Making the invisible visible: disciplinary literacy in secondary school classrooms

In Ireland, policy on literacy now aims to expand the role that post-primary teachers of all subjects have in developing students' literacy skills. This paper draws on data from a wider research study carried out in secondary schools in 2010 and focuses on the classroom support with disciplinary literacy provided by subject teachers for students who have literacy difficulties. A brief outline is provided of the context and perspectives informing the study as well as the research methods used. Findings are examined against the backdrop of policy developments for literacy at second level and within the context of wider policy change. Teachers' lack of professional knowledge, combined with barriers at wider system level, is identified as a significant challenge to pedagogical change at classroom level. Implications for policy implementation, for initial teacher education and for cultural change at school level are discussed. It is argued that literacy must be repositioned as a central aspect of subject pedagogy and teachers, as subject experts, supported in unpacking and sharing with students, the discourse practices and ways of viewing and communicating about the world that are characteristic of their academic disciplines.     

“The total woman:”; The rhetoric of completion

The success of Marabel Morgan's Total Woman indicate its rhetorical effectiveness despite its substantive flaws. This article argues that the book's strong appeal to readers stems from: (1) its promise of fulfillment if woman expiate the guilt they bear for marital discord by self sacrifice; (2) its reinforcement of readers perceptions of themselves and their husbands; and (3) its emphasis on the power of “Total Women”; and its encouragement of sexual fantasy and play. These strategies produce a persuasive message which plays on readers’ concerns for their marriages, offers an alternative to the self consciousness urged by feminists and permits women to fulfill comfortable stereotypes yet experience the power and sexual freedom promised by liberationists. For readers with troubled marriages Morgan provides an alluringly simple, emotionally attractive answer to complex questions. Her message is rhetorically effective even if intellectually weak and psychologically misleading.     

Autobiographies as rhetorical narratives: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Anna Howard Shaw as “new women”

Using the life stories of two leaders of the woman's suffrage movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Anna Howard Shaw, this essay explores the role of autobiographies in social movements. Theoretically, the essay argues that as sustained narratives, autobiographies offer two distinctive rhetorical resources for their authors: the potential to depict the emergence of belief s from experiences and the ability to enact the doctrine. Second, the essay argues that the characteristic features of autobiography enhance the persuasive force of this depiction and enactment. In essence, the essay suggests that autobiographies can complement and supplement formal public arguments for a movement in distinctive ways.     

Books on Research Methodology

Mary N. Barton and Marion V. Bell's compilation Reference Books: A Brief Guide (Baltimere: Enoch Pratt Free Library, $1.25)

Martha L. Hackman's The Practical Bibliographer (Prentice-Hall, $5.95 cloth, $2.95 paper)

Hubert M. Blalock An Introduction to Social Research (Prentice-Hall, $5.95 cloth, $2.95 paper)     

Constructing Gender Stereotypes Through Social Roles in Prime-Time Television

Using a sample of 124 prime-time television programs airing on the 6 broadcast networks during the 2005–06 season, this study examined the social roles enacted by female and male characters. The findings confirm that female characters continue to inhabit interpersonal roles involved with romance, family, and friends. In contrast, male characters are more likely to enact work-related roles. Moreover, programs employing one or more women writers or creators are more likely to feature both female and male characters in interpersonal roles whereas programs employing all-male writers and creators are more likely to feature both female and male characters in work roles.     

Gaining a Better Understanding of Self: A Self-Study in Cultural Competence in Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

This articles describes a year-long self-study in cultural competence. Armed with the understanding that “teachers first need to know their own cultures,” a small group of faculty researchers engaged in systematic self-study to better understand their own cultural competence in an effort to enhance teacher candidates’ cultural competencies. The overarching goals of the study were: for faculty researchers to better understand their own cultural competence and for faculty researchers to better understand their ability to create safe spaces in which teacher candidates could develop deeper understandings of their cultural competencies. Hence the faculty researchers worked collaboratively for the broader purposes of re-imaging classrooms as communities that foster new and more equitable opportunities for teaching and learning.     

The Learning Benefits of Being Willing and Able to Engage in Scientific Argumentation

Engaging in science as an argumentative practice can promote students’ critical thinking, reflection, and evaluation of evidence. However, many do not approach science in this way. Furthermore, the presumed confrontational nature of argumentation may run against cultural norms particularly during the sensitive time of early adolescence. This paper explores whether middle-school students’ ability to engage in critical components of argumentation in science impacts science classroom learning. It also examines whether students’ willingness to do so attenuates or moderates that benefit. In other words, does one need to be both willing and able to engage critically with the discursive nature of science to receive benefits to learning? This study of middle-school students participating in four months of inquiry science shows a positive impact of argumentative sensemaking ability on learning, as well as instances of a moderating effect of one's willingness to engage in argumentative discourse. Possible mechanisms and the potential impacts to educational practices are discussed.