A Sociocultural (Re)Interpretation of Literacy Teaching Effectiveness Studies

• In Event: Practice in Writing: The Necessity of Theorizing and Doing

Abstract

1. Objectives or purposes
The primary purpose is to interrogate literacy teaching effectiveness studies with reference to sociocultural themes such as identity, participation, and culture, and by so doing, to enhance their explanations of effectiveness with particular reference to writing in the elementary school.
2. Perspective
The theoretical perspective adopted is explicitly sociocultural in orientation. It re-considers the findings from literacy teaching effectiveness studies and reframes them in terms of major themes in sociocultural learning theory. It challenges the input/output or symbol processing model of mind (Bredo, 1994) endemic in very many, especially earlier, studies. It endorses the more recent ‘turn’ to local school/community based initiatives geared to enhancing literacy achievement (e.g. Taylor et al 2011) and highlights the need for researchers to pay more attention to the learner perspective in future work.
3. Modes of inquiry
Foregrounding writing, the paper/presentation will map the assumptions, claims and findings of significant studies [such as work led by Michael Pressley from the mid 1990s through to more recent large scale studies such as Louden et al (2005) in Australia] against the significant themes of identity, participation and culture, unpacking the assumptions and conceptual power of those themes in the process. It will draw explicitly on the work of Wenger (1998) and Rogoff (2008).
4. Data sources, evidence
Sociocultural concepts. Literacy effectiveness studies on writing.
5. Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view
The focus of the presentation is a (re)evaluation of the theoretical explanations and claims typically made in literacy effectiveness studies in the early years of school and the implications of this evaluation for future writing research and for literacy policy.
It will be shown how the specified sociocultural themes are highly pertinent to the evidence assembled and to the claims made in literacy teaching effectiveness studies although researchers haven’t necessarily made this connection in their work, or, insofar as they have, haven’t made it explicit. It will also show how the application of these concepts enhances the research power of the findings, enhances relatability of the studies to classroom practitioners but cautions against systems- and accountability-driven comparative assessments that do not recognise the enmeshed nature of participants, histories, knowledge and contexts.
6. Scholarly or scientific significance of the study
The study is significant as, in its reframing of existing studies, it contributes to our understanding of and explanations for their findings.
References
Bredo, E. (1994) Reconstructing educational psychology: Situated cognition and Deweyian pragmatism, Educational Psychologist, 29, 1, 23-35
Louden, W. et al (2005) In Teachers’ Hands: Effective Literacy Teaching Practices in the Early Years of Schooling Edith Cowan University, Australia.
Rogoff, B. (2008) Observing sociocultural activity on three planes In K.Hall et al Pedagogy and Practice London, Sage.
Taylor, B., Raphael, T. and Au, K. (2011) Reading and school reform In Handbook of Reading Research 594-628 Eds. M.Kamil, D. Pearson, E. Birr Moje and P. Afflerbach New York, Routledge.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Author

• Kathy Hall, University College Cork