Reflection and Refraction in the Teaching and Learning of Academic Literacy Practices Across Grades

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Three independently conducted ethnographic studies of the teaching and learning of academic writing and reading in grades one, six, and twelve revealed similar instructional patterns involving the reflection (reproduction) and refraction (modification) of academic literacy practices. Grounded in the social and language theories of Bakhtin and DeCerteau, interactional data from each classroom was analyzed using microethnographic discourse analysis procdures. The symposium focuses on commonalities across the three classrooms in discussing principles for teaching and learning academic literacy across grade levels that is accountable to the discipline while also being adaptable to new problems, situations, and the particular identities and agendas of the students. The discussion extends t=current conceptions of academic literacies.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Section 1: Local Contexts of Teaching and Learning

Chair

• David M. Bloome, The Ohio State University

Papers

• “Did You Already Know the Answer?” First Graders Writing Nonfiction - Melissa I. Wilson, The Ohio State University

• Classroom Interactions That Support Learning Over Time in a Sixth-Grade Classroom - Marlene Beierle, The Ohio State University

• Embracing Rationalities: Writing Arguments in a 12th-Grade Advanced Placement Language Arts Class - SangHee Ryu, The Ohio State University - Columbus; Allison S. Wynhoff Olsen, Montana State University; David M. Bloome, The Ohio State University

Discussants

• Richard W. Beach, University of Minnesota

• Brian V. Street, King's College London