Literacy, Scholarly Responsibility, and Problematics: An International Analysis of Inequitable Systems in the 21st Century

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

An international team of researchers, we examine literacy instruction across international contexts in three related papers. We first explore a compelling confluence of complexity related to reading that has emerged from three traditions: theoretical models of reading; emerging findings from neuroscience; and research that draws on observations of emergent readers. We then turn our attention to how narrow definitions of literacy constrain quality literacy instruction and foreground simplistic solutions. The final paper explores the discursive operation of ‘a culture of reading’ at the national level in South Africa. Together, these papers reveal economic and political incentives that accompany the spread of problematic representations of literacy, challenging the integrity and equitable contribution of educational practices related to literacy internationally.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Writing and Literacies

Chair

• Margaret R. Hawkins, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Papers

• A Confluence of Complexity: Intersections Among Reading Theory, Neuroscience, and Observations of Young Readers - Catherine F. Compton-Lilly, University of South Carolina

• Narratives of Deficit: All Roads Lead to Synthetic Phonics - Annette Woods, Queensland University of Technology

• Divergent Usage: A Decolonial Reading of "Culture of Reading" in South African Educational Discourse - Kerryn Dixon, University of Nottingham

Discussant

• Margaret R. Hawkins, University of Wisconsin - Madison