Critical Literacy,Disciplinary Literacy: Reading the Engineering-Designed World

Globally, many people spend most of their time interacting with the products of engineering design as they wear clothes, drink clean water, use transportation systems, and more. Given the omnipresence of engineering design, whose material results are felt daily in people’s lives, it seems especially important that students learn to recognize and question how certain designs promote the welfare and interests of some while remaining inaccessible to others. In this article, we outline a vision for critical literacy instruction in engineering that simultaneously incorporates and challenges professional standards. We—an associate professor of literacy, an engineer, and a teacher at an engineering-focused high school—illustrate how critical literacy instruction might be enacted in the context of engineering design instruction in high schools. We describe how critical literacy can complement disciplinary literacy instruction in engineering as students use critically-focused, disciplinary lenses to move toward social justice.     

PISA:阅读素养的界定与测评

阅读素养一直是国际评价关注的项目,也是由国际经合组织(OECD)发起组织实施的国际学生评价项目(The Programme Internation Student Assessment,以下简称PISA)首次重点测试部分。PISA认为随着社会、经济和文化的变化,尤其是终身学习观的形成,阅读及阅读素养的涵义也相应地发生变化,     

Literacy as Multidimensional: Locating Information and Reading Comprehension

A contrast is proposed between the two literacy constructs of reading comprehension and locating information in text. A pragmatic approach to identifying important classes of literacy tasks reveals that locating information is prevalent in school and work. This process is a form of strategic reading that differs from reading comprehension or recall of prose by being more goal directed, more selective in the use of text, and less dependent on declarative knowledge. The process of locating text information requires: formulation of a goal, selection of a category of text for inspection, extraction of relevant details, and recycling to obtain solutions. Relationships of locating information in text to models of problem solving, studying, and reading comprehension are discussed and research implications are suggested.     

数字化阅读素养:内涵、测评与培育--基于PISA2018的新探索

在当今时代,注重对学生数字化阅读素养的培育已成为阅读教育改革的重要趋势。PISA对数字化阅读素养的内涵进行了深度解读,并率先开展了相应的测评工作,为人们理解数字化阅读素养提供了诸多启示。我国学校教育应当加强对数字化文本的引入,强调对学生阅读评估反思能力的培养,加强数字化阅读教育与传统书面阅读教育的整合及其在各学科课程中的渗透。     

Literacy,media and multimodality: a critical response

In recent years, literacy educators have increasingly recognised the importance of addressing a broader range of texts in the classroom. This article raises some critical concerns about a particular approach to this issue that has been widely promoted in recent years – the concept of ‘multimodality’. Multimodality theory offers a broadly semiotic approach to analysing a range of communicative forms. It has been widely taken up by literacy educators, initially at an academic level, and has begun to find its way into policy documents, teacher education and professional development and classroom practice. This article presents some criticisms, both of the theory itself and of the ways in which it has been taken up within the wider context of curriculum change. It argues that, in its popular usage, multimodality theory is being appropriated in a way that merely reinforces a long‐standing distinction between print and ‘non‐print’ texts. This contributes in particular to a continuing neglect of the specificity of moving image media – media that are central to the learning and everyday life experiences of young children. Drawing on recent classroom‐based research, the article concludes by offering some brief indications of an alternative approach to these issues.     

Literacy policy and practice: Issues for debate

Editor of the journalAdult Education and Development. Author and editor of various publications, includingEducation for Liberation and Development. The Tanzanian Experience; andFishing in Rivers of Sierra Leone. Oral Literature. He also teaches at local adult-education centres and at the Institute of African Studies, University of Cologne.     

Reading and Integrated Literacy Strategies (RAILS): An Integrated Approach to Early Reading

The goal of this project was to develop and test the efficacy of a research-based early reading program that provided integrated reading instruction in kindergarten through 2nd grade. The Reading and Integrated Literacy Strategies (RAILS) program provided integrated instruction in word reading, vocabulary development, and comprehension to students in regular and self-contained special education classes in 2 schools serving low-income populations. Teachers provided explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle, phonemic analysis, word reading, vocabulary development, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension. Classes were organized so students received 2 periods of reading instruction daily, a longer morning period of instruction and a shorter afternoon review of instruction. The students in the RAILS program had significantly higher performance on standardized reading and language achievement tests, as well as on individually administered tests of phonemic awareness and reading fluency. The implications for research-based instructional practice that integrates instruction in word reading, vocabulary, and comprehension are discussed.     

Home Literacy and Chinese Reading in Hong Kong Children

Measures of Chinese character recognition, vocabulary, and interest in reading were administered to 92 second grade children in Hong Kong, while questionnaires on parental literacy practices were administered to their parents. In a hierarchical regression equation, maternal education, children's age and vocabulary skill predicted 18% of the variance in reading, while home literacy practices and children's literacy self-efficacy predicted an additional unique 19% of the variance in Chinese reading skill. Results underscore the importance of some early home literacy practices for reading achievement, even among children who are already receiving formal literacy instruction.     

Reading Attitudes and Literacy Skills in Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Children

The current study addressed the development of reading attitudes and their relationship to reading skills. Forty-one prekindergarten and kindergarten learners in 1 of 3 cohorts were assessed 2 or 4 times during the course of a year. Findings indicated a slight decrease in reading attitudes during the kindergarten year. Expected increases in skills were generally indicated with pronounced increases in sight word recognition during the kindergarten year, after other skills had been mastered. Decreases in some skills were evident after summer recess. Other findings from the study and recommendations for future research and practice are provided.     

PISA阅读素养子能力对数学与科学表现的影响--以PISA2018中国四省市样本数据为例

以PISA2018中国四省市样本数据为例,应用结构方程方法,研究信息定位、文本理解、评价与反思三个PISA2018阅读素养子能力对数学与科学表现的影响。结果表明,阅读素养的子能力之间高度相关,对科学表现和数学表现有较大的影响;信息定位对文本理解具有决定性的影响,文本理解在阅读对数学与科学的影响中起承上启下的关键作用,评价与反思对数学、科学的影响中很大一部分是通过文本理解间接影响的,阅读三个子能力对科学的影响中,很大一部分可以通过数学路径来解释。     

Metalinguistic Awareness,Reading and Spelling: Roots and Branches of Literacy

Studies on the role of metalinguistic awareness in emerging literacy have established that metalinguistic abilities at phonological, syntactic, print and pragmatic levels are linked to later attainments in literacy. Few have examined the interplay among these skills and developing reading and spelling. Using time-reversed path analyses, this study explores the possibility that metalinguistic awareness registers stronger direct effects on literacy than early pre-conventional reading and invented spelling skills. Sixty children aged 54 months (initially) were given measures of metalinguistic abilities, pre-conventional reading and invented spelling on three occasions. This allowed the exploration of reciprocal relationships between pre-conventional reading, invented spelling and metalinguistic abilities. On the fourth occasion, standardised tests of reading and spelling were administered. Results from time-reversed path analysis show that pre-conventional reading and invented spelling influenced each other across development and had stronger direct effects on subsequent literacy than did aspects of metalinguistic awareness. Pre-literate metalinguistic abilities were shown to affect pre-conventional reading and invented spelling skills and combine with these to influence further growth in literacy. The study’s results have implications for current models of literacy development.     

Examining an Extended Home Literacy Model: The Mediating Roles of Emergent Literacy Skills and Reading Fluency

We examined the developmental relationships between home literacy environment (parent teaching, shared book reading) and emergent literacy skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary, rapid naming speed) in kindergarten, reading accuracy and fluency in Grade 1, and reading comprehension in Grades 2 and 3 in a sample of Canadian children learning to read English (N = 214). Results from a latent variable model showed that parent teaching predicted letter knowledge and phonological awareness, and shared book reading predicted vocabulary and rapid naming speed after controlling for family socioeconomic status. Moreover, both parent teaching and shared book reading contributed indirectly to reading accuracy and fluency in Grade 1, which then mediated the effects of home literacy environment on reading comprehension in Grades 2 and 3. The results suggest that the effects of home literacy environment on later reading development are distributed via more pathways than previously thought.     

校本课外阅读与学生阅读素养提升的实践探究

从一线教育教学的实践活动出发,对中学语文校本教材与学生阅读素养提升的具体实践活动进行调查研究,从实践角度为研究校本教材和提升学生阅读素养提供些许借鉴。     

Both Theory and Practice: Science Literacy Instruction and Theories of Reading

Many journal articles detail recommendations to naturally integrate literacy instruction into content-area classes, particularly science, claiming that such instructional practices will support both literacy and content-knowledge acquisition. This begs the question, are the literacy strategies recommended for content-area instruction founded in established educational theories? The purpose of the current study is to examine the implicit and explicit theories driving science disciplinary literacy instruction. Theories assist in organizing and advancing research in a systematic manner. Information on the status of theory is essential to both practitioners (who are implementing strategies) and researchers (who are making recommendations for classroom instruction). Our study revealed that in science literacy, vocabulary instructional practices are frequently supported with Schema and Dual-Coding theories. Articles also frequently used theories grounded in social dynamics, including social constructionism and sociocultural perspective, to support literacy instruction. However, recommendations for other aspects of instructional practices in science literacy are generally not well-grounded in major reading theories.     

Inclusion in Norway: a study of ideology in practice

The purpose of this research was to examine how Norway's ideology of inclusion is realized in Norwegian schools and school systems, and what factors work to support or hinder its implementation. Using semi-structured interviews, we obtained data from our informants at multiple levels in the Norwegian educational system in one municipality. Our data analyses focused on identifying themes that were shared by multiple informants, as well as retaining important points or perspectives from individuals. Generally all of the informants were positive towards the ideology of inclusion. The biggest difficulty facing its implementation seemed to be that of social integration. This was much more of a concern than curricular integration. Probably because of such challenges, schools still placed students in separate settings. Factors that affected inclusion included: characteristics of teachers, classroom environment, school climate, cooperation, support from people with competence, attitudes and resources.     

Reading disabilities and aggression: a critical review.

Several authors have suggested that there is a strong association between specific learning disabilities and aggression, antisocial behavior, and juvenile delinquency. Claims that learning disabilities cause aggressive behavior and delinquency are increasingly common in the popular press, and a variety of theories concerning this purported causal relationship have been proposed. This research is flawed by a lack of specificity in the definition of learning disabilities, with studies often examining heterogeneous groups of children with learning problems. The present review examines the relationship between specific reading disabilities (the most frequently diagnosed learning disability) and aggressive behavior. The data suggest that there is not enough evidence to conclude that reading disability causes aggressive or delinquent behavior, although limited evidence does suggest that reading disability may worsen preexisting aggressive behavior.     

Worlds of Literacy Worlds Apart: Reading at Home and at School

This article considers the findings of a literacy survey with Year 7 students who had experienced difficulties with reading. It highlights the range of texts and events that these students were choosing to engage with outside school and the mismatch between home and school literacy. The findings signal a need to go beyond the traditional reading test to uncover the texture of literacy experience and achievement in students' lives.     

The IEA Studies of Reading and Writing Literacy: a 1996 perspective

The paper reviews IEA literacy studies. It analyses them in the light of theories of literacy, cross‐cultural perspectives, and their practical and theoretical value. It points out that, despite some well‐grounded theoretical perspectives, in reality, the IEA instruments test only certain aspects of ‘formal’ literacy. The paper explores the cultural colonisation of IEA instruments by ‘Western’ literacy forms, expressed partly through the training and administrative structures of the IEA and partly through the existing international dominance of such forms. It looks at the implicit assumptions made about literacy through the use of particular statistical item response models and suggests that there are important lessons to be learnt from the IEA experience. It concludes with some suggestions for future work.