Level 5 workshop 4 LITERACY THEORIES 2015.

notebook

February 25, 2015

Theories of literacy development

Aim:
To explore issues and concepts surrounding literacy development

Objectives:

Discuss what we understand by the term literacy

Explore different perceptions of literacy
Conceptualise literacy in distinct terms
Analyse literacy events and practices
Critically analyse pedagogical approaches to literacy development
Undertake ethnographic research (if time permits)

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What is literacy?

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snowball

?
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization defines literacy
as the:
"ability to identify, understand, interpret,
create, communicate, compute and use
printed and written materials associated
with varying contexts. Literacy involves a
continuum of learning in enabling individuals
to achieve their goals, to develop their
knowledge and potential, and to participate
fully in their community and wider society."
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The discourses
a set of functional skills that help
people to meet the demands that
society puts on them, especially in
terms of employment

a means of emancipation, enabling

people to control their lives, challenge
injustice and become autonomous,
participating citizens in democracy
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term you or
can think of which is
Contrasting literacy Write down
usedevery
in a technical

vocabularies

professional capacity in the field of literacy

Group the words into clusters of words with

linked meanings or uses (some words can
be assigned to more than one cluster)

Try to identify which word in each cluster represents

thesuperordinate term (consider the way the words in
each cluster were used in the field, and the kinds of
relationships they seem to have with each other)

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Contrasting literacy
vocabularies
Compare your list of keywords with someone else in the class
what are the similarities and differences?
Discuss how and when the words are typically used.
What are the variations in use? Can you account for them?

Do they reflect arbitrary idiosyncrasies, or are they indicative of different

assumptions/different experiences regarding the field of literacy?

What sort of events or practices did you have in mind when you
came up with your list of keywords? Different issues are probably raised, for
example, when thinking about school versus everyday reading and writing

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How do we account for the differences?

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Stierer & Bloome's list:

ability, accuracy, assessment, bedtime
story reading, code comprehension,
curriculum, development, dyslexia,
failure & success, functional reading,
instruction, motivation, phonics, reader,
reader response, readiness, reading
age, reading schemes, real books,
remedial reading, skills, standards, word
attack.
How does this list compare to your lists?
Where do the lists converge or diverge?
What might be the reasons for the similarities and differences?
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Conceptualising Literacy
2 distinct views:
Literacy as a cognitive skill
Literacy as a social
practice

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Literacy as a cognitive skill

Associated with cognitive psychology informed
research on reading development and
understanding about language
Focussed on reading and how individuals
decode text
Treated as an individual skill dependent on a
readers intellectual & perceptual capacities

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Literacy as a cognitive skill

Becoming literate has been linked to
having specific cognitive effects
Goody & Watt (1963) suggested that the
Greek invention of logic was a byproduct of
the invention of the alphabet
The existence of permanent
representations of speech allowed readers
to reflect on the linguistic & logical
properties of their own speech
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Literacy as a cognitive skill

It has been shown that analytic arguments
evolved in the market place oral argument and
counter argument rather than scrutiny of texts
Scribner & Cole (1981) researched a community
in Liberia and saw 3 literacies in action: Market
place, schooled & religious
They concluded that these involved different
kinds of thinking and reasoning

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Rather...

Brian Street (et al)

New Literacy Studies/New London Group
It is not literacy as such that develops a particular way
of reasoning, but that the ways in which people use
written and spoken language in their everyday lives
involves specific ways of thinking

Listen to the 'Interview with Brian Street' (Band 5, an interview with Brian Street, Open University 2000)

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Literacy as a Social Practice

Key

terms

Literacy:
A social activity described in terms ofPractices
& Events
Literacy Practices:
Are what people do with literacy, the cultural
ways of utilising written language. They involve
values, attitudes and social relationships.
Literacy Events:
Are the particular activities where literacy
plays a role. They arise from practices and
are shaped by them.The 3 components of
Practices, Events& Textsprovide the
basis for the social theory of literacy
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6 Propositions BartonLiteracies""Situated
Literacy is a set of social practices these can be inferred
from events mediated by written texts
Different literacies relate to/are associated with different
domains of life
Some literacies are more dominant, visible and influential
than others
Literacy practices are purposeful & embedded in broader
social goals and cultural practices
Literacy is historically situated
Literacy practices change new ones are frequently
acquired through processes of informal learning and
sense making
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Literacy Events
Event

Text

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postits

Participants Reason

Practice

an example

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Literacy as a Social Practice

Relationship between social practices,
literacy practices and literacy events

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Using the 'literacy rings' to frame your ideas, consider a

'text' you have recently encountered and identify the
event and related literacy practice. What do you think
are the related social and cultural influences?

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The Aspirin Bottle Problem:

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Conceptualising literacy perspectives recycling

in pedagogical terms

immersion

socioculturalsymbol processing
whole class

individual

cognitivist

autonomous
ideological

bottomup meaning based

Having recycled these perspectives, try to find their 'opposite' ...

Cognitive Skill

code based
Social Practice

topdown sign

skill

phonics

whole language
constructivist

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Conceptualising literacy
perspectives in pedagogical terms
Cognitive Skill
symbol processing
cognitivist

phonics

bottom up

Social Practice 8

sociocultural 1
immersion
whole language2

top down 3

whole class

individual
autonomous

ideological
5
meaning based 6

code based

sign

skill

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flipchart in groups

~balanced~

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flipchart in groups

~balanced~

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symbol processing
picture stories describe
what's happening
learn alphabet upper/lower
case
phonics speaking & listening
decoding signs and symbols
basic skills

c
sociocultural framework

balanced framework
picture stories about

using text or other medium (film)

from sociocultural background
being able to go to doctor and

daily routine
basic vocab for filling describe ailments
e.g. conversation giving directions
forms
decoding signs &
using signs and symbols in context
symbols from public
places (sociocultural)
more developed skills in context
Basic skills in context

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Individual
worksheets
individual work on computer
selfmarking

c
whole class

pair working
lower ability learner
working with higher
ability learner
'buddy' system

questions & answers to whole

group
all participate equal
brainstorming as a group
social constructivism

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phonics

language experience

alphabet wooden letter

shapes
alphaomega
consonant blends
consonant digraphs
tracking vowels

speak about an interest. ~Tutor

writes down EXACTLY what was
said. Read it back to them or type
it up for learners to read.
immersion in to text akatop
down

cvc words cat dog

recognise write and
read single words
short cvc sentences
write own sentences

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cognitive

social practice

formal letter
job application
instructional texts
work or home life not
schooled literacy

problem solving
punctuation
grammar
reading comprehension
spelling

layout
composition
formal language
contextualisation

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a
codebased
component framework
phonics/phrases/words/
sentences/paragraphs
individual, paired, shared
reading
rote learning
spelling lexical
development
discussion
worksheets

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b
balanced framework
stating specific
terminology of
relevant action
practise (SLRW)
interactive learning
application of N.C
problem solving

c
meaning based

wholeframework
discourse/context/use/function
discussion (formal/informal)
application
scenario based activity
formal lifelong learning
output (productive)
summary/synthesis
application to affect change

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