A Cultural-Historical Activity Theory Framework for Examining Reading, Writing, and Language Learning

• In Event: Roundtable Session 12

Session Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

This roundtable includes three pieces that present findings from studies premised on the CHAT framework. The first paper uses activity theory to examine middle school students’ online writing construction. The second piece utilizes the Zone of Proximal Development to understand how struggling readers co-construct tasks and meaning throughout reading activities. The third paper provides various classroom strategies and techniques used successfully by teachers for rooting instruction in contextualized processes in multilingual and diverse classrooms. These three pieces bring forth a collective understanding of how a CHAT framework with a special focus on reading and writing can help to exemplify how meaning, roles, and learning can be co-constructed in the classroom.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Cultural-Historical Research

Chair

• Emily Duvall, Boston College

Papers

• An Activity System Analysis of Middle School Students’ Online Writing - Sonia Melanie Kline, Illinois State University

• Understanding the Process of Contextualization - Tasha R. Wyatt, University of Hawaii - Manoa