科学素养与人文素养的比较研究

科学素养与人文素养,是当前教育界比较热门的两个词汇.二者在内容与培养方式上,既有相似和联系,也有天然存在的区别.本文就此做一比较,以抛砖引玉.     

The relationship between home literacy practices and developmental trajectories of emergent literacy and conventional literacy skills for Korean children

Previous studies with English-speaking families in the North American context demonstrated that home literacy practices have positive influences on children’s literacy acquisition. The present study expands previous studies by examining how home literacy practices are related to growth trajectories of emergent literacy skills (i.e., vocabulary, letter-name knowledge, and phonological awareness) and conventional literacy skills (i.e., word reading, pseudoword reading, and spelling), and by using data from Korean children and families (N = 192). The study revealed two dimensions of home literacy practices, home reading and parent teaching. Frequent reading at home was positively associated with children’s emergent literacy skills as well as conventional literacy skills in Korean. However, children whose parents reported more frequent teaching tended to have low scores in their phonological awareness, vocabulary, word reading and pseudoword reading after accounting for home reading. These results suggest a bidirectional relationship between home literacy practices, parent teaching in particular, and children’s literacy skills such that parents adjust their teaching in response to their child’s literacy acquisition. Furthermore, cultural variation in views on parent teaching may explain these results.

Constructs of teacher professionalism within a changing literacy landscape

This paper argues that the work of teachers in England's primary schools has been reconstructed. It is proposed that the literacy curriculum has been a major factor in this reconstruction. The paper suggests that the purposes of literacy today have been determined by policy makers, and that the nature of policy texts has changed, hardened, into specific requirements. It argues that the role of the policy driver has been fundamental in this era, influential in the contexts of policy making, policy text production and teacher training. The paper develops by proposing that there is an emerging model of professionalism today largely determined by two key figures: the Policy Driver, and the Practice Driver, or Headteacher. These two figures are at the meeting place of policy and practice and assume the mantle of ‘reality definers’ for the process of literacy education in English primary schools.     

What is literacy for students with severe learning difficulties? Exploring conventional and inclusive literacy

This paper arises from research into inclusive literacy for pupils with severe learning difficulties who do not learn to read and write conventionally. The ultimate aim of the study was to seek out examples of good practice in teaching and learning literacy that includes students with severe learning difficulties and disseminate them as widely as possible. Thirty-five schools were visited and observations made in 122 lessons. Sixty-one teachers were interviewed and their paperwork examined. Ten focus groups and five 'expert witnesses' were consulted, alongside desk-based research designed to locate 'good practice'. Teachers used a mixture of conventional (e.g., texts) and non-conventional (e.g., pictures, film and oral) media, although more observations were made of conventional literacy teaching (e.g., phonic work) than of non-conventional (e.g., filmmaking). Results from the research suggest that few students with severe learning difficulties are likely to learn to read and write conventionally (i.e., read for pleasure, work and study) and teachers may be relying too much on teaching traditional literacy to them. It may be useful to explore teaching and learning around alternative media such as still and moving images, live theatre and storytelling, digital technology and the arts. Although some teachers are making good use of these media, the potential of these media for providing inclusive literacy experiences could be further developed.     

Critical multimodal literacy practices in student-created comics

In the wake of grim events such as Russian invasion on Ukraine, Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the death of George Floyd in America and mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, all occurring amid the pandemic of COVID-19, it became increasingly more important to recognise literacy work that promotes a critically informed and just society. Thus, through the lens of critical literacy and intersectionality, this study sought to examine how pre-service teachers drew on critical multimodal literacy practices to create open educational resources (OER) or openly licensed comics that motivate local, global and/or transnational literacy education. Data collection took place at a four-year public university in Upstate New York. They included student-created comics, student reflections, researcher's fieldnotes and course syllabus. Findings from the study reveal that the pre-service teachers incorporated either a local, global or transnational connection to enact a social change. Further analysis shows that the OER or student-created comics inherently involve actions which are aligned with the three principles of social justice: redistributive justice, recognitive justice and representational justice.     

Making sense of carbon footprints: how carbon literacy and quantitative literacy affects information gathering and decision-making

Abstract

Popular media often reports on the carbon footprint of certain activities, items or people. We were curious to explore how people make sense of these news pieces, and specifically, whether and how carbon literacy (CL) and quantitative literacy (QL) influences their reasoning. We interviewed and surveyed students of various backgrounds using simulated news pieces of three carbon footprints: that of Facebook, that of the US dairy industry, and that of the US chocolate industry. We found that being highly carbon or quantitatively literate influenced participants’ reaction – but only while they were gathering information about the prompts. The effect of literacies disappeared when they were asked to decide whether the carbon footprint was worrisome or which they would tackle first as a policy-maker. We describe and categorize the strategies students used to make sense of carbon footprints, and link the frequency of using particular strategies to their carbon and quantitative literacy. Implications for future research and environmental education are discussed.     

Embedding the literacy strategy: snapshots of change

This paper considers the government's initiative to change the teaching of literacy in primary schools in England. It draws on evidence from a one‐year ESRC‐funded project that observed teaching in the first year of the NLS and a two‐year follow‐up study that revisited and re‐interviewed several of the teachers from the original study. It proposes that, although substantial changes have been made to the organisation and procedures of literacy teaching, deeper pedagogical change is less obvious in some classrooms. It further argues that for teachers to have the freedom to develop their pedagogy, the climate of coercion and outcome‐led education must change.     

How we started: the family literacy programme in Slovenia

Different research on literacy demonstrates that the family has an important impact on literacy in general and it seems that there may be an inter‐generational transfer of literacy level and reading habits within families. In order to compensate for lack of encouragement of reading at home, different initiatives have been developed involving work with children and adults, because of their stronger influence on the whole family. The more effective methods are those that include members of the same family, especially parents and children. The Slovenian Institute for Adult Education has developed a family literacy programme for parents and their children called ‘Read and Write Together’. This is aimed at parents with a low standard of education who have children in the initial years of elementary school. At that time, parents are very motivated to help their children to succeed at school, but their own basic skills need some refreshment before they are able to help their children. The school programme involves two teachers, 50 hours of organised schoolwork and 25 hours of planned homework.     

Understanding and enabling marketplace literacy in subsistence contexts: The development of a consumer and entrepreneurial literacy educational program in South India

To function in the economic realm, two important resources that individuals need are finances and know-how. Whereas there has been considerable attention on microfinancing, we describe an educational program that focuses on enabling generic skills about the marketplace and complements these important efforts. We conducted research aimed at understanding lives and marketplaces in subsistence contexts in urban and rural parts of a state in South India. We used the research as a basis for developing a consumer and entrepreneurial literacy educational program. This program uses the “know-why”, or an understanding of marketplaces, as a basis for the know-how of being an informed buyer or seller. Despite the difficulties with abstract thinking that low-literate individuals experience, we enable deeper understanding of marketplaces by leveraging the social skills that participants bring to the program and relating educational content back to their lived experiences. Such understanding can enable individuals to place themselves on a path to lifelong learning. Implications of this work for research and practice in non-formal education are discussed.     

Educational television as mediated literacy environments for preschoolers

Research on children’s television suggests that preschool programs can facilitate literacy and language development. In 1998 Whitehurst and Lonigan described two interdependent sets of skills involved in literacy acquisition: ‘outside‐in’ or oral language skills and ‘inside‐out’ or code‐related skills. Outside‐in skills support children’s interpretation or understanding of print by placing written language into context through oral language. Inside‐out skills focus on those skills involved in the translation of print into sounds and sounds into print. This study describes the production techniques of Between the Lions that contributed to preschooler’s observed behaviors from the outside‐in and the inside‐out.     

Conceptualisations of literacy and literacy practices for children with severe learning difficulties

Literacy is traditionally narrowly conceptualised as a set of skills related to accessing and generating written or printed text. For children designated as having severe learning difficulties (SLD), who are unlikely to develop these ‘conventional’ literacy skills, such a conception implies their semi‐literacy or nonliteracy. Although conceptions of multimodal literacy and multiliteracies have rarely been applied to this group, broader understandings of literacy that include a range of activities, modes and media provide greater opportunities for including these learners in literacy practices. Drawing upon our research with teachers of this group of children and young people, we illustrate these literacy practices. We note, however, that such practices are often haphazard, not coherently thought through, and that there is much confusion regarding any distinction between communication and literacy. We argue for literacy as a specific form of communication, but conclude that broader models of literacies should be utilised to guide and support practitioners in developing interactive practice and in making reasoned and principled approaches and decisions about literacy practices, routes and progression for children with SLD.     

A Year of Equity literacy: community actions and invitations

School inequity is a persistent and ‘wicked’ problem communities have a responsibility to solve. Here, we argue that critical literacy advocacy within community‐based settings provides an unprecedented opportunity to examine and disrupt school inequity and promote sustainable actions towards justice‐based solutions. This article connects critical literacy and equity literacy theoretical frameworks to describe a series of invitations and actions that focused on addressing school inequity in one town. Here, authors offer lessons learned from a community‐led school equity literacy campaign where researchers and participants collectively organised and reflected on a public event series entitled ‘Year of Equity’ (YoE). Three key YoE processes are described: facilitating book clubs, facilitating a community conversation event and forming action committees. These processes relied on critical equity literacies through the promotion of new relationships and shared experiences centring on engagement with a variety of texts, through a focus on incremental change over time.     

Book and school: On literacy and general education

In this article it is argued that an internal relationship exists between literacy (being able to read and write) and general education. The concrete meaning of general education and of (cultural) literacy is, however, subject to cultural and historical change. In the light of our context of cultural diversity, a plea is held to underline the liberative powers of general education, and in doing so to pay homage to pluriformity as a value. School and book serve this liberation in the sense that horizons are widened by learning about worlds of thought other than one's own. Such a general education is in keeping with an envisioned Europe predisposed to tolerance of difference and pluriformity.     

识字教学与儿童认知发展

识字教学与儿童认知发展有密切的关系。探讨影响儿童识字的诸多因素，如儿童心理特征、汉字字音、字形、字义的特点等，总结一些识字教学方法的成功经验，对提高识别教学的效率，促进儿童认知水平的提高，都是很有益的。     

Assessing historical literacy among 12-year-old Finns

The new national core curriculum has been put into operation in Finland. Teaching and learning is intended to focus on historical literacy. In this paper, we study how it can be assessed with a pen-and-paper test, and what that reveals in regards to the mastering of historical literacy among elementary pupils. To study this, we designed a test where pupils analysed sources, answered open-ended questions, and filled out weighted multiple-choice questions. Furthermore, we implemented the test with the think-aloud method. The results from this indicate the way 12-year-olds read historical documents and formulate their own interpretations. The results demonstrate that most of the pupils succeeded in acquiring historical information from different sources, as well as understanding the interpretative nature of historical knowledge. The test also revealed that pupils can identify some intentions of the sources’ producers, as well as reasoning through their own interpretations using a single source. Some pupils, however, could not process the cognitive noise inherent to the test (i.e. conflicting sources). Some of them also considered an authoritative source to be principally more reliable than other sources. Our study sheds light on which kind of task can be used at the elementary level to assess historical literacy.     

The literacy practices of vocational training in Carpentry and Automotive Technology

Prior studies indicate that vocational students’ literacy practices are more demanding than is generally recognised. Employing a view of literacy acquisition as socialisation, we investigated the literacy practices of trades training in Carpentry and Automotive Technology, by interviewing tutors and examined course books and student writing. A register of spoken language was identified, which differed from everyday language in being highly technical, reflecting specialist knowledge and indexing an identity as a member of a trade. Students were found to read a wide variety of texts, including complex professional texts such as Building Standards, Specifications, Codes and manufacturer’s instructions, as well as tutor-produced course books. Writing was less prominent and included assignment questions, and tests and some preparation for professional writing. Further research into the oral practices of vocational study, based on observation of pedagogical practice, is suggested. Implications for vocational pedagogy include a focus on support for reading.     

The value of literacy practices

The concepts of literacy events and practices have received considerable attention in educational research and policy. In comparison, the question of value, that is, ‘which literacy practices do people most value?’ has been neglected. With the current trend of cross-cultural adult literacy assessment, it is increasingly important to recognise locally valued literacy practices. In this paper we argue that measuring preferences and weighting of literacy practices provides an empirical and democratic basis for decisions in literacy assessment and curriculum development and could inform rapid educational adaptation to changes in the literacy environment. The paper examines the methodological basis for investigating literacy values and its potential to inform cross-cultural literacy assessments. The argument is illustrated with primary data from Mozambique. The correlation between individual values and respondents’ socio-economic and demographic characteristics is explored.     

Social capital and home literacy engagement: case studies of low-SES single mothers' access to literacy resources

Drawing on the theory of social capital, this paper explores how difference in mothers' social networks might impact on low‐SES' children's literacy development at home. A cross‐case analysis of the influence of two low‐SES single‐mothers' social networks on their children's home literacy practices suggests that difference in mother's social capital has a disparate impact on their access to literacy resources, their home literacy engagement with their children, and their interaction/connection with school teachers and contributes to their children's differential school literacy achievement. The findings suggest that for low‐SES children to achieve school success, parents must be able to access resources that support their ability to engage in literacy activities that align with those valued in the school. Therefore, there is a need for schools and teachers to provide not only services that allow more networking opportunities but also support to understand school‐literacy practices and expectations for low‐SES families, especially single‐parents who might be more socially isolated.     

Defining literacy: Paradise,nightmare or red herring?

Abstract

In the past fifty years, hundreds of definitions of ‘literacy’ have been advanced by scholars, adult literacy workers, and programme planners. This paper analyses three major approaches to the problem of defining literacy: quantitative, qualitative and pluralist. The pluralist perspective, while not without its difficulties, appears to have the most to offer in understanding literacy in the contemporary world.