeneous, nonneutral constructs and practices, with consequences which vary across different contexts and ethical positions.

The Effects of Social Media on Literacy Development among Pupils in Junior High Schools in Ghana

The study sought to investigate the effects of social media on literacy development among pupils in junior high schools particularly on their perception about the nature of literacy, identifying major social media network sites and their mass usage among pupils as well as the effects of social media and social networking sites on pupils’ language learning and literacy development within the context of socio-cultural and social learning theories. To achieve the objectives of this study, a case study design was used which comprised the use of interviews to solicit pupils’ responses on the effects of social media on literacy development. The population of the study consisted of all JHS pupils in the Asante-Akim South District in the Ashanti region of Ghana. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 25 pupils (14 females, 11 males) from three junior high schools. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis (qualitative content and document analyses), table with description and data triangulation. The findings showed participants’ exposure to major social media tools and social networking sites such as Facebook, Short Message Services (SMS), WhatsApp, Twitter and You Tube likewise online practices such as chatting, blogging, watching movies, listening to audios, image sharing, and so on. The study in addition revealed that social media tools and online practices influence participants’ reading skills and habits, writing skills and speaking in every way. This research recommends the strict application of Ghana Education Service rules and parental guidance on electronic devices usage in schools, homes and the promotion of social media networks for educational purposes.

Taking interaction in literacy events seriously: a conversation analysis approach to evolving literacy practices in the classroom

ABSTRACTIn this article, I examine the relation between literacy events and literacy practices in classroom interaction and add to ongoing discussions in the field of NLS about the transcontextual nature of literacy and how local literacy events are linked to broader literacy practices. It specifically focuses on how the link between literacy events and literacy practices are maintained in the institutionally shaped classroom interaction. Conversation analysis (CA) is used to explore the interactional resources and social knowledge relied upon as teachers and students orient to literacy practices in everyday classroom interactions. The analysis focuses on a frequent type of teacher–student interaction during seatwork, desk interaction, i.e. interactions that occur as students work individually at their desks while the teacher moves around in the classroom to help and supervise them. The result shows how teachers and students refer to and use previously shared experiences of institutionally shaped literacy practices in the desk interactions, using both verbal and non-verbal resources. Thus, the literacy events in these interactions are shown both to be embedded in and contributing forward to the progressive shaping of classroom literacy practices that to a large extent seem to be practices of self-regulation and responsibility in individual assignments.

The electronic text and a new nature of literacy

The electronic text has provoked a new evolution on the concept of literacy. The new features of digital text have opened new dimensions to the way literacy should be understood. The electronic text has acquirednew attributes that have dramatically influenced literacy practices. Printed and digital texts share some basic features, however the digital hypertext is indeed more complex than the printed one due to that the formeris usually enriched with multimedia resources. Additionally, the quality and quantity of information found in the digital text have added new reading requirements to electronic text users. Readers might need tomake a more efficient use of the competencies they already manage with printed text in order to face the digital one. This paper is an attempt to understand this new literacy scenario. The discussion is devotedto exposing some features of the electronic text in order to support the idea that the concept of literacy should be as broad as to cope with the competencies and skills the features of the digital text demand.The pedagogical implications emphasize on the challenges the electronic text takes to school.

“What I Feel in My Heart”

Through this international cross-case analysis of ethnographic literacy practices data, we investigated two questions: (1) In what literacy practices do adults with limited or no schooling engage for personal fulfillment? and (2) What do these practices reveal about the nature of literacy for individuals who are often characterized as illiterate? Data came from 92 participants across 13 case studies from Africa and the Americas in the Cultural Practices of Literacy Study database. We queried the database to identify (a) the social activity domains in which participants read or wrote, and (b) their purposes for doing so, then narrowed our analysis to practices related to personal fulfillment (i.e., practices that were clearly for themselves and/or for personal expression, self-understanding, and/or identity). We categorized purposes into themes, contextualized the practices within the original ethnographic data, identified participants representing “rich cases”, compiled participant portraits, and developed coding schemes to examine data for patterns. Participants across worldwide contexts read and wrote for a variety of personal purposes, including coping with life, facing problems, or escaping their daily realities, or for entertainment. Practices often connected with spiritual or religious life domains or with participants’ attempts to make sense of their lives. An important theme across practices and contexts was participants’ marginalized status, reflecting the ways in which practices connected with other aspects of context. Our findings challenge current understandings of the ways in which those assumed to be illiterate or low-literate practice literacy, suggesting implications for redefining functional literacy and for adult literacy instruction.

Using selected NCEA standards to profile senior students’ subject-area literacy

The changing nature of literacy in the senior secondary school means that many common tools do not give subject teachers the detailed information they need to identify and address strengths and gaps in their students’ reading and writing. We illustrate some of the complexities of reading and writing in the senior secondary school and describe one way that teachers and leaders can use NCEA data to find out more about their students’ subject literacy. The approach we describe consists of using a set of Subject Literacy Achievement Standards diagnostically as sensitive indicators of students’ reading in English, mathematics and science.

Changing conceptualisations of literacy and numeracy in lean production training: Two case studies of manufacturing companies

Within the context of Australian workplace literacy and numeracy programmes, and based on a larger study from an ethnographic perspective, we outline two case studies of manufacturing companies implementing training programmes in ‘lean’ production processes. The role of literacy and numeracy in the training programmes was approached quite differently in the two companies. In one company, a trainer delivered the lean training to a group of workers selected on the basis of their formally assessed literacy and numeracy needs and the training was preceded by some ‘upskilling’ in literacy and numeracy skills. We refer to this training as an orthodox ‘deficit’ model in which literacy and numeracy are seen as pre-requisite skills and potentially ‘problems’ for workers undertaking training programmes. In the other company, literacy and numeracy were not addressed specifically and, in effect, were completely embedded in the lean training and indistinguishable as elements of the training program. We discuss this embedded nature of literacy and numeracy within a conceptualisation of literacy and numeracy as social practices. We use these two case studies to indicate some implications for workplace training programmes of different understandings of the role of literacy and numeracy in workplaces.

Towards a responsible agenda for academic literacy development: considerations that will benefit students and society

The transition from secondary to higher education (HE) requires a change of cultural mindset (cf. Darlaston-Jones et al., 2003; Leki, 2006). It is widely accepted that the academic performance and motivation of first year students to stay in HE depend, among others, on how well they integrate into the university environment (Brinkworth et al., 2009). Academic integration or acculturation takes different forms. The premise of this article is that students have to learn to engage with academic discourse, i.e., they must acquire the community's communicative currency, defined as different kinds of language used to reflect the community's current norms, practices, values and expectations (cf., among others, Duff, 2010; Gee, 1998, 2000; Hyland, 2009). As reflective and responsible practitioners we therefore need to outline a critical agenda for academic acculturation by reviewing the debate on the nature of literacy and, particularly, by discussing similarities and differences in epistemology and approaches to literacy. Such an agenda will have to recognise insights gained from, in particular, the New Literacy Studies (Street, 1998, 2004) and the Academic Literacies movement (Lea & Street, 1998; Lillis & Scott, 2007), but it will also become enriched by a linguistic perspective (Biber, 2006; Blanton, 1994; Bachman & Palmer, 1996; Halliday, 1978, 1985, 1993, 1996, 2002; Hyland, 2009). In developing a template for the agenda we accordingly acknowledge the theoretical defensibility and the feasibility of different approaches to academic acculturation.

On developing academic literacy in the mother tongue for epistemological access: the role of isiZulu as the LoLT in a South African University

This paper reports on a study that examined the extent to which the development of academic literacy in isiZulu, an indigenous language spoken across all the nine provinces in South Africa, enhances opportunities for epistemological access. The focus is in relation to a pilot study of a Bachelor of Education Honours module that uses isiZulu as the Language of Learning and Teaching. New Literacy Studies is used to examine the extent to which an understanding of the nature of literacy as no longer so much on the acquisition of language skills, but as social practice, can develop academic literacy in isiZulu and enhance episte­mological access. The paper confronts the questions about whose literacy counts?, and why, and engages in ‘a discursive politics of knowledge production, asking what counts as knowledge, who is allowed to author it, whose interests does it serve, how and by whom is it contested?’ (Baynham, M., & Prinsloo, M. [2001]. New directions in literacy research. Language and Education, 15, pp. 84–85). Case Study as a research design, Narrative Style interview technique and documentary evidence as research instruments, were used as a useful means to collect, conceptualise and organise data. Findings suggest that meaningful and successful engagement with the development of isiZulu, so that it becomes part of the academy, will depend entirely on implementing strategies to develop its academic discourse, the secondary discourse after the primary discourse of the home.

From Print Texts to e-Books: The Changing Nature of Literacy

Joey, an energetic fifth-grader, does not consider himself a “good” reader. Recently, he told his teacher, Mrs. Nelson, that reading is boring and he dislikes “thick books with lots of words.” Unfo...

‘They didn’t tell me anything’: women’s literacies and resistance in rural Mexico

Drawing from ethnographic case studies, this article considers issues of women’s access to education by exploring the literacy experiences of four women in rural Mexico. Ironically, as physical access to education in this area has increased, women’s literacy experiences have become more complex, rather than more libratory. Formal literacy, as it plays out for women in this community, is experienced as both an oppressive force as well as a tool for resistance to other forms of oppression. More importantly, the stories in this article highlight the socially dynamic nature of literacy as these four women utilise interpersonal relationships in order to subvert oppressive norms. These findings have implications both for theories of literacy as well as for educators who wish to work in more engaged ways with women and their children who emigrate from areas like rural Mexico.

Literacy and Space Technology In Nigeria

This paper examines literacy as it affects Space Technology in Nigeria. The place of digital technology enables a proper understanding of literacy in Nigeria. The paper is divided into four parts. The first section redefines literacy in order to understand the possibilities of meanings based on the perceptions of James (1984), Onukaogu (2008), Arua (2009) and Ajayi (2009) that conceptualize the complex nature of literacy and its indispensability. The second part visualizes the role played by literacy in educating technological advancement in Nigeria, bearing in mind that in 1999, the Federal Government of Nigeria approved the Nigerian Space Policy and the implementation of the space program. The third section underscores the socio-economic relevance of literacy in enhancing global space technology for Nigeria while the fourth section relates Ajayi’s (2009) projection in a meta-critical manner, so that Nigeria can become a world power. The theoretical framework for this paper is the “Transformational Theory”. The theory opines that “learning occurs as a result of transformation of participation in culturally valued activities” such as space technology. The paper emphasizes practical findings to stimulate excellence and literacy relevance in science and technology.

Heritage-Language Literacy Practices: A Case Study of Three Japanese American Families

This article documents the heritage-language (HL) literacy practices of three Japanese American families residing in a predominantly Anglo and Latino community. Through interviews and observations, this study investigates Japanese children's HL-literacy practices, parental attitudes toward HL literacy, and challenges in HL-literacy development in a setting with minimal access to other HL speakers and resources. The data show that Japanese-literacy practices differed in each family, reflecting the situated nature of literacy and each family's unique needs for literacy. By providing exposure to varied forms of literacy texts and practices, the parents were instrumental in supporting their children's Japanese-literacy skills. Japanese literacy gave the children a strong foundation upon which to build their HL, supported familial relations, and also created channels of communication among family members. Although the parents possessed a focused commitment to achieve native-like HL literacy skills for their children, they were skeptical that their children would be able to reach this goal. The lack of external support, such as HL-speaking peers, HL schools, and accessible information about pedagogical strategies and resources, was perceived as a barrier to their efforts in helping their children sustain a high level of interest in HL-literacy practices.

When words fail us: using visual composites in research reporting

This article describes a use of visual imagery in research reporting that helps to emphasize the human and social dimensions of research issues and encourage different ways of thinking about the findings and implications. During the literature review, in order to establish the authors’ longitudinal research into adult literacy, they observed that research participants’ own perspectives and rich life-worlds were usually invisible in final reports and articles, submerged under layers of governmental or scholarly discourse. An irony was that, while literacy theory was moving towards acknowledging multi-literacies, reporting of literacy research remained heavily mono-modal. The authors of this research wanted to differ from this trend by giving people who were affected by adult literacy policy a vivid presence within their reports. They were intrigued by the use of visual means to foreground interviewees’ own words both as a way to register their importance to readers and to try to signal the multi-modal nature of literacy. They depicted their interviewees’ words as language spoken by imagined individuals typical of the interviewees, grounded within photographs of their research site. In this article, the authors describe their intentions and methods in making their reports visual and artistic composites rather than more traditional densely worded policy reports; they deconstruct some of the key images contained in their report in order to critique their efficacy in achieving their aims.

Using computers to support children as authors: an examination of three cases

The changing nature of literacy is well documented within the literature, challenging educators to examine their pedagogies in light of the needs of learners in the current climate. The development and creation of non‐linear texts within primary classrooms is of current interest as they reflect the types of texts accessed and created by users of technology and afford children opportunities to make connections between their in and out of school literacy experiences. The authors observed children over extended periods as they collaborated with teachers and peers to author non‐linear texts for a range of purposes. Three case studies will be reported, providing examples of how three cohorts of primary school children (one lower primary, one middle primary, one upper primary) responded to the challenge to create texts using Information and Communication Technology and the specific learning observed. What is interesting about these cases is the process that the children engaged with as they planned, constructed and evaluated their texts. This paper describes this process and the implications it presents for what we understand about the pedagogy of writing, the creation of text and the opportunities for providing classroom literacy experiences aimed at supporting and fostering student learning.

“Living the Literate Life”: How Teachers Make Connections Between the Personal and Professional Literate Selves

This study examines teachers' beliefs about themselves as literate people and how those beliefs translate into classroom literary practice. Using a multi-method approach, it explores the private literate selves (via diary, survey, and interviews) of twelve K–12 teachers and establishes a foundational understanding of the influence of the social and personal nature of literacy on teacher support for literacy in the classroom and how teachers' personal literacy practices are made public to classroom learners. Results indicate that literacy played an important functional role in the lives of all 12 teachers. There was variability in the prominence of literacy for pleasure in the teachers' lives. In addition, there was variability in whether and in what ways teachers made their literacy practices public for their students. Implications for teacher education and professional development programs are offered.

The effects of low literacy and cognitive impairment on medication adherence in HIV-positive injecting drug users

Low literacy and cognitive impairment have each been separately identified as risks for non-adherence in HIV infection. However, no studies to date have evaluated these skill deficits in combination. We therefore characterized the nature of literacy and cognitive skills in a sample of HIV-positive injecting drug users and assessed their combined effects on adherence. A community-recruited sample of 57 HIV-positive injecting drug users completed the study. Participants were classified into one of four groups based on their performance on a reading test and a brief neuropsychological battery: high literacy/high cognition, low literacy/high cognition, high literacy/low cognition and low literacy/low cognition. Chi-square and bivariate analyses were used to characterize the literacy and cognitive skills of the overall sample and logistic regression analysis was used to test the relation of the four groups to non-adherence (< 95%). In general, performance on measures of literacy and cognitive functioning were below average, with severe deficits noted in psychomotor functioning. Additionally, after adjusting for recent cocaine use, those classified as low literate/low cognition were over nine times more likely to be non-adherent than the referent high literate/high cognition group. Low literacy and cognitive impairment placed HIV-positive drug users at high risk for non-adherence, even after adjusting for recent cocaine use. The findings suggest that targeted interventions to improve these skill deficits in this population may help to improve adherence to HIV medications.

Writing, digital culture and English curriculum

In their out-of-school lives, young people are immersed in rich and complex digital worlds, characterised by image and multimodality. Computer games in particular present young people with specific narrative genres and textual forms: contexts in which meaning is constructed interactively and drawing explicitly on a wide range of design elements including sound, image, gesture, symbol, colour and so on. As English curriculum seeks to address the changing nature of literacy, challenges are raised, particularly with respect to the ways in which multimodal texts might be incorporated alongside print based forms of literacy. Questions focus both on the ways in which such texts might be created, studied and assessed, and on the implications of the introduction of such texts for print based literacies. This paper explores intersections between writing and computer games within the English classroom, from a number of junior secondary examples. In particular it considers tensions that arise when young people use writing to recreate or respond to multimodal forms. It explores ways in which writing is stretched and challenged by enterprises such as these, ways in which students utilise and adapt print based modes to represent multimodal forms of narrative, and how teachers and curriculum might respond. Consideration is given to the challenges posed to teaching and assessment by bringing writing to bear as the medium of analysis of, and response to, multimodal texts.