Teachers as readers: building communities of readers

Given the narrow scope of primary teachers' knowledge and use of children's literature identified in Phase I of Teachers as Readers (2006–2007), the core goal of the Phase II project was to improve teachers' knowledge and experience of such literature in order to help them increase children's motivation and enthusiasm for reading, especially those less successful in literacy. The year‐long Phase II project, Teachers as Readers: Building Communities of Readers, which was undertaken in five Local Authorities (LAs) in England, also sought to build new relationships with parents and families and to explore the concept of a “Reading Teacher (RT): a teacher who reads and a reader who teaches” (Commeyras and colleagues). The research design was multilayered; involving data collection at individual, school and LA levels, and using a range of quantitative and qualitative data research methods and tools. This paper provides an overview of the Phase II research. It suggests that teachers need support if they are to develop children's reading for pleasure, and enhance their involvement as socially engaged and self‐motivated readers.     

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This article employed cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling techniques to develop a working typology of relevant compliance‐gaining message strategies. Subjects constructed and sorted strategies they reported to use in three compliance‐gaining situations. The resultant typology included “direct‐rational,” “manipulation,” “exchange” and “threat” strategies. A category of “expertise claims” strategies emerged in the solutions for a negotiating situation. Some of the obtained categories supported strategies used in Clark (1979) and Fitzpatrick and Winke (1979), providing independent support for the existence of some aspects of their taxonomies. It was concluded that future research on identifying factors influencing strategy preference strive to incorporate more relevant forms of strategy choices.     

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This study investigated the relationship between the communication source variables of attraction, credibility, and perceived similarity and the overall image of public figures. The arrangement of 15 public figures in a multidimensional space was compared to their arrangement on measures of attraction, credibility, and similarity. The arrangement of public figures in the multidimensional space was based on respondents' paired comparisons among all public figures. Results indicated that most of the theoretic concepts were used by respondents to construct their iamge of public figures. However, the concepts did not emerge as major determinants of that image. It was suggested that these concepts might be part of a latent structure which emerges whenever public figures are viewed as communicative sources.     

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The author explores the internal and external communication techniques of the Women's Liberation Front and concludes that techniques which aim to alter the social structure are more effective than those which aim to alter social attitudes.     

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Applying concepts of Hugh Dalziel Duncan and Kenneth Burke to the rhetoric of Erik H. Erikson reveals that Erikson's thesis supports a social hierarchy that is based upon sex roles and supported by the mysteries of sex and science.