A Literacy Hour is Only Part of the Story

The literacy hour is a key facet of the new National Literacy Strategy and its use will be more or less mandatory in English primary schools from September, 1998. Yet there are some problems with the concept and, Robin Campbell argues in this article, it may not in fact go far enough. Is a literacy hour in itself likely to make a significant difference to children’s literacy achievements, or are there other considerations which require some attention?     

Teachers’ Values and the Literacy Hour

The article reports on an enquiry into teachers’ values and beliefs about literacy. The teachers work in the schools of members participating in an action research project on improving literacy in the primary school. The enquiry was one of the first tasks the project undertook. Its purpose was to enable teachers to articulate their own values and to examine these alongside aspects of the proposed literacy hour within the context of the overall national literacy strategy. As schools implement the literacy hour, the project plans to examine critically the extent to which teachers’ own values and valued practices can operate alongside the requirements of the literacy hour. It will also critically examine those values themselves to see if they change in the light of the experience of the literacy hour. There are some marked differences between the teachers’ views and those embedded within the national literacy strategy. The article discusses some potential practical implications which may arise for teachers and children from these differences. Some commonality between the teachers’ views and the national literacy strategy are also highlighted. It is not the intention of the research project to shape a consensus on values. Rather, one of its purposes is to create a context in which teachers and teacher researchers can engage actively and critically in implementing the national strategy, rather than seeing themselves as passive agents. The debate within the project about values differences is intended to contribute to this purpose

     

Pupils' perspectives on literacy teaching

The views of the learners are arguably the most important consideration in planning for classroom literacy instruction, yet they are often ignored by policy-makers and by teachers. In order to match the literacy curriculum to the learners, it is essential for teachers to consider the programmes they offer from the learners' points of view. This article begins an exploration of some of what is known about learners' perspectives on literacy and literacy teaching, presenting some preliminary findings of a research study into pupils' views of the literacy hour.     

Overhead projection in the literacy hour

Shared reading and writing have emerged as key teaching techniques in the literacy hour and most teachers are becoming familiar with the use of big books and other kinds of enlarged texts. In this article Jane Medwell suggests some possible ways of using the overhead projector in the literacy hour as a source of shared texts.     

"炳人识字法"在汉语语文教学中的运用及意义

“炳人识字法”是将国家颁布的2500个常用字1、000个次常用字和420个非常用字,不重复地编成七言句式的口诀。“炳人识字法”在语文教学识字中可使3至6岁的儿童,每天用半小时,10个月内即可轻松地掌握2940个汉字,远远超过了小学生6年级应识2000多字的识字量。“炳人识字法”是对我国传统的“集中识字”的继承和创新,在汉语语文的教育上有重要的的意义。     

An Investigation of Pupil Perceptions of Mixed-ability Grouping to Enhance Literacy in Children Aged 9-10

This study is based on interviews with two groups of primary school children after they had completed a project in which children were taught in mixed-ability and mixed-gender groups with the purpose of improving their literacy. It examines the organisation of the children and the collaborative style of learning they were engaged in. Presentation of findings take the form of transcribed extracts from the group interviews. In analysing the children's comments, it is argued that mixed-ability teaching provides a setting in which both low- and high-achieving students value the opportunity to work together where both groups believed they benefited. The study suggests that interactions among peers can facilitate literacy development in individual children. At a time when teachers are being asked to group children according to attainment, especially for the literacy hour, the potential benefits of mixed-ability teaching should not be ignored.     

Shared thinking: metacognitive modelling in the literacy hour

This paper considers evidence from an ESRC funded study of twenty teachers, teaching the literacy hour. In 170 hours of observation only one instance of a teacher modelling her thinking about reading or writing was recorded: and this was unplanned. It is suggested here that, although there should be opportunities for metacognitive modelling within the literacy hour, teachers find it difficult to use these opportunities. Some ideas about the importance of metacognition are reviewed and an example of metacognitive modelling in shared writing is analysed. It is argued that concern for improved performance may cause more attention to be focused on what is to be achieved rather than how.     

The Discourse of the Literacy Hour

The introduction of a national 'literacy hour' as part of the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) has been seen as a major reform to improve standards of literacy in primary schools in England. A major thrust of the reform has been the concept of 'interactive whole class teaching' which has come from the school improvement literature. However, critics argue that the concept of interactive whole class teaching is not well defined and that it mainly results in traditional whole class teaching. As a consequence of policy initiatives like the NLS, teachers are pressurised into using more directive forms of teaching with less emphasis on active learning. In order to investigate these arguments, the discourse styles of 10 teachers were intensively studied as they taught the literacy hour. The findings suggest that the endorsement of interactive whole class teaching appears to have had little effect in providing opportunities for pupils to question or explore ideas to help them regulate their own thinking. The implications of the findings for externally generated curriculum reforms like the NLS are considered together with the in-service needs of teachers who are charged with implementing such policy-led initiatives.     

Hourwatch: monitoring the inception of the National Literacy Strategy

This article outlines the preliminary findings from a small scale research project set up by a group of UKRA members to monitor teachers’ views of the literacy hour in its first year. The research draws on questionnaires, interviews and video data to reveal issues which concerned those teachers taking part in the survey and provides a snapshot of what it was like for some teachers coping with this initiative.     

Philosophy in Primary Schools: Fostering Thinking Skills and Literacy

We read for many reasons and this paper focuses on one of those – reading for thinking. It reports on the Philosophy in Primary Schools project and argues that one of the best ways teachers can add value to their work in literacy is by incorporating philosophical discussion with children through an approach called Stories for Thinking. It outlines what ‘philosophy for children’ is and how it can be used for developing the thinking skills that underpin literacy and higher order reading skills. It argues that a Stories for Thinking approach can enrich thinking and learning in the literacy hour, and uses evidence from teachers and children to illustrate the effects of the programme on classroom practice and on raising levels of pupil achievement     

Further evidence for the efficacy of an evidence-based,small group,literacy intervention program for young struggling readers

Abstract

An earlier series of pilot studies and small-scale experimental studies had previously provided some evidence for the efficacy of a small group early literacy intervention program for young struggling readers. The present paper provides further evidence for efficacy based on a much larger sample of young, socially disadvantaged, at-risk readers. The participants comprised 14 successive intakes of Year 1 and Year 2 students into small group remedial literacy intervention programs hosted by two charitably run tutorial centres. In each semester, over the years 2005–2011, eight students (on average) attended each centre for one hour, for four days per week, for 15 weeks. Pre- and post-test assessment data on eight measures of early literacy performance were available on up to 194 students who completed the program. Substantial and statistically significant gains were evident on all literacy measures with large effect sizes. These results provide further evidence for the efficacy of the small group literacy intervention program.     

Writing and Role Play: A Case for Inclusion

Role play’s relationship to traditional classroom teaching activities is frequently seen as problematic, in much the same way that language learning outside school often has an unexamined relationship with the teaching of school literacy. The small exploratory study described here suggests that planning role play for specific generic purposes and introducing adults as equal players with strong modelling roles, greatly enhances children’s oral and written achievements, and that these can be further developed by introducing an additional teaching intervention. The study’s findings suggest that this kind of role play can be seen as a legitimate way of implementing some parts of the literacy hour, especially in writing, and as a valuable and assessable curriculum activity in its own right.     

职业院校融合性职业素养培养探析

职业素养是个体职业生涯发展的基础,分为显性素养和隐性素养2个部分。当前职业教育人才培养过程中存在重视显性素养,轻视隐性素养的现象,这不利于个体的长期职业生涯发展。构建职业素养融合培养新模式,改变落后的职业教育理念,有利于大学生综合素养的提升,符合后现代主义职业教育的特点,也符合新时代对职业院校人才培养的要求。     

Socio‐psychological factors in electronic networking

In this paper we examine contrasting concepts of literacy in relation to the rehabilitation of offenders under supervision by the probation service. One approach, derived from a linguistic or code-based perspective, delimits literacy to acquiring minimal routines and procedures to function in mainstream society in order to avoid further failure. Critical literacy, in contrast, derived from a socio-cultural perspective, highlights the importance of acquiring literacy as an active, context-grounded process, through which individuals take personal control for accessing wider social, educational and economic opportunities. Arguably, literacy is a fundamental component of any rehabilitation process for offenders and there is evidence that involvement in literacy programmes reduces recidivism, enables offenders to achieve better family relationships, higher levels of self-control and self-esteem, whilst also promoting a sense of social responsibility and inclusion in society. Data are reported from a survey conducted in England and Wales as part of a Home Office commissioned research project which surveyed literacy provision in 53 out of the 55 probation services, with 13 of these subjectedto more intensiveresearch through site visits.The paper focuses on how probation services perceive the literacy needs of offenders under supervision, and how this informs processes of assessment and intervention, including priorities given to literacy work. The objective of the research was to recommend practices, procedures or partnerships which allow for an effective response to offenders' literacy needs within the service's statutory role. The findings indicate that the provision of literacy assessment and support is unsystematic, with very wide variations in practice nationally, both between and within services. Conflicting perspectives are highlighted on how literacy should be defined and taught, which in turn reflect underlying ambivalence about the role of probation officers as either punitive or preventative. Recommendations are made for policy development and changes in probation service practice.     

教育技术学专业视觉素养教育的“4W"探析

视觉素养教育理论具有多学科交叉渗透的属性,对许多学科产生潜移默化的影响.在教育技术学这样一门伴随媒体技术发展而逐渐兴起的专业内开展视觉素养教育,其目标与内容都具有一定的独特性.视觉素养教育前需要厘清四个基本问题:Why -为什么进行视觉素养教育？What-视觉素养教育的内容是什么？How -怎样进行视觉素养教育？Who-谁已经做了相关研究？称之为“4W”探析.     

Writing and writer identity: the poor relation and the search for voice in ‘personal literacy’

The teaching of writing has been a relatively neglected aspect of research in literacy. Cultural and socio‐economic reasons for this are suggested. In addition, teachers often readily acknowledge themselves as readers, but rarely as writers. Without a solid grasp of compositional processes, teachers are perhaps prone to adopt schemes that promote mechanistic writing approaches, which are reinforced by top‐down discourses of literacy. This ‘schooling literacy’ is often at odds with children's lives and their narratives of social being. After discussing theories of writing, tensions between ‘schooling literacy’ and ‘personal literacy’ are debated. It is suggested that the disjuncture of the two exposes gaps that provide teachers with spaces in which to construct a writing curriculum embedded in children's language and funds of knowledge. The elevation of this ‘personal literacy’ is viewed as an imperative to enhance children's identities as writers, as well as their engagement with writing.     

Thirty-Two States Plan Curriculum Revisions

The standard of literacy achieved by school students, in particular in reading, is an issue that attracts perennial media and professional attention. Although the focus of literacy teaching has tended to be on initial literacy skills, it is the contention of this article that greater attention needs to be given to the uses to which these skills are put in terms of wider learning. The aims of the article are, first, to explore the nature of what we might term “extended literacy skills” and, second, to draw out some principles for the teaching of such skills. The article does this through a presentation and analysis of two encounters with extended literacy each involving a different 10-year-old student with difficulties in basic literacy. The article will try to show that these literacy difficulties were not an impediment to the exercise of extended literacy—students simply required thoughtful and effective teaching.     

To be Hypermedia‐literate is to be Liberated: Reading,Writing, Arithmetic and Hypermedia Literacy as Basic Skills

Abstract

This paper deals with the ability to access, analyse, create and evaluate information through a variety of media. This ability is considered part of different kinds of literacy

The paper argues that the use of interactive hypermedia CD‐ROMs and networked services in society and in the classroom influences the way in which students acquire and retain both basic and high‐level literacy skills.

Media and computer literacy are new forms of literacy which have arisen as the result of the increasing use of electronic mass media and computer technology. Currently, media and computer literacy are evolving into a new form of literacy designated ‘hypermedia literacy’. Hypermedia literacy is considered to be the ability to use hypermedia CD‐ROMs and networked services as versatile problem‐solving tools and as a means of communication.     

New literacies, multiple literacies, unlimited literacies: what now, what next, where to? A response to blue listerine, parochialism and ASL literacy

This article is a response to Blue Listerine, Parochialism, and ASL Literacy (Czubek, 2006). The author presents his views on the concepts of literacy and the new and multiple literacies. In addition, the merits of print literacy and other types of literacies are discussed. Although the author agrees that there is an American Sign Language (ASL) literacy, he maintains that there should be a distinction between conversational "literacy" forms (speech and sign) and secondary literacy forms (reading and writing). It might be that cognitive skills associated with print literacy and, possibly, other captured literacy forms, are necessary for a technological, scientific-driven society such as that which exists in the United States.     

The IALS approach to defining and measuring literacy skills

The term “illiterate” that is commonly used to describe someone who cannot read or write is an absolute term, which fails to recognize that those who are deemed “illiterate” are probably in fact “literate” to some degree. The approach taken to define and measure literacy in the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) acknowledges the limitation of viewing literacy in a dichotomous way. The IALS assesses literacy proficiency along a continuum. This chapter considers some of the conceptual issues surrounding the definition and measurement of literacy proficiency. In particular, it addresses what the IALS literacy proficiency measure is and what it is not.