Locusts,gerbils and barley

Literacy teaching and learning in English primary schools has changed over the last few years. In particular the Literacy Hour has established more firmly a number of literacy activities such as shared reading and shared writing as well as creating a clear focus and time for literacy. However, it has also led, this article argues, to a devaluing of books, children and teachers. The Literacy Hour for the early years in Key Stage 1 may be too restrictive, formal and inappropriate for the youngest primary school children.     

The Literacy Hour: a case for listening to children

Despite a professional rhetoric about the importance of consulting children, there is reason to think that many teachers continue to disregard children's views in their dayto-day practice. The Literacy Hour, with its detailed content and prescribed pedagogic structure, leaves teachers, teaching assistants and children very little room for comment or change. This article reports on a small-scale interview study involving 48 children. The study aimed to understand children's experiences of the Literacy Hour. It is suggested that their comments should serve to inform professional practice. They raise important considerations related to teaching and learning and also provide reasons for questioning if the hour is as complete an answer to literacy teaching as it is claimed to be.     

The National Literacy Strategy and setting: an investigation in one school

This article investigates the policy of setting that is commonly being seen as an organizational tool for effective delivery of the National Literacy Strategy (NLS). It is suggested that teachers are finding the increased amount of whole-class teaching to a diverse range of abilities, as prescribed by the NLS, problematic. This case-study researches both teachers' and children's perspectives on the Literacy Hour as taught in mixed-ability classes and in sets. Reflective commentaries and pupil questionnaires were used to collect data over two years. The results indicate a complex range of issues, both pedagogical and organizational, which need be considered before setting can be promoted as a strategy for literacy delivery. I conclude that there is a need for urgent research into the effectiveness of setting as a means of teaching the Literacy Hour.     

Learning about literacy: Children’s versions of the Literacy Hour

This article reports on an enquiry into the responses of a class of Year 1 children, aged 5‐6 years, to the first eight months of the National Literacy Strategy (NLS). Children were given incomplete drawings to represent the four parts of the Literacy Hour. In completing the drawings the children made their own interpretations of the Literacy Hour. They could choose to write thought or speech bubbles, draw faces and expressions, make written or dictated comments about the teacher and the children portrayed. The methodology enabled these young children to articulate detailed responses to their experience of a particular style of teaching. Each child documented a range of attitudes to and feelings about whole class teaching, group work and the plenary session. These insights, which were often challenging, put the emotional dimension of learning at the centre of their experiences of the NLS.     

Progress and performance in National Literacy Strategy classrooms

This paper presents evidence from an ESRC funded research study into the implementation of the Literacy Hour in small rural schools in England. It supports evidence from national UK data that progress in literacy was made during the first year in which the Literacy Hour was operative. However, evidence from this small‐scale study shows progress being different in each class. Evidence is also presented to show that reading scores provide only a partial picture and that progress in writing may be evident in different classes. It is argued that following the Literacy Hour is not enough but that how teachers teach and the tasks they set during this classroom time have implications for the kind of progress made.     

Developing literacy through the Literacy Hour: a survey of teachers’ experiences

The results are reported of a survey of the experiences of 101 primary school teachers of the newly introduced Literacy Hour. The teachers were asked about the training and preparation they had received, the implementation of the Literacy Hour, its effectiveness and how children with special difficulties are differentially affected. General comments were also sought and sufficient were made for other aspects of the Literacy Hour to be reported, such as ability differences, writing, children’s attitudes and differences between different school years.     

Influences on the Literacy Hour

This paper outlines some of the key influences on the development of the National Literacy Strategy. In particular, it concentrates on the influences of international data on reading standards, international analyses of school effectiveness and some sources which have influenced the main components of the Framework for Teaching which supports the Literacy Hour. Finally, it draws upon national inspection evidence that many schools are likely to have much to gain from adopting the Literacy Hour. This conclusion is supported by the highly significant gains in the achievement of over 7000 pupils which have been reported in the evaluations of the National Literacy Project (NLP), the initiative on which the National Literacy Strategy is based. The paper is based on a more detailed review of research and other related evidence (Beard, in press).     

Teaching of Word Level Work in the Literacy Hour and Its Implications for Educational Psychologists' Assessment and Intervention

This paper describes initial research into the teaching of literacy in Bedfordshire by the Educational Psychology Service. The majority of lower schools in the authority follow the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) and teach the Literacy Hour daily. Five of these hours were observed in seven Year 1 classes across the country. Particular attention was given to the teaching of word level work, as this has been found to be most influential in learning to read. Instances of word level work were timed and categorised in terms of the approach used. The results demonstrated a large amount of variation in the delivery of the NLS in these schools, particularly in time spent on word level work. Most schools favoured onset-rime as an approach to teaching word level work, which reflects the emphasis of the NLS. These findings are related to recent and ongoing research into the most effective ways of teaching word level work.     

Pedagogical Dilemmas in the National Literacy Strategy: Primary teachers' perceptions,reflections and classroom behaviour

This paper argues that the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) offers contradictory pedagogical advice to teachers on 'interactive teaching'. It reports research on teachers' perceptions of and responses to this advice and focuses particularly on NLS demands for teaching which is 'well paced with a sense of urgency'. Evidence from case studies and systematic observations of classroom interaction is used to show that whilst teachers vary in their sensitivity to the dilemmas posed by NLS demands, their classroom discourse in the Literacy Hour is quantitatively and qualitatively different from pre-NLS discourse. It is suggested that opportunities for critical reflection on practice are needed to help teachers articulate and resolve the dilemmas created by the imposition of prescribed programmes on personal educational principles.     

Does the Model of Language in the National Literacy Strategy Create Failure for Pupils from Differing Language Backgrounds?

The National Literacy Strategy (NLS) was introduced by the government in the wake of the hotly debated issue of falling educational standards in the UK. All schools were required to adopt the NLS Literacy Hour unless they could show their preferred programme would result in raised levels of achievement. My experience of delivering the Literacy Hour has been a process of adaptation to the needs of my pupils, who are drawn mainly from groups whose language backgrounds differ from that which is dominant in school. I have found that the requirements of NLS, together with many of the commercial resources used to teach it, are not appropriate for pupils from these groups and a question arose: is it the pupils who are in some way deficient or is it the approach and the resources being used? This article takes a case study of the use of a commercially produced resource to explore the model of language implicit in NLS, the kinds of resources it generates and the ways in which this creates failure in pupils from different language backgrounds. It then considers the New Literacy Studies and their implications for an alteration in our approach.     

Interpretations of literacy

The National Literacy Strategy (NLS) was introduced into schools in England in 1998 with the aim of raising the literacy attainments of primary‐aged children. The Framework for Teaching the Literacy Hour, a key component of the NLS, proposes an interpretation of literacy that emphasises reading, writing and spelling skills. An investigation of the Literacy Hour for pupils with a range of special needs raised questions about teachers' interpretation of literacy when children have severe and complex learning needs. The research suggested that a skill‐based view of literacy is limited and has the potential to exclude pupils who cannot access or produce written material by conventional means. These issues are discussed within the context of views drawn from contemporary literature. Implications for further research are identified.     

Evaluating a Classroom Multimedia Programme in the Teaching of Literacy

This paper explores classroom interventions using a particular form of multimedia ICT, and looks to study pupil learning gains which accrue from its use. Work within the Literacy Hour in eight schools was detailed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this communication system and the research data include pre- and post-test assessments, along with interviews with classroom teachers and pupils. The children are presented with a series of journalistic tasks and classroom activities which they resolve through the use of a compact and coordinated information system. The outcomes demonstrate that children can become self-directive and very active, exploratory, learners in a very short period of time. They quickly enjoy the freedom and control which the system permits, and through which they can be shown to enhance particular literacy skills. The lessons to be learned here relate to the management and organisation of classroom teaching in the face of systems which promote rapid devolution of learning to the learner.     

中小学生信息素养培养策略的分析

新一轮基础教育课程改革将培养学生的信息素养作为重要目标之一。信息素养的培养不是一朝一夕的事情,在国内信息技术教育作为基础教育必修课的时期,可以双管齐下：一是在信息技术课堂上培养学生信息素养;二是在综合实践活动和其他课程中渗透信息技术。     

英国媒介素养教育特色分析与借鉴意义

伴随着社会现代化进程的不断加快,广播、电视、报刊、网络等媒体的影响力与日俱增,面对丰富多彩的媒介世界,如何正确解读媒介信息变得越来越重要。该文通过对英国媒介素养教育进行分析,结合我国国情简述其借鉴意义,以此为建设基于本土化的有中国特色的媒介素养理论体系及其实践提供参考。     

Raising Literacy Standards: The True Story

As the Literacy Hour becomes compulsory in primary schools across Britain it is important to consider its impact on the primary teaching profession and the factual basis on which its aims and structures are based. This article claims that the National Literacy Strategy is a deskilling initiative which itself is based on unsubstantiated claims that its proposals are more effective than previous methods. It enshrines a mythology that teachers do not teach literacy effectively and need to be retrained to do so. The article examines the evidence for this myth and finds there are no research findings of any validity whatsoever to support it. The article goes on to point to the real and inescapable correlation between literacy attainment and social and economic status, a finding which shows up in several different pieces of valid research. Working on the supposition that the Labour Government does genuinely care about the long tail of failure provided by the 20 per cent or so of children who come from the poorest socio-economic groups, the article goes on to discuss a reconceptualisation of this problem. Building on the work of social anthropologists, particularly that of Brian Street, it suggests the direction in which valid research-based policy and pedagogy should take to address it.     

Learning Together: A Family-Centered Literacy Program

ABSTRACT

Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, North Carolina serves a rapidly growing Hispanic population through its Family-Centered Literacy Program. The Hispanic population in the region has been increasing at a staggering rate of 50% per year, most of which is in-migration. These newcomers frequently face challenges adjusting to their jobs, schools, and living environment. The Family-Centered Literacy Program is teaching new skills to new residents to minimize the “culture shock”, and to make community immersion a less difficult process. The program offers evening classes 2 nights a week for parents and their children. Parents attend classes in basic and conversational English and General Education Development (GED) preparation; school-age children receive tutoring and help with homework; and preschool children learn from fluency-building games and activities. The college also provides Spanish instruction for school personnel who want to better communicate with Hispanic students and their parents. The program currently operates in 5 elementary schools. Each school has taken on the role of “community center” for Hispanic families.     

FORUM: Giving oneself over to science – Exploring the roles of subjectivities and identities in learning science

In this piece, Elizabeth Moje discusses with the authors of FORUM: Giving oneself over to science: Exploring the roles of subjectivities and identities in learning science (Tucker-Raymond, Varelas, & Pappas) the challenges and potentials of theorizing about the role of identities in learning science. The authors debate how identities and subjectivities should be conceptualized, and whether learning science requires people to change identities and/or subjectivities. In particular, the authors discuss the potential for thinking about how identities are enacted in practices, and how teachers might construct practices that evoke the identities associated with science as a way of developing opportunities for deep science learning. Elizabeth Birr Moje is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture in Educational Studies, a Faculty Associate in the Institute for Social Research and a faculty affiliate with Latina/o Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Moje teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in secondary and adolescent literacy, cultural theory, and qualitative research methods. Her research interests revolve around the intersection between the literacies and texts youth are asked to learn in the disciplines and the literacies and texts they engage outsIDe of school. Moje also studies how youth construct cultures and enact IDentities via their literacy practices outsIDe of school. Eli Tucker-Raymond is a doctoral student in the Literacy, Language, and Culture program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He sees his evolving status as a social scientist fraught with similarities and differences between himself and social scientists “out in the world.' He is working toward a designated researcher and teacher IDentity that includes a focus on critical media literacy, collaborative action research, and developing praxis-oriented, critically-conscious learning communities in urban K-8 school settings. One evolutionary, co-constructed step toward that IDentity are these publications, his first. Maria Varelas is Professor of Science Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research, teaching, and service are highly interrelated, focusing on classroom-based teaching and learning of science in urban settings with linguistically and socio-culturally diverse populations, collaborative teacher action research, discourse in science classrooms, integration of science and literacy, and science education reform in elementary school and college science classrooms. She currently co-leads with colleagues in Education, Natural Sciences, and Computer Science, three US NSF multi-year grants. Her research has appeared in a variety of journals and edited books. Christine C. Pappas is Professor of Language and Literacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her teaching and research focus on classroom discourse, genre (especially informational and science ones), teacher inquiry, collaborative school-university action research (CSUAR), and the development of culturally responsive pedagogy. She is a co-author of the 4th edition of An Integrated Language Perspective in the Elementary School: An Action Approach, which emphasizes the use of language and literacy and other modes of meaning as tools for inquiry and learning across the curriculum. She has co-edited two volumes on a Spencer-sponsored CSUAR project, Working with Teacher Researchers in Urban Classrooms: Transforming Literacy Curriculum Genres and Teacher Inquiries in Literacy Teaching-Learning: Learning to Collaborate in Elementary Urban Classrooms, and her research has been published in book chapters and various journals.