Interrogating global flows in higher education

The paper critically reviews the concept of ‘global flows’, beginning with the discussions of flows and networks in Appadurai (1996 Appadurai, A. 1996. Modernity at large: cultural dimensions of globalisation, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.  [Google Scholar]), Castells (2000 Castells, M. 2000. The rise of the network society, Oxford: Blackwell. [Crossref] [Google Scholar]) and Held et al. (1999 Held, D., McGrew, A., Goldblatt, D. and Perraton, J. 1999. Global transformations: politics, economics and culture, Stanford: Stanford University Press.  [Google Scholar]). Emphasising the need to embed ‘global flows’ in agency and history, and to explore global connectedness in terms of situated cases, the paper develops an analytical framework for analysing global flows in higher education. It then applies that framework in an examination of global ‘scapes’, impacts, transformations, situatedness and relations of power in two national universities, research leaders in their nations but located in contrasting nations: Universitas Indnesia and the Australian National University.     

Effective civic education: an educational effectiveness model for explaining students' civic knowledge

In this study, a comprehensive educational effectiveness model is tested in relation to student's civic knowledge. Multilevel analysis was applied on the dataset of the IEA Civic Education Study (CIVED; Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Oswald, & Schulz, 2001 Torney-Purta, J., Lehmann, R., Oswald, H. and Schulz, W. 2001. Citizenship and education in twenty-eight countries: Civic knowledge and engagement at age fourteen, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: IEA.  [Google Scholar]), which was conducted among junior secondary-school students (age 14), their schools, and their teachers. In total, 28 countries, 4,136 classrooms, and 93,565 students were included in the analysis. The results indicated that the influences on students' civic knowledge are multilevel. Students' civic knowledge and skills were partially explained by individual characteristics, by factors related to quality and opportunities for civic learning offered by classrooms and class composition, and by factors at the national context level. We conclude that most effectiveness factors are relevant for the field of civic and citizenship education and that schooling and educational policy matter for students' success in this field.     

Interactive or inactive? a consideration of the nature of interaction in whole class teaching

Recent learning theories and the suggested importance of ‘interactive’ approaches in national initiatives, (NLS, NNS) led to an ESRC‐funded action research project involving the University of Exeter and teachers in three schools—‘Using Talk to Activate Learners’ Knowledge' (TALK). This investigated how ‘interactive’ whole class teaching was and whether teacher‐pupil interactions permitted recoding of information and understanding. The findings corroborate those from Galton (1999 Galton M Hargreaves L Comber C Wall D Pell T (1999a) Inside the primary classroom—20 years on (London, Routledge) [Crossref] [Google Scholar]a, 1999 Galton, M, Hargreaves, L, Comber, C, Wall, D and Pell, T. (1999b). Changes in patterns of teacher interaction in primary classrooms: 1976–1996. British Educational Research Journal, 25(1): 23–37. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar]b), Mroz (2000 Mroz, M, Smith, F and Hardman, F. (2000). The discourse of the Literacy Hour. Cambridge Journal of Education, 30(3): 379–390. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar]) and English (2002 English, E, Hargreaves, L and Hislam, J. (2002). Pedagogical dilemmas in the National Literacy Strategy: primary teachers' perceptions, reflections and classroom behaviour. Cambridge Journal of Education, 32(1): 9–26. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar]): that teacher‐led questioning and explanation still dominate, as do teachers' objectives. Interaction as participation was differentially experienced by higher and lower abilities, boys and girls, with few opportunities for pupil initiation or extended response. The study, however, provides a model for more fully analysing the varying forms and functions of teachers' questions and statements which may lead to a greater clarity in recognising ways to provide more effective discourse for learning.     

The White Kid Can Do Whatever He Wants: The Racial Socialization of a Gifted Education Program

Drawing from a 14-month ethnographic study at an elementary school in the US South, I examine the role that the gifted and talented (GT) program played in racial socialization at the school. I use the principle of Whiteness as property (Harris, 1995 Harris, C. I. (1995). Whiteness as property. In K. Crenshaw, N. Gotanda, G. Peller, &; K. Thomas (Eds.), Critical race theory: The key writings that formed the movement (pp. 276–291). New York, NY: New Press. [Google Scholar]) to analyze space as curriculum, the physical and social spaces of a school that structure how particular student bodies are positioned in relation to power and privilege. I argue that the segregated GT structure perpetuates racial inequities that young children are taught to accept and emulate. I conclude with implications for practice and future studies about the role of GT in racial socialization.     

THE CHESTER CASE

Broad (1999) Broad, B. 1999. “Facing our professional others: Border crossing in teacher education”. In Preparing a nation's teachers: Models for English and foreign language programs, Edited by: Franklin, P., Laurence, D. E. and Welles, E. B. 373–379. New York: The Modern Language Association of America.  [Google Scholar] observed that “troubled borders crisscross the geography of teacher preparation in English” (p. 373), calling for collaboration where preparation is a university responsibility (Gregorian, 2001 Gregorian, V. 2001. Teacher education must become colleges' central preoccupation. August172001. The Chronicle of Higher Education, pp.B7–B8.  [Google Scholar]). This research documents a three-year complex case study that addressed the question: What happens when English, education, and high school faculty cross borders to prepare secondary English teachers to teach in urban schools? This study looked at faculty mentors and preservice teacher mentees as they collaborated on multi-leveled projects to improve teacher preparation of secondary English teachers. Interventions included collaborative seminars, collaborative mentoring, and individual mentoring of preservice English teachers by English, education, and high school faculty. Results indicate that interventions challenged biases of stakeholders, enhanced the quality of teacher preparation, and revised instructional practices of university English and education faculty and preservice teachers. Results indicate that mentees incorporated suggestions made by mentors that reinforced pedagogical content knowledge. Most mentees regarded content mentors favorably, noting that their focus of observation was different from those of clinical supervisors and cooperating teachers. English and education mentors assimilated changes in personal pedagogy based on observations and discussions with urban high school teachers. Such discussions also challenged personal beliefs about urban students and schools. Content mentors also adjusted syllabi to include materials used in high school curricula. The implication of this study is that “crossing borders” improves and alters how university faculty can better prepare preservice teachers.     

A Framework for Test Validity Research on Content Assessments Taken by English Language Learners

In this article, I specify a conceptual framework for test validity research on content assessments taken by English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools in grades K–12. This framework is modeled after one previously delineated by Willingham et al. (1988) Willingham, W. W., Ragosta, M., Bennett, R. E., Braun, H., Rock, D. A. and Powers, D. E. 1988. Testing handicapped people Needham, MA: Allyn & Bacon..  [Google Scholar], which was developed to guide research on students with disabilities. In this framework for research on ELLs, there are eight indicators of test comparability. Five of these indicators are measures of score comparability, while three indicators are measures of task comparability. To date, research has been conducted on six of the indicators of test comparability for content assessments taken by ELLs. For these indicators, findings from representative studies are summarized. For the remaining two indicators of test comparability for which no published research currently exists, I describe the types of research studies that are necessary to gather evidence to evaluate the comparability of content assessments for ELLs.     

Grading ePortfolios: Tracing Two Approaches,Their Advantages,and Their Disadvantages

How does one grade an electronic portfolio? This question is one I have thought about, have enacted, and have written about, primarily in reference to ePortfolios used in writing classrooms (Yancey, McElroy, & Powers, 2013 Yancey, K. B., McElroy, S., & Powers, E. (2013). Composing, networks, and electronic portfolios: Notes toward a theory of assessing ePortfolios. In D. DeVoss & H. McKee (Eds.), Digital writing assessment and evaluation. Computers and composition. Logan, UT: Digital Press/Utah State University Press. [Google Scholar]). But what happens when the content and developmental levels are changed, in this case from an undergraduate first-year writing class to another required class, this one offered at the graduate level, Digital Revolution and Convergence Culture? Is using a scoring guide, the preferred approach in writing classes, the best approach in this new context? Or, following Moss, Girard, and Haniford (2006 Moss, P., Girard, B., & Haniford, L. (2006). Validity in educational assessment. Review of research in education 30, 109–162.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), could one use outcomes to “stage a conversation” around a student's ePortfolio; if so, what might a staged conversation look like? Or what might happen if instead of using outcomes as a framework, students themselves set the terms for that conversation? Here, I consider these options, attending especially to the importance of making good judgments and of fostering learning.     

A Simple Technique for Determining Whether Children Know the Meaning of Spelling Words

ABSTRACT

Empirical research has provided evidence supporting the validation and prediction of 4 major sources of self-efficacy: enactive performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and emotional states. Other research studies have also attested to the importance and potency of self-efficacy in academic learning and achievement. Despite this emphasis, very few, if any, research has explored the impact of the 4 sources of information on self-efficacy from a developmental perspective. The author used latent growth modeling to explore the impact of the 4 sources of information on self-efficacy over 4 occasions. This methodological approach, similar to recent studies (Caprara et al., 2008 Caprara, G. V., Fida, R., Vecchione, M., Del Bove, G., Vecchio, G. M., Barbaranelli, C. and Bandura, A. 2008. Longitudinal analysis of the role of perceived self-efficacy for self-regulated learning in academic continuance and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100: 525–534. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), is significant, as it allowed the author to trace the developmental trajectories of elementary school children's self-efficacy beliefs in English and mathematics over time. Three hundred and thirty-nine 3rd- and 4th-grade students (147 girls, 192 boys) took part in this study. Two Likert-type inventories were administered and the data collected were analyzed with the statistical software SPSS AMOS 18. Causal modeling analyses indicated that children's self-efficacy for English and mathematics learning increased over time. Furthermore, of the 4 informational sources, enactive performance accomplishments associated closely with the growth of change of English and mathematics self-efficacy beliefs. Children's emotional states also associated negatively with the growth of change of mathematics self-efficacy. Enactive performance accomplishments and verbal persuasion associated positively with the initial levels of English and mathematics self-efficacy. Finally, the results provide methodological support for the psychometric properties of the inventories used.     

For Love of the Word: English Teaching,Affect and Writing1

Research in the UK, USA and Australia confirms that secondary English practising and pre‐service teachers are typically characterised as great readers. Indeed the subject position of English teacher entails a ‘love’ of reading (Peel, R., Patterson, A. & Gerlach (Eds), 2000 Peel, R. 2000. “Beliefs about ‘English’, in England,”. In Questions of English: Ethics, Aesthetics, Rhetoric and the Formation of the Subject in England, Australia and the United States, Edited by: Peel, R, Patterson, A and Gerlach. 116–188. London: Routledge/Falmer.  [Google Scholar]). However there is no corollary with writing. Few English teachers are simultaneously ‘writers’ in any sustained, pleasurable or publicly successful ways. This paper examines data gathered from pre‐service secondary English teachers and from experienced teachers who are also writers about their own writing practices and experiences and looks at the relationship between these issues of affect and pedagogy. Embodied and positive affects—characterised as ‘love’, ‘passion’ and ‘immersion’ in writing—are prominent features of the stories told by accomplished writers. Love of ‘the word’, including a love of reading, and a productive tension between form and freedom, are further threads in the discursive textures of their stories of coming to writing.     

Assertion‐reason multiple‐choice testing as a tool for deep learning: a qualitative analysis

This paper reflects on the ongoing debate surrounding the usefulness (or otherwise) of multiple‐choice questions (MCQ) as an assessment instrument. The context is a graduate school of business in Australia where an experiment was conducted to investigate the use of assertion‐reason questions (ARQ), a sophisticated form of MCQ that aims to encourage higher‐order thinking on the part of the student. It builds on the work of Connelly (2004 Connelly, L. B. 2004. “Assertion‐reason assessment in formative and summative tests: results from two graduate case studies”. In Educational innovation in economics and business VIII: pedagogy, technology and innovation, Edited by: Ottewill, R., Borredon, E., Falque, L., Macfarlane, B. and Wall, A. 359–378. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.  [Google Scholar]) which produced a quantitative analysis of the use of ARQ testing in two economics course units in a flexibly‐delivered Master of Business Administration (MBA) program. Connelly's main findings were that ARQ tests were good substitutes for the more conventional type of multiple‐choice/short‐answer type questions and, perhaps more significantly, ARQ test performance was a good predictor of student performance in essays—the assessment instrument most widely favoured as an indicator of deeper learning. The main focus of this paper is the validity of the second of these findings, analysis of questionnaire data casting some doubt over whether student performance in ARQ tests can, indeed, be looked upon as a sound indicator of deeper learning—student reactions and opinions suggesting instead that performance might have more to do with one's proficiency in the English language.     

Spaces of influence: A framework for analysis of an individual’s contribution within communities of practice

Within our lives there are spaces of influence or opportunities in which the impact of an ‘influential other’ enables learning in ways that might not otherwise occur. This paper focusses on learning in terms of the learning of others, and in particular the professional impact of John Bowden. Building on the work of Vygotsky (1978 Vygotsky, L. S. 1978. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.  [Google Scholar]), and Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976 Wood, D., Bruner, J. and Ross, G. 1976. The role of tutoring in problem solving. Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17(1): 89–100.  [Google Scholar]), the notion of supported learning is revisited and extended. A range of actual stories involving Bowden as key influence are presented through which the term: spaces of influence is developed. The stories flow from varied contexts including those pertaining to research students, communities of practice around methodological positions steeped in qualitative methods, phenomenography, and a scholarly review network. Five spaces within a metaspace of influence‐action, explicit discourse, learning, practice development and trust are developed through the analysis of the stories. The paper pays tribute to the significant work of John Bowden, through the telling of embedded stories, the interweaving of theory such as Bowden and Marton’s (1998 Bowden, J. and Marton, F. 1998. The university of learning: Beyond quality and competence in higher education, London: Kogan Page.  [Google Scholar]) theory of learning for an unknown future, and through the development of the notion of spaces of influence that emerged from reflection here on Bowden’s contribution within communities of practice.     

Beliefs and Practices of In-Service Preschool Teachers in Inclusive Settings: Implications for Personnel Preparation

This study examined the beliefs of in-service teachers working in inclusive classrooms regarding developmentally appropriate practices and how those beliefs affected their attitudes toward, knowledge of, and comfort levels regarding working with children with disabilities. A mixed-method approach was utilized and data were collected through the use of three survey instruments: Teacher Belief Scale and Instructional Activities Scale (Hart et al., 1990 Hart, C., Burts, D., Charlesworth, P., Fleege, P., Ickes, M. and Durland, M. 1990. The teachers Questionnaire: Preschool version, Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University, School of Human Ecology.  [Google Scholar]) and the In-service Teacher Self-Report Survey (Mitchell, 2002 Mitchell, L. C. 2002. Blending practices in regular education: A mixed method design study on course practicum and training experiences in relation to preservice teacher attitudes and knowledge about inclusion. Dissertation Abstracts International, 5: A63 (UMI No. 726467131). [Google Scholar]). Data were also collected through open-ended questions to assess Teachers' perceived level of preparation for the inclusive classroom. This study also examined whether education or experience levels had an influence on Teachers' perceptions regarding inclusive practices. Results of the study indicate that there is not a significant relationship between in-service Teachers' beliefs regarding developmentally appropriate practices and their attitudes toward, knowledge of, and comfort levels regarding inclusion. Additionally, results indicate that the Teachers' levels of education or experience do not necessarily indicate that they are prepared to meet the needs of the inclusive classroom environment. Implications regarding the preparation of and ongoing training needs of teachers are discussed.     

Globalizing Christian Higher Education: Reflections from Delhi and Kampala

We are currently experiencing a global revolution in Christian higher education. As chronicled in Carpenter, Glanzer, and Lantinga's 2014 Carpenter, J., Glanzer, P., & Lantinga, N. (2014). Christian higher education: A global reconnaissance. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. [Google Scholar] volume titled Christian Higher Education: A Global Reconnaissance, Christian universities are expanding rapidly around the globe. My institution, Cornerstone University, has been involved in this phenomenon by developing international partnerships and expanding our educational presence in Asia. Our involvement has led me to participate in two recent international educational ventures, one a faculty/staff workshop on faith integration at Uganda Christian University, and the other a one-week course in church history for pastors and Christian professionals in Delhi, India.     

Portfolio Assessment and Quality Teaching

Our article focuses on using portfolio assessment to craft quality teaching. Extant research literature on portfolio assessment suggests that the primary purpose of assessment is to serve learning, and portfolio assessments facilitate the process of making linkages among assessment, curriculum, and student learning (Asp, 2000 Asp, E. (2000). Assessment in education: Where have we been? Where are we headed? In R. S. Brandt (Ed.), Education in a new era (pp. 123–157), Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. [Google Scholar]; Bergeron, Wermuth, & Hammar, 1997 Bergeron, B. S., Wermuth, S., & Hammar, R. C. (1997). Initiating portfolios through share learning: Three perspectives. Reading Teacher, 50, 552–562.[Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Cohen & Wiener, 2003 Cohen, J. H., & Wiener, R. B. (2003). Literacy portfolios: Improving assessments, teaching, and learning (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. [Google Scholar]; Neill & Mitchell, 1995 Neill, M., & Mitchell, R. (July, 1995). National forum on assessment: Principles and indicators for student assessment systems (Final draft). National Forum on Assessment. [Google Scholar]; O'Malley & Pierce, 1996 O'Malley, J. M., & Pierce, L. V. (1996). Authentic assessment for English language learners: Practical approaches for teachers. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. [Google Scholar]; Smith & Ylvisaker, 1993 Smith, M. A., & Ylvisaker, M. (1993). Teachers' voices: Portfolios in the classroom. Berkeley, CA: National Writing Project. [Google Scholar]; Yancey, 1996 Yancey, K. B. (1996). Dialogue, interplay, and discovery: Mapping the role and the rhetoric of reflection in portfolio assessment. In R. C. Calfee & P. Perfumo (Eds.), Writing portfolios in the classroom (pp. 83–101). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [Google Scholar]). Because a learning portfolio is a collection of student work samples over time, it provides teachers with opportunities to understand the process of student learning. This is especially important in the current educational context where teachers are expected to teach all students, including English language learners, to develop high-level thinking and content knowledge aligned with Common Core State Standards. To support teachers to provide quality teaching that meets Common Core State Standards for diverse English language learners, we begin our article with 3 important reasons for using portfolio assessment. We then describe procedures for implementing portfolio assessment in individual classrooms.     

Fulfilling Their Dreams: Marginalized Urban Youths' Perspectives on a Culturally Sensitive Social and Emotional Learning Program

A growing body of research suggests educators need to focus on cultivating social and emotional competencies that youth will need to thrive in the new knowledge economy (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, &; Schellinger, 2011 Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., &; Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing student's social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82, 405–432. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). For marginalized urban youth, in particular, few have derived programs and interventions to assist with these competencies. This study illuminates the perspectives of 9 African American youth at risk for academic failure taking part in the Fulfill the Dream (FTD) program. FTD is a social and emotional learning curriculum emphasizing social justice and critical consciousness through the utilization of hip-hop culture. Information regarding the nature of the collaboration of this research project and recommendations for education professionals working with marginalized youth are discussed.     

The impact of a language education programme on the development of PGCE English student teachers' perceptions of subject identity

This article builds on work by Burley and Pomphrey, described in previous articles (2002 Burley, S and Pomphrey, C. 2002a. Intercomprehension: a move towards a new type of language teacher. Language Learning Journal, 25: 46–51. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar]a, 2000 Burley S Pomphrey C From language user to language teacher 2002b www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00002356.htm  [Google Scholar]b, 2003 Burley, S and Pomphrey, C. 2003. Intercomprehension in language teacher education: a dialogue between English and Modern Languages. Language Awareness, 12(3 & 4): 247–255. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar]). It describes student teachers' changing perceptions of English as a subject as they experience a language education programme on their PGCE English course. What began as a programme for encouraging cross‐curricular links between the subjects of English and Modern Languages has also effected dramatic changes in English student teachers' perceptions of their subject and thus their subject identity. The focus is on English student teachers. The Modern Languages student teachers also gained from the collaboration, and this has been documented in articles by Burley and Pomphrey, and a booklet entitled ‘Language teacher education’ (2004). The data informing this article were collected over the past four years through student feedback, evaluations of individual sessions and overall evaluations.     

Taking a Different Route: Contribution of Articulation and Metacognition to Intervention With At-Risk Third-Grade Readers

This study compared the impact of 2 types of small-group interventions targeting below-level 3rd-grade students. The study compared WordWork decoding and spelling instruction (Calfee, Miller, Norman, Wilson, &; Trainin, 2006 Calfee, R. C., Miller, R. G., Norman, K., Wilson, K., &; Trainin, G. (2006). Learning to do educational research. In M. A. Constas &; R. J. Sterenberg (Eds.), Translating theory and research into educational practice: Developments in content domains, large scale reform, and intellectual capacity (pp. 77–103). New York, NY: Routledge. [Google Scholar]; Calfee &; Patrick, 1995 Calfee, R. C., &; Patrick, C. L. (1995). Teach our children well: Bringing K–12 education into the 21st Century. Stanford, CA: Stanford Alumni Assoc. [Google Scholar]), which includes attention to articulation and metacognition, with a more traditional phonological awareness program (Torgesen &; Bryant, 1993 Torgesen, J. K., &; Bryant, B. R. (1993). Phonological awareness training for reading. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed. [Google Scholar]). University education students delivered the interventions with equal instructional time and fidelity, to both groups. Students in both intervention groups engaged in repeated readings of connected text to promote transfer. The impact of training was assessed through decoding, spelling, and oral reading fluency measures. Results indicated that WordWork produced more positive results in decoding, spelling, and fluency, and had significantly fewer treatment resisters.     

Evaluating the Madrasa preschool programme in East Africa: a quasi‐experimental study

This study investigated the effect of preschool experience (two types of preschool: Madrasa and non‐Madrasa) on the cognitive development of children in East Africa. In the three countries studied (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania/Zanzibar) preschool education is burgeoning and government standards are being set. This quasi experimental evaluation used four subscales (block building, verbal comprehension, early number concept, picture similarities) adapted from the British Ability Scale II (BAS II; discussed by Elliot, Smith and McCulloch in 1996 Elliot, C.D., Smith, P. and McCulloch, K. 1996. British Ability Scale (BAS), Berkshire, , UK: NFER‐NELSON.  [Google Scholar]), and three (verbal meaning, exclusion, closure) from the African Child Intelligence Test (ACIT; discussed by Drenth and colleagues in 1980 Drenth, P.J.D., Van der Vlier, H., Muinde, N.P., Otaala, B., Omari, I.M. and Opolot, J.A. 1980. Jaribio akili mtoto Afrika. [African child intelligence test.] [in Kiswahili], Amsterdam: Free University of Amsterdam.  [Google Scholar]). The development of 423 children was studied at pre‐test (entry to preschool) and at post‐test 18 months later. Hierarchical regression showed that children with both types of preschool experience performed better than the home (comparison) group; however, children attending Madrasa Resource Centre preschools achieved significantly higher scores overall.     

Time to go back to the drawing board: organisation of primary school reading development in South Africa

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 findings highlighted concerns about reading literacy teaching quality in South African primary schools (Howie et al., 2007 Howie, S.J., Venter, E., Van Staden, S., Zimmerman, L., Long, C., Scherman, V. and Archer, E. 2007. Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 summary report. South African children's reading literacy achievement, Pretoria, South Africa: Centre for Evaluation and Assessment, University of Pretoria.  [Google Scholar]). In response, the national Department of Education (DoE, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c, 2008d) has emphasised instructional practice improvement. However, little emphasis has been placed on the role of school organisation in learners’ reading success or failure. This article presents school organisation findings from a mixed methods study that explored South African Grade 4 teachers’ instruction practices and schooling conditions for reading literacy development. The analysis considered is based on the reclassification of the PIRLS 2006 sample according to class achievement levels on the PIRLS benchmarks and instructional language profiles. Findings from the PIRLS 2006 school questionnaire data are reported together with findings from case studies to illustrate differences and similarities in school organisation for reading literacy across a range of low- and high-performing schools.     

The positioning of adult learners: appropriating learner experience on the continuum of empowerment to emancipation

This article offers a critical analysis of discourses and power structures and the ways they operate in two instructors’ adult education and ESOL classrooms. The instructors defined learner experience in specific ways and subsequently used those definitions and drew on their learners’ experiences to define their curricula and pedagogy. They conceptualized learner experiences in ways that potentially empowered or emancipated learners from existing power structures. The data presented are part of a two‐year study of different lifelong learning and adult education contexts in the north‐eastern and mid‐western USA. Data sources included survey, interview, artifact collection, and observation methods. Data analysis was guided by a sociocultural theory of literacy development (The New London Group 1996 New London Group. 1996. A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66: 60–92. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Gee 1996 Gee, J. 1996. Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in discourses , (2nd edn), London: Falmer.  [Google Scholar], 2003 Gee, J. 2003. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, New York: Macmillan. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Barton and Hamilton 1998 Barton, D. and Hamilton, M. 1998. Local Literacies: Reading and writing in one community, London: Routledge. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), Holland et al.'s (1998 Holland, D., Lachicotte, W. Jr., Skinner, D. and Cain, C. 1998. Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.  [Google Scholar]) theories of figured worlds and identity development, Bakhtin’s (1963 Bakhtin, M. M. 1963. Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics, Edited by: Emerson, C. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. 1994 [Google Scholar], 1975 Bakhtin, M. M. 1975. The Dialogic Imagination, Edited by: Emerson, C. and Holquist, M. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. 1998 [Google Scholar], 1979 Bakhtin, M. M. 1979. Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, Edited by: Mcgee, V. W. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. 1994 [Google Scholar], 1986 Bakhtin, M. M. 1986. Toward a Philosophy of the Act, Edited by: Liapunov, V. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. 1993 [Google Scholar]) theory of dialogism, and Foucault’s (1963 Foucault, M. 1963. The Birth of the Clinic: An archaeology of medical perception, Edited by: Sheridan‐Smith, A. New York: Vintage. 1975[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 1980 Foucault, M. 1980. Power/Knowledge: Selected interviews & other writings, 1972–1977, Edited by: Gordon, C., Marshall, L., Mepham, J. and Soper, K. New York: Pantheon. 1980 [Google Scholar]) conceptualization of power. One instructor offered her learners a chance to empower themselves, that is, to find gratification by learning to appropriate mainstream ways of acting, thinking, believing, and using text. The discourse that promotes such instructional efforts is predominant in lifelong learning and adult education. In this discourse, referred to at the outset as one of coherence, learner experience, as a resource for language and literacy development, is essentialized as dispositional, meaning that correct or proper attitudes and beliefs are necessary for empowerment. The other instructor practised a reverse discourse, or what Gee (1996 Gee, J. 1996. Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in discourses , (2nd edn), London: Falmer.  [Google Scholar]) referred to as a liberatory literacy. She positioned learners to critique the Discourses they encountered, including those they participated in, as movement toward emancipation, toward communicative competence or a critical stance in the world. In effect, learners reversed the panoptic framework and turned the gaze back upon existing power structures. In this case, learner experience was valued for the experiential positioning it offered learners.