Entrevista a Anne Haas Dyson: “La escritura infantil está entramada con el dibujo, el habla, el canto y el juego”

Anne Haas Dyson comenzó a dictar clases a comienzos de la década de 1970, como maestra, y continúa haciéndolo hoy, como profesora, en la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad de Illinois. Hace unos 50 años que investiga, mediante métodos etnográficos, los procesos sociales y culturales de escolarización y literacidad en la infancia; en particular, las culturas infantiles y el rol de la cultura popular en su desarrollo; las prácticas de literacidad extraescolares y escolares en la infancia transcultural actual; las políticas lingüísticas de la escuela y su incidencia en las identidades de los niños y niñas que usan variedades no estándar; el modo en que las sociedades construyen las infancias y la manera en que las niñas y los niños actúan como agentes para edificar infancias propias. Estas investigaciones le han valido a Dyson importantes distinciones y premios. Su amplia obra, que aún no ha sido traducida al español, incluye los siguientes títulos: Child cultures, schooling, and literacy: global perspectives on composing unique lives (2016); ReWRITING the basics: literacy learning in children’s cultures (2013); The brothers and sisters learn to write: popular literacies in childhood and school culture (2003); Writing superheroes: contemporary childhood, popular culture, and classroom literacy (1997); Negotiating a permeable curriculum: on literacy, diversity, and the interplay of children’s and teacher’s worlds (1993); Social worlds of children learning to write in an urban primary school (1993), y Visions of children as language users: research on language and language education in early childhood (1991).

“You’re the boss, yo!”: Role-Play in Digital Multimodal Composition of Newcomer Youth

This case study explores how two 16-year-old newcomer youth in a Canadian secondary school navigated the digital multimodal composition process through role-play in their first digital video production at school. Employing a qualitative, case-study design, the study shows how the youth playfully accentuated collaborative over coercive power relations, as well as repositioned and represented their imagined identities as they played different assigned roles in the filmmaking process. The implications of these findings are discussed for educators and researchers considering digital multimodal composition as a classroom literacy practice.

SFL in Solomon Islands: A Framework for Improving Literacy Practices in Primary School

Assessing and reforming classroom literacy has become a preoccupation of nations worldwide, not the least in the Pacific where countries are often working toward literacy in English within multilingual contexts. In Solomon Islands, in 2013, the poor results in regional and local literacy testing precipitated a review of how the English language was taught in primary schools across this multilingual nation. In the subsequent reform of classroom literacy materials and associated training for teachers, a principled approach was taken using a Systemic Functional Linguistics framework. Such an approach uses a model of language instruction based on language strata together with explicit teaching within a learning cycle to support reading and writing. This article describes how such principles from sfl were embedded into new teaching materials for the early years of primary school and the accompanying training for teachers and principals that took place from 2014–2016. The work offers a potential model of reform for other settings where the development of literacy in a non-community language is critical to students’ success in schooling.

Exploring the structure and content of discourse in remote, rural South African classrooms

The nature of discourse within classrooms strongly predicts students’ ability to think about, around, and with text and content (i.e. comprehension and critical-analytic thinking). However, little is known about the nature of classroom discourse in remote, rural South African schools, a context in which students face well-documented language challenges. The central aim of the present study was to explore the structure and content of discourse in South African classrooms using the 4 components of the Quality Talk model as a frame for our exploration (i.e. instructional frame, discourse elements, teacher moves and pedagogical principles). Grade 8 student participants from 3 classes and their teacher were sampled. Data sources included individual student language assessments, digital video recordings of classroom literacy practices and field notes. Findings revealed that discourse was predominantly characterised by an efferent stance toward text, and the discussions were primarily teacher controlled and directed. There was little, if any, evidence of students’ critical-analytic thinking. Observations in terms of resilience and narratability as well as implications for research and practice are forwarded.

Engagement From the Periphery: Reconceptualizing Adult English Language Learners’ Resistance in Developmental Literacy

English language learners’ nonparticipation and reticence in adult literacy classes are often presented problematically from a deficit lens of student resistance and disengagement. This article draws from an ethnographic case study of Generation 1 learners, who are defined as adult-arrival immigrant learners, transitioning from an adult English as a Second Language class to a developmental literacy class. By examining learners’ resistance through a framework of agency enactment, the study bridges the fields of adult literacy and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, both of which support adult-arrival immigrants entering the U.S. education system. The resulting analysis illustrates how Generation 1 learners’ acts of resistance can be complex presentations of their literacy identities and their engagement in classroom literacy practices.

WHAT NO “RUG TIME” SHARING MEANS: REVISIONING CHILDREN’S OPPORTUNITY TO ENACT LITERATE IDENTITIES THROUGH THE LENS OF POSITIONING THEORY

ABSTRACT This paper provides a telling case account of how a child called Charlie was positioned and (re)positioned himself within and across different situational types of classroom literacy encounters in his first-grade classroom. This telling case is based on a re-analysis of an originating study conducted by the author (HARRIS, 1989); and is founded on a history of research based on revisioning archived data records as new theories develop. Providing a profile of different ways in which a child positions self and is positioned by the teacher, the system and peers, this telling case presents a research approach for understanding positioning processes and their consequences for children as they develop literacy processes and identities. To make transparent how the telling case study led to new theoretical insights, this paper makes visible multiple levels of analytic scale and angles of analysis of positioning (ANDERSON, 2009) that were undertaken to make visible the dynamic nature of positioning as understood through Positioning Theory (HARRÉ & LANGENHOVE, 1999; HARRÉ, 2012). This telling case study, therefore, builds a foundation for developing theoretical understandings of the fluid and dynamic nature of positioning in classrooms, and influences of positioning on children’s opportunities to enact and demonstrate their literate identities and capabilities.

Recognizing the Métis of Learners with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities in College Composition

This paper was originally presented as part of a panel on métis approaches to college composition at the 2019 Conference on College Composition and Communication in Pittsburgh, PA. It explores the affordances of métis for understanding the adaptive literacy practices of college students with diagnoses of I/DD. Based on findings from a grounded investigation, the author identifies ways composition instructors can utilize métis as a lens for perceiving how students with I/DD reveal "double and divergent" (Dolmage) approaches to classroom literacy.

Factors of Influence on Classroom Literacy Practices

Previous research has indicated professional training and support, personal literacy preferences, and professional literacy attitudes have an influence on classroom literacy practices. Limited literacy related research has been conducted in agricultural education. This study sought to examine the influence of professional training and support, personal literacy preferences, and professional literacy attitudes of agriculture teachers on current classroom literacy practices. Data was collected from in-service teachers in 35 states. The researchers determined a majority of agriculture teachers have completed professional training, have positive personal literacy preferences and positive professional literacy attitudes. They also use a variety of literacy activities in their classrooms. The use of PowerPoint presentations and traditional writing activities were the only practices determined to have a significant influencer. Recommendations for practice include encouraging agriculture teachers to develop relationships with the English/Language Arts department and offering professional development related to literacy assessment.

A STUDY ON THE LITERACY-RICH CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AT BILINGUAL KINDERGARTEN SINGARAJA BALI

This study was observational case study that examined the components of literacy-rich classroom environment at Aura Sukma Insani Kindergarten. The subjects of the research were the students and the teacher of B1 class of Aura Sukma Insani Kindergarten. The study examined the components of literacy-rich classroom environment and how it was exposed to the students during teaching and learning process. The instruments in this study consisted of researcher, observation sheet, interview guide, and literacy-rich classroom environment checklist. The results indicate that the Aura Sukma Insani Kindergarten applied all elements of classroom literacy environment, namely; classroom setup, classroom library, message center, display of students’ work, storytelling chair, sign, label, and quotes, hints, writing equipment, reading and writing corner, reference materials, audiovisual equipment, and dramatic center. The Aura Sukma Insani Kindergarten also used several activities to expose the literacy-rich classroom environment materials, namely; checking the students’ attendance using present board, setting day, date, and month on calendar board, using the printed media and classroom equipment during the learning process, and rewarding students’ achievement using students’ sticker collection and toys, reading log, book week, follow-up activity, and after-hours session class. However, the after-hours session activity that used in learning process was found less-effective due to the time and the management of the activity.