Visual literacy: A failed metaphor?

Has the visual literacy construct led to useful research and defensible practice? The authors draw on psycholinguistics, pathology, and developmental, cognitive, and cross-cultural social psychology to argue that it has not. A reconceptualization of the inherent assumptions and implications is proposed.     

A historical reflection on literacy,gender and opportunity: implications for the teaching of literacy in early childhood education

This paper presents a historical reflection on gender and literacy, with a view to informing the present teaching of literacy in early childhood. The relationship between gender, literacy and opportunity in the labour market is examined, given that despite girls’ achievement in literacy, in comparison with boys’, women continue to earn substantially less than men. In order to understand this relationship, this paper reflects on literacy as a socio-historical construct as well as examining the ways in which the past is constitutive in forming enduring notions of gender that penetrate all elements of society, including the literacy classroom. This critical analysis of what is learned about and through the medium of literacy in the early childhood classroom has major implications for the teaching of literacy today. It is argued that in order to address this issue, early childhood educators need to value and nurture children’s digital literacies as well as create learning environments that allow all children genuine opportunities to question, challenge and explore dominant discourses that are embedded in text.     

Visual testing — Visual literacy’s second dimension

One dimension of visual literacy is concerned with the use of visual materials for the improvement of student learning. Might not the use of visual testing employing similar types of visual materials provide a more valid assessment of the level of information acquisition achieved by students receiving visualized instruction? This exploratory study took a look at that question — and in itself raised some interesting questions for future study.     

教育技术学专业学生视觉素养的培养

随着科技的进步和信息传播形态的多样,人们接受信息的方式也呈现多样化趋势,在这个视觉传播发达的社会,高校学生不仅需要具备文字读写能力,还应该具备读图用图的能力,对教育技术学专业的学生来说更是如此,视觉素养是他们必须具备的素质之一。本文以教育技术学专业为依据,首先总结了教育技术专业学生视觉素养培养的必要性,概括了视觉素养的理论基础,最后提出了培养教育技术学专业学生视觉素养的措施。     

艺术设计专业大学生视觉素养培养

社会的进步以及科技的发展,推动了传播方式与视觉技术创新变革,也促进了视觉体验的多元化。在进入了视觉影响的"读图时代"之后,人们了解世界的方式被彻底改变,视觉化思维逐渐替代了传统思维,成为了目前人们获取各种信息的主要渠道和方式。本文以艺术设计专业教学为内容,针对改专业学生视觉素养培养的几个方面进行分析研究。     

Cultural literacy: A positive view

E. D. Hirsch, Jr.'sCultural Literacy attracted much negative criticism by, among others, H. J. Graff, B. Hendley, and H. R. Woodhouse writing inInterchange. In their articles they expressed their disapproval of Hirsch's social views and his list of cultural items which every American should know. According to these critics, Hirsch failed to take account of some very important issues in education, such as the place of form as well as content, or the attention given to actual components of youth and ethnic culture as opposed to the more static and perhaps anachronistic elements of elite culture. These criticisms are examined in the light of the actual situation in the schools rather than from an ideological point of view. Contrary to the opinion held by the critics, it is reasoned that the idea of cultural literacy as well as the list of specific items embodying it may be useful in curriculum planning in general and in setting minimum goals for the education of the disadvantaged in particular.     

Teacher assessment literacy in practice: A reconceptualization

This paper aims to reconceptualize teacher assessment literacy (AL) by connecting two fields of research: educational assessment and teacher education. It begins with a scoping review of AL studies. By synthesizing and analyzing 100 studies on teacher AL, a new conceptual framework of teacher assessment literacy in practice (TALiP) is proposed. This framework is illustrated by a discussion of the various components of teacher AL and their interrelationships. This paper concludes with the theoretical contributions of the framework, a working definition of TALiP, and implications for policy and practice of assessment education.     

Women and literacy: A quest for justice

She has been involved in adult literacy and non-formal education projects since 1978 and is a member of various national committees on education and of the International Task Force on Literacy. Author of several reports and articles in her field of competence.     

A meta-analysis of morphological interventions: effects on literacy achievement of children with literacy difficulties

This study synthesizes 79 standardized mean-change differences between control and treatment groups from 17 independent studies, investigating the effect of morphological interventions on literacy outcomes for students with literacy difficulties. Average total sample size ranged from 15 to 261 from a wide range of grade levels. Overall, morphological instruction showed a significant improvement on literacy achievement ([`(d)] \overline d  = 0.33). Specifically, its effect was significant on several literacy outcomes such as phonological awareness ([`(d)] \overline d  = 0.49), morphological awareness ([`(d)] \overline d  = 0.40), vocabulary ([`(d)] \overline d  = 0.40), reading comprehension ([`(d)] \overline d  = 0.24), and spelling ([`(d)] \overline d  = 0.20). Morphological instruction was particularly effective for children with reading, learning, or speech and language disabilities, English language learners, and struggling readers, suggesting the possibility that morphological instruction can remediate phonological processing challenges. Other moderators were also explored to explain differences in morphological intervention effects. These findings suggest students with literacy difficulties would benefit from morphological instruction.     

The science literacy gap: A Karplus lecture

The great American experiment in mass higher education has failed completely in the sciences, where we have a small educated elite and an illiterate general public. Our graduate education in science is the best in the world, and contrary to the belief of some, we do not face a future shortage of scientists. However, the rest of our educational system is bad enough to constitute a threat to the ideal of Jeffersonian democracy. The Mechanical Universe, a video series produced by Caltech and aimed at high school physics teachers, is described. Although that project has been very successful, much more must be done. The educational infrastructure must be strengthened to the point where science can be taught gradually, throughout the school years and beyond. Furthermore, those of us who are professional teachers of science must become better teachers, both by increasing our own mastery of our subjects and by better understanding the difficulties our students have in learning science.Robert Karplus Memorial Lecture, Seattle, April 8, 1989     

Salvadoran campesinos/as’ literacy practices and perceptions of the benefits of literacy: A longitudinal study with former literacy participants

This article uses data from longitudinal, ethnographic research to examine how, six years after attending literacy classes, 12 adults in rural El Salvador used literacy, their perceptions of the temporary and longer-term psychosocial and economic benefits of literacy education, and their memories of literacy classes. The findings support prior research highlighting the unpredictable consequences of literacy education. Although some personal changes were ephemeral, learners nevertheless identified long-term psychosocial and interpersonal benefits, which they attributed mainly to the rituals of social interaction they practiced in literacy classes. These findings underscore the social dimensions of literacy education.     

Assessment for learning: using programmatic assessment requirements as an opportunity to develop information literacy and data skills in undergraduate students

Departments and programmes in higher education are required to participate in an increasing number of programme, course and student assessments. These assessment requirements are also opportunities to develop student skills related to scientific literacy and research, if students are included in the process of developing, administering and interpreting these assessments. This paper describes a course designed to build student research skills through incorporating undergraduate students into the process of programme review for a psychology department, a comprehensive assessment required of this department every five years. This course proved to be an effective way to engage students, as students developed and administered assessment surveys, analysed and interpreted results, and prepared both a professional report for the department as well as a research presentation. The paper discusses recommended course activities, and shows how this opportunity can benefit students and faculty in a myriad of ways.     

Lessons from past literacy campaigns: A critical assessment

Former Director of the Centre for International Programmes, University of Guelph, Ontario (1974–85); of the Division of Adult Education (1972–74) and of the Literacy Division (1968–72), Unesco. He has considerable experience with adult education and literacy programmes in less developed countries, notably in South and South-East Asia.     

A cautionary tale: digital resources in literacy classrooms

ABSTRACT

Supportive digital resources are key to supporting educators’ pedagogic practices in teaching children to be literate. But locating suitable resources can be confusing, with as claims about products being educational, aligned with curriculum outcomes, and even as ‘silver bullets’. In Australia, a lack of specificity in national and state curriculum guidelines about resource selection creates inconsistencies within and across schools. We investigate how teacher-selected digital resources are used in early childhood classrooms to support literacy learning. Drawing on three independent Australian classroom-based studies, we share three examples of children engaging with digital resources. Together, they show that not all digital resources promote active and engaged literacy learning in meaningful and socially interactive contexts. We propose principles for selecting digital resources to promote playful, scaffolded, and exploratory literacy learning.