Book reviews

Macmillan, B. Why Schoolchildren Can’t Read Cathy Nutbrownand Peter Hannon (eds) Preparing for Early Literacy with Parents. A Professional Development Manual Early Literacy Education with Parents – a framework for practice Produced by Steve Collier with Cathy Nutrbown and Peter Hannon     

Book reviews

Books reviewed in this article: ZAKALUK, B.L. and SAMUELS, S.J. (1988) Readability: Its Past, Present and Future. STEPHENS, W.B. (1987) Education, Literacy and Society. LANKSHEAR. C. with LAWLER, M. (1987) Literacy, Schooling and Revolution. FAIGLEY. L., CHERRY, R., JOLLIFFE. D. and SKINNER. A. (eds) (1985) Assessing Writers’Knowledge and Processes of Composing. FREEDMAN, S. (ed.) (1985) The Acquisition of Written Language; Response and Revision. MATSUHASHI, A. (ed.) (1987) Writing in Real Time: Modelling Production Processes. TEALE, w. and SULZBY, E. (eds) (1986) Emergent Literacy Writing and Reading. WAGNER, DANIEL (1987) The Future of Literacy in a Changing World. BUTLER. DOROTHY (1988) Babies Need Books. LANGER. J.A. (ed.) (1987) Language, Literacy, and Culture: Issues of Society and Schooling. ANDERSON, C. (ed.) (1988) Reading: the abc and beyond. CHAPMAN. L.J. (1987) Reading: From 5–11 Years. THOMSON. JACK (1987) Understanding Teenagers' Reading: Reading Processes and the Teaching of Literature.     

Book Reviews

Lewis, David, Reading Contemporary Picturebooks: Picturing Text Grainger, T. and Tod, J., Inclusive Educational Practice: Literacy Mallett, Margaret, Young Researcher: Informational Reading and Writing in the Early and Primary Years Kenner, Charmian, Home Pages: Literacy Links for Bilingual Children Datta, Manjula, Bilinguality and Literacy: Principles and Practice.     

Book reviews

LUKE, A. (1988) Literacy, Textbooks and Ideology: Postwar Literacy Instruction and the Mythology of Dick and Jane. BEREITER. C. and SCARDAMALIA, M. The Psychology Of Written Composition. STERNGLASS, M.S. (1988) The Presence of Thought: Introspective Accounts of Reading and Writing. HEDLEY, C.N. and BARATTA, A.N. (eds.) (1986) Contexts of Reading. BENNETT-KASTOR, T. (1988) Analyzing Children's Language.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Lunzer , E. and Gardner , K. (1979, eds.) The Effective Use of Reading. Murray , Frank B. and Pikulski , John J. (1978, eds.) The Acquisition of Reading: Cognitive, Linguistic, and Perceptual Prerequisites. Gorman , Thomas P. (1977, ed.) Language and Literacy: Current Issues and Research Jones , H. A. and Charnley , A. H. (1978) Adult Literacy: a Study of its Impact. Charnley , A. H. and Jones , H. A., (1979) The Concept of Success in Adult Litermy, Cambridge     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article: BLOOM, W. (1987) Partnership with Parents in Reading. DURKIN. K. (ed.) (1986) Language Development in the School Years. WEBSTER, A. (1986) Deafness, Development and Literacy. BESNER, D., WALLER, T.G. and MACKINNON, G.E (eds) (1985) Reading Research: Advances in Theory and Practice. PERERA, K. (1984) Children's Writing and Reading: Analysing Classroom Language. STEIN. NANCY, L. (ed.) (1986) Literacy in American Schools. Learning to Read and Write. DE BEAUGRANDE, ROBERT (1984) Text Production. Advances in Discourse Processes XI.     

Friendly enemies: Student Tolerance in a Liberal University

Abstract

This article considers whether the methodology used for research determines the viewpoint of the researcher, or whether the researcher's view of the world determines the methodology. The purpose of the article is to consider some of the questions arising from the author's endeavour to conceptualise a methodological framework for a doctoral analysis of the Australian Commonwealth Literacy Policy Literacy for All: The Challenge for Australian Schools (DEETYA 1998).     

Book reviews

EISEMON, T.O. (1988) Benefitting From Basic Education, School Quality and Functional Literacy in Kenya SWEENEY, A. (1987) A Full Hearing: Orality and Literacy in the Malay World MEEK, M. and MILLS, C. (eds) (1988) Language and Literacy in the Primary School. TOWNSEND, JOHN ROWE (1987) Written for children (3rd Edition). RUSTIN, MARGARET & MICHAEL (1987) Narratives Of Love and LOSS: Studies in Modern Children's Fiction. NELL. VICTOR (1988) Lost in a Book: the Psychology of Reading for Pleasure. COOPER, C.R. (ed.) (1985) Research Response to Literature and the Teaching of Literature. BENTON, M., TEASEY, J., BELL, R. and HURST, K. (1988) Young Readers Responding to Poems. DIAS, P. and HAYHOE, M. (1988) Developing Response to Poetry. DOWNING, JOHN A. (ed.) (1988) Cognitive Psychology and Reading in the U.S.S.R. FEITELSON, D. (1988) Facts and Fads in Beginning Reading: A Cross-Language Perspective. WATERLAND, L. (1988) Read With Me: An Apprenticeship Approach. Revised Second Edition.     

“Literacy Lift-Off”: an experimental evaluation of a reading recovery programme on literacy skills and reading self-concept

Worldwide, considerable emphasis is currently being placed on the provision of appropriate classroom-based preventative interventions and in-class literacy support, in preference to withdrawal methods of educational support. Many schools in Ireland are currently implementing Literacy Lift-Off in their classrooms. Literacy Lift-Off is an adaption of the well-known Reading Recovery programme. The current study aims to establish whether Literacy Lift-Off improves students’ literacy skills. It further seeks to determine what impact Literacy Lift-Off has on students’ reading self-concept levels. Ninety-two students aged between five years and six years six months (52 boys, 40 girls) attending four Senior Infant classes were recruited for this study. Two class groups were randomly chosen to act as an intervention cohort (n = 47) and two class groups were randomly chosen to act as a wait-list control cohort (n = 45). This experimental study evaluated the Literacy Lift-Off intervention on students’ letter identification, word attack skills, word reading, and reading self-concept beliefs. Intervention students were compared with control students who did not receive the Literacy Lift-Off intervention at pre-test and post-test levels. Results showed that while both groups showed significant change on all dependent variables from pre-intervention to post-intervention, those in the experimental group showed significantly more improvement on word attack skills, word reading and reading self-concept beliefs. This study showed that a whole-class reading recovery programme can be effective in improving literacy skills and reading self-concept.     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article: DAVISON, A. & GREEN, G.M. (1988) Linguistic Complexity and Text Comprehension: Readability Issues Reconsidered. HUTSON, BARBARA (ed.) Advances in Reading/Language Research: Volume 3 1985. BRITTON, B.K. and GLYNN, S.M. (eds.) (1987) Executive Control Processes in Reading. TIERNEY, R.J., ANDERS, P.L. and MITCHELL, J.N. (eds.) (1987) Understanding Reader's Understanding. GARNER, R. (1987) Metacognition and Reading Comprehension GRAFF, H.J. (1987) The Labyrinths of Literacy: reflections on literacy past and present. NEWMAN, ANABEL P. and BEVERSTOCK, CAROLINE (1990) Adult Literacy: Contexts and challenges. WILLINSKY, J. (1990) The New Literacy: redefining reading and writing in schools. GOSWAMI, J. and BRYANT, P. (1990) Phonological Skills and Learning to Read. WATERLAND, L. (1989) Apprenticeship in Action: Teachers Write About ‘Read With Me'. MINNS, H. (1990) Read It To MeNow. HEDLEY, C.N. and HICKS, J.S. (eds.) (1988) Reading and the Special Learner. PUMFREY, P. (1991) Improving Children's Reading in the Junior School.     

Literacy corps Iran's gamble to conquer illiteracy

Summary TheLiteracy Corps program was launched by Iranian government officials in October 1962 as a radical departure from both traditional and modern approaches to illiteracy among rural children. The program has been rapidly formulated and implemented in the midst of many public statements by government officials. As the program has evolved from formulation, to training, to implementation, this observer has grown increasingly skeptical. As a plan it has been hastily conceived and poorly financed. The military flavor that has been maintained in both selecting and training the teachers seems quite useless to, if not destructive of, an effective educational program. The consistent failure to relate the literacy program to an over-all program of teacher training and elementary school development marks Iran'sLiteracy Corps as a stop-gap measure rather than a bold, basic attack on the country's problem of educational opportunity for all its people.

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Literacy corps — Irans Wagnis im Feldzug gegen das Analphabetentum

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Literacy corps — l'aventure de l'Iran dans sa campagne contre l'analphabetisme

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Data for this analytical report were gathered by the author while in Iran as a Fulbright Professor at The University of Tehran, 1962–63.     

Book reviews

Books reviewed: Goodwyn, Andrew (ed) Literary and Media Texts in Secondary English Styles, M. From the Garden to the Street Campbell, Robin Literacy from home to school: Reading with Alice Hall, Christine and Coles, Martin Children’s Reading Choices     

Reviews

Books reviewed: Marsh, J. and Hallett, E. (eds) Desirable Literacies: Approaches to language and literacy in the early years Goodwin, Prue (ed.) The Literate Classroom Whitehead, M. Supporting Language and Literacy Development in the Early Years     

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).     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Gerald Coles Misreading Reading: The Bad Science that Hurts Children Janet Evans (Ed.) The Writing Classroom Aspects of Writing and the Primary Child 3–11 Roy Corden Literacy and Learning through Talk : Strategies for the Primary Classroom     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: C. Cullingford, Children’s Literature and its Effects: the Formative Years D.A. Wagner, R.L. Venezky and B. Street, Literacy: An International Handbook. R. Sassoon, Handwriting of the Twentieth Century     

Book reviews

Smith, Peter. Reading Skills and Reference Work; Classroom Guides Series. Cleary, Beverly. Dear Mr. Henshaw. Meek, Margaret, with Armstrong, Stephen, Ansterfield, Vicky, Graham, Judith and Plackett, Elizabeth. Achieving Literacy: Longitudinal Studies of Adolescents Learning to Read.     

Reviews

Reviews in this article Morris , Joyce M. Standards and Progress in Reading. Department of education and Science: Education Pamphlet No. 50. (1956). Progress in Reading, 1948-1964. GARDNER , KEITH (1965). Towards Literacy. WEBSTER , JAMES (1965). Practical Reading.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Turner, Martin, Psychological Assessment of Dyslexia. Jones, R., Emerging Patterns of Literacy: A multidisciplinary perspective. Moustafa, M., Beyond Traditional Phonics Reading Discoveries and Reading Instruction Dombey, Henrietta and Moustafa, Margaret (eds), W(hole) to part phonics: How children learn to read and spell.     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article: BERTELSON. P. (ed) (1987) The Onset of Literacy. Cognitive Processes in Reading Acquisition. SNOWLING, M. (1 987) Dyslexia: A Cognitive Development Perspective. DODD, B. and CAMPBELL, R. (eds) (1987) Hearing by Eye: thepsychology of lip-reading. MILLER, N. (ed) (1984) Bilingualism and Language Disability: assessment and remediation. PEARSON, D. BARR, R., KAMIL, M.L. and MOSENTHAL, P. (eds) (1984) Handbook of Reading Research. ORASANU, J. (ed) (1986) Reading Comprehension: From Research to Practice. POSNER, M.I. and MARIN. O.S.M. (1985) Attention and Performance XI. COLTHEART, M. (1 987) Attention and Performance XII. WADE, B. and MOORE, M. (1987) Special Children … Special Needs: Provision in Ordinary Classrooms. MCNAUGHTON, s. (1987) Being Skilled. The Socializations of learning to read. FREIRE. P. and MACEDO, D. (1987) Literacy: Reading the Word and the World. ALVERMANN, D.E. DILLON. D.R. and O'BRIEN. D.G. (1987) Using Discussion to promote Reading Comprehension. SCHIEFFELIN, B. and GILMORE. P. (1986) The Acquisition Of Literacy: Ethnographic Perspectives. SMITH, P. (ed) (1987) Parents and teachers together: Proceedings of the twenty-third annual course and conference of the United ‘Kingdom Reading Association’. MEEK, M. (1988) How Texts Teach What Readers Learn.