Influences on the Literacy Hour

This paper outlines some of the key influences on the development of the National Literacy Strategy. In particular, it concentrates on the influences of international data on reading standards, international analyses of school effectiveness and some sources which have influenced the main components of the Framework for Teaching which supports the Literacy Hour. Finally, it draws upon national inspection evidence that many schools are likely to have much to gain from adopting the Literacy Hour. This conclusion is supported by the highly significant gains in the achievement of over 7000 pupils which have been reported in the evaluations of the National Literacy Project (NLP), the initiative on which the National Literacy Strategy is based. The paper is based on a more detailed review of research and other related evidence (Beard, in press).     

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?     

The Literacy Hour: a case for listening to children

Despite a professional rhetoric about the importance of consulting children, there is reason to think that many teachers continue to disregard children's views in their dayto-day practice. The Literacy Hour, with its detailed content and prescribed pedagogic structure, leaves teachers, teaching assistants and children very little room for comment or change. This article reports on a small-scale interview study involving 48 children. The study aimed to understand children's experiences of the Literacy Hour. It is suggested that their comments should serve to inform professional practice. They raise important considerations related to teaching and learning and also provide reasons for questioning if the hour is as complete an answer to literacy teaching as it is claimed to be.     

The Stanley Segal Award Achieving the best: gender and the Literacy Hour

Helen Fisher won this year's Stanley Segal Award with this fascinating investigation. Taking her cue from the current debate about the differing achievements of boys and girls, she explores pupils' views about the Literacy Hour and reports some interesting findings in relation to reading and gender.     

批评话语视角解读《一小时的故事》

批评性话语分析是以揭示语言、权力、意识形态之间潜在关系为目的分析方法,重视语言语篇和社会结构之间复杂的相互关系。运用批评话语分析卡特·肖邦的短篇小说《一小时的故事》,对小说中使用的隐喻、及物性结构、句式转换、评价性词汇进行阐释,揭示小说作者如何通过语言形式表达小说的主题意义,婚姻对女性而言是精神和肉体的束缚,女性渴求自由解放的权利被漠视,男权主义弥漫整个19世纪末20世纪初的美国社会。     

Achieving Academic Literacy: Disciplined Discourse

Concerns that students increasingly come to tertiary studies ill‐prepared for academic pursuit in the disciplines have generated a broad range of supplementary tuition in Australian Universities during the past decade. Many researchers and tertiary teachers have from experience realized that tertiary learning skills are very much context‐, or discipline‐specific. This paper is concerned with making context‐specific expectations known to students through a process of ‘showing how’, rather than ‘telling what’. Two highly specialized teaching structures were used to generate appropriate questions for students, thereby providing parameters for their search and research and ultimately, their writing in the discipline.     

Learning about literacy: Children’s versions of the Literacy Hour

This article reports on an enquiry into the responses of a class of Year 1 children, aged 5‐6 years, to the first eight months of the National Literacy Strategy (NLS). Children were given incomplete drawings to represent the four parts of the Literacy Hour. In completing the drawings the children made their own interpretations of the Literacy Hour. They could choose to write thought or speech bubbles, draw faces and expressions, make written or dictated comments about the teacher and the children portrayed. The methodology enabled these young children to articulate detailed responses to their experience of a particular style of teaching. Each child documented a range of attitudes to and feelings about whole class teaching, group work and the plenary session. These insights, which were often challenging, put the emotional dimension of learning at the centre of their experiences of the NLS.     

Developing literacy through the Literacy Hour: a survey of teachers’ experiences

The results are reported of a survey of the experiences of 101 primary school teachers of the newly introduced Literacy Hour. The teachers were asked about the training and preparation they had received, the implementation of the Literacy Hour, its effectiveness and how children with special difficulties are differentially affected. General comments were also sought and sufficient were made for other aspects of the Literacy Hour to be reported, such as ability differences, writing, children’s attitudes and differences between different school years.     

Including children with special educational needs in the Literacy Hour: a continuing challenge

This paper reports on a study to examine whether the framework for teaching the Literacy Hour can provide an inclusive learning environment for pupils with special educational needs. Carol Miller, Penny Lacey and Lyn Layton, all members of the Inclusion, Special Education and Educational Psychology Group in the School of Education at the University of Birmingham, used a survey and case studies to provide examples of organizational strategies and activities in literacy teaching. The authors go on to evaluate the extent to which these approaches promote inclusion in the Literacy Hour. They conclude that, while most children were included, some were engaged in alternative activities which were, in reality, focused on the development of communication skills. The authors close their article with a call for further research.     

乐极生悲

马拉德夫人患有心脏病。对她丈夫的死讯,个个都小心翼翼, 生怕她受到刺激。她妹妹约瑟芬嗫嗫嚅儒、半遮半掩地告诉了她这一噩耗。她丈夫的朋友理查德斯当时也在她身旁。铁路上发生惨案的消息传来时,理查德斯恰好在报社,看到布伦特利·马拉德的名字在“罹难者”中位居首位。他还发去一封电报确认情况属实,便匆忙赶了过来,防止哪个朋友考虑不周,冒冒失失就把噩耗告诉她。     

堪抵一生的一个小时——浅析《一个小时的故事》

凯特.肖邦的名篇《一个小时的故事》刻画了女性意识的觉醒。在表现这一进步过程的同时,作者不忘揭示女性要实现自由所面临的困难。本文通过意识对比来解析肖邦对女性的自我意识觉醒的描述,并探讨作者对女性获取真正自由所指出的道路。     

Teaching of Word Level Work in the Literacy Hour and Its Implications for Educational Psychologists' Assessment and Intervention

This paper describes initial research into the teaching of literacy in Bedfordshire by the Educational Psychology Service. The majority of lower schools in the authority follow the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) and teach the Literacy Hour daily. Five of these hours were observed in seven Year 1 classes across the country. Particular attention was given to the teaching of word level work, as this has been found to be most influential in learning to read. Instances of word level work were timed and categorised in terms of the approach used. The results demonstrated a large amount of variation in the delivery of the NLS in these schools, particularly in time spent on word level work. Most schools favoured onset-rime as an approach to teaching word level work, which reflects the emphasis of the NLS. These findings are related to recent and ongoing research into the most effective ways of teaching word level work.     

Analysis of The Story of An Hour

By reading the short story The Story of An Hour written by Kate Chopin, we tried to probe the story better by analyzing five characters, plots of the story and rhetorical devices, such as irony and symbolism. With originality and profound meanings, the novel about the small theme of family life had a wide variety of social significance.