Teacher identity in the context of literacy teaching: Three explorations of classroom positioning and interaction in secondary schools

This article presents the results of three separate studies of literacy teaching and learning in the U.S. that explore the social functions of language, specifically focused on the identity development of literacy learners and teachers. Each study offers a detailed account of how literate identities are constructed and enacted and the positive and negative consequences that occur for teachers and students when they are enacted. Taken together, these three studies demonstrate how teachers' and students' understandings of identity can promote or inhibit literacy teaching and learning.     

Microcomputers and continuing motivation

This study investigated the effects of medium of instructional practice, task difficulty, and gender on continuing motivation. A total of 139 fifth and sixth graders with previous computer experience completed an initial drill and practice learning task in one of the two media formats (computer or paper/pencil) at either a hard or easy difficulty level. Subjects' choice of practice medium for a second learning task was the measure of continuing motivation. Sixty-seven of the 69 computer subjects (97 percent) chose to return to practice on the computer, whereas only one of 70 paper/pencil subjects (one percent) chose to return to practice in the paper/pencil form. p<.001. Questionnaire data indicated that computer subjects also evaluated their own performance on the instructional practice task significantly more highly, reported the task to be significantly more interesting and easier, and had a greater desire to study more of the subject matter.     

Error 404: or, what is the shelf-life of printed Internet guides?

Many publishers are producing books loaded with directions for finding useful Internet sites in a particular subject area. The moderate costs make them seem to be attractive additions to a collection. However, given the ephemeral nature of the World Wide Web, can a print resource be published with sufficient shelf life to justify purchase? This study evaluates some of these Internet guides for post-publication accuracy. In evaluating nine books published between two and three years ago, the researchers checked 3,941 URLs. In reviewing the data, the authors found that some books retained their value quite well, whereas others did not. The article presents the details of this study and offers selection criteria for identifying those web guidebooks that will increase the value of the collection.     

Becoming a literacy teacher: approximations in critical literacy teaching

The new literacy studies (NLS) is a tradition of research that includes ethnographic work on literacy that has many applications for classroom teachers. The NLS include explorations of local literacies and critical literacy as well as the notion of literacy itself. When teachers draw on the NLS, students are able to draw on their practices in critical and transformative ways. However, NLS perspectives have not been used to examine how teachers are prepared in pre‐service programs and the ways critical literacy practices develop. This paper examines how two pre‐service teachers learn to take up definitions of local literacies in their work with students from racially, linguistically, and culturally diverse backgrounds in practicum settings. They use approximations in literacy teaching to design practices with students, demonstrating the process of becoming a teacher of literacy. I conclude with recommendations for teacher educators who are interested in supporting such approximations.     

An experimental, observational investigation of children's responses to peer provocation: developmental and gender differences in middle childhood

The primary goal of this research was to use an experimental, observational method to study the development of anger expression during middle childhood. Eight-, 10-, and 12-year-old girls and boys (N = 382) were observed during a laboratory play session that was provoking in two ways: Participants lost a computer game they were playing for a desirable prize, and their play partner was a same-age, same-gender confederate actor who taunted them. Children's responses to the provoking play sessions--facial expressions, verbalizations, and gestures--were reliably coded. Overall, children in these age groups maintained a remarkable degree of composure. Girls made fewer negative comments than boys did, and fewer negative gestures. Older children maintained more neutral facial expressions, made fewer gestures, and were more likely to remain silent when provoked. When they spoke, older children made fewer negative comments, fewer remarks about the game, and fewer positive comments about themselves or the actor.     

Identification of visual dimensions in photographs using multidimensional scaling techniques

An examination of underlying visual dimensions commonly perceived in photographs was conducted using multidimensional scaling techniques. Fifteen male and female university graduate students individually examined 34 photographs chosen to represent a broad range of visual topics. Similarity judgments between photographs were used for multidimensional scaling, while subject interview data were used to describe meaningful visual concepts. Results indicate that pictures were grouped in clusters along three observable dimensions. Life, nature, and culture emerged as the dimensions of primary importance to viewers. This suggests the existence of universal meaning systems in visuals for communicating denotative and connotative meaning and presents experimental variables for future hypothesis testing. We gratefully acknowledge David Lancy’s inspiration and Ed Greenberg’s significant contribution to this work.