Language and Literacy (Journal)
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446 research outputs found
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An Inquiry into Adolescents’ Experiences with Cognitively Demanding Writing: Time Investment and the Importance of Authenticity’
No full textIn this paper, we describe our 12-month inquiry into understanding adolescents’ experiences, as they engaged in writing that challenged them to construct knowledge by making claims grounded in evidence and reasoning.While engaged in the task of writing a research paper, participants’ perceptions of time were two-fold in that they consistently identified a lack of time and a lack of understanding about the time the research paper demanded.We argue enabling students to have more temporal control over their writing is related to fostering increased metacognition about writing as a process
Handwriting at Grade 3: More Than a Matter of ‘Neatness’
No full textThis article reports on the role of the quality and fluency of handwriting and spelling on the writing outcomes for 222 Grade 3 students who attend a large, public school in a major urban center in Canada. Findings indicate that control over the exigencies of handwriting, and fluency account for a large proportion in the variability of quality writing outcomes. Spelling is important, but only indirectly, in predicting the quality writing outcomes. Samples of student work are provided to illustrate the quality standards for handwriting. We advocate for sustained attention to handwriting instruction, effortful practice and increased opportunities to write in a variety of genres for meaningful and authentic purposes.This article reports on the role of the quality and fluency of handwriting and spelling on the writing outcomes for 222 Grade 3 students who attend a large, public school in a major urban center in Canada. Findings indicate that control over the exigencies of handwriting, and fluency account for a large proportion in the variability of quality writing outcomes. Spelling is important, but only indirectly, in predicting the quality writing outcomes. Samples of student work are provided to illustrate the quality standards for handwriting. We advocate for sustained attention to handwriting instruction, effortful practice and increased opportunities to write in a variety of genres for meaningful and authentic purposes
Fleeting Encounters & Brick walls: Animating Embodied Literacies in Our Everyday Relations
No full textRachael, Katelyn, Pam and Matt take up Sara Ahmed’s (2012) concepts of fleeting encounters and brick walls as they reflect on the feminist and decolonizing nature of their work. This paper is the product of months of conversation between the co-authors. Through the use of autoethnographical and participatory approaches, the authors seek to invite the reader into a co-constructed space where mutual support and inspiration shape the future actions of the participants as they grapple with their ethical responsibilities as learners and educators
Open-Ended Apps in Kindergarten: Identity Exploration Through Digital Role-Play
No full textThis 2-year research study followed 14 kindergarten classrooms in Ontario as they used open-ended tablet applications to support literacy learning. Through multimodal slideshows the children explored identities such as reporter, teacher, and architect during self-initiated role-play. The slideshows they created demonstrated multimodal productions that were longer, more complex, and more varied than their literacy production with traditional literacy tools and practices. Rather than supplanting traditional kindergarten meaning-making practices such as role-play, children folded digital affordances into their play in ways that expanded the range of identities they explored and the tools and practices with which they explored them
A Silent Production, both of Text and Self: Conceptualizing the Psychic Work of Comics Reading
No full textIn this paper, we wonder how comics – through its play of absence and presence, and as unique multimodal merger of visual arts and literature – may allow readers to engage in a particular kind of psychic work, involving the influence of memory and unconscious life on reading experience. We thus discuss an explicitly psychoanalytic understanding of reading comics, paying particular attention to the mental movements of repression, projection, and reparation. Drawing on readers’ experiences with Lynda Barry’s The Freddie Stories, we also consider how the formal elements of comics reading might allow readers to work through the effects of potentially difficult personal histories.In this paper, we wonder how comics – through its play of absence and presence, and as unique multimodal merger of visual arts and literature – may allow readers to engage in a particular kind of psychic work, involving the influence of memory and unconscious life on reading experience. We thus discuss an explicitly psychoanalytic understanding of reading comics, paying particular attention to the mental movements of repression, projection, and reparation. Drawing on readers’ experiences with Lynda Barry’s The Freddie Stories, we also consider how the formal elements of comics reading might allow readers to work through the effects of potentially difficult personal histories
Teachers as Zookeepers? How Picture Books Describe Classroom Management
No full textEngaging the lens of classroom management, this research explores how teachers have been represented in children’s picture books as classroom managers. Picture books from the A-Zoo 7th Edition (2005) serve as a foundational data set to explore how the personification of teachers and the reality of the teaching experience are mirrored over time. Charteris’s heuristic of epistemological shudders (2014) —identifying a paradox which opens up possibilities for meaning making—was utilized alongside Krippendorff’s (1989) content analysis framework. Findings inform how the representation of teachers has portrayed a postmodern, deconstructive worldview regarding classroom management and professional representation, inviting further study into society’s ongoing perceptions of the teacher
Hidden Children: Using Children\u27s Literature to Develop Understanding and Empathy Toward Children of Incarcerated Parents
No full textAbstract
Research indicates that children whose parents are incarcerated are a vulnerable group of people with poor life outcomes. Yet these children are not tracked in the Canadian system, making it difficult for schools to respond with appropriate supports. How can schools be inclusive to this hidden demographic of children? Framed in theories of Critical Literacy and Ethic of Care, the author proposes the use of story to develop understanding and empathy. Research shows that acknowledging these children’s experiences through story helps them to feel validated while broadening capacity for empathy among other children. Can a story develop empathy toward children of incarcerated parents? To answer this question, the author wrote a picture book about a child who visits her mother in jail, and read the story to three groups of children, interspersed and followed by rich discussions. The story elicited empathetic responses from all students, suggesting the benefits of this approach
Robust Respect: De-centering Deficit Thinking in Family Literacy Work: De-centering Deficit Thinking in Family Literacy Work
No full textThis paper is rooted in an assumption that the tenacity of deficit thinking in family literacy programs in Canada is partly a reflection of our colonial settler history. I explore how embracing an ethic of “robust respect” may offer a way of re-orienting family literacy programs away from deficit thinking and towards relationships. Drawing on observation of the Traditional Aboriginal Parenting Program, I describe how “robust respect” is characterized by building respectful relationships, valuing the other, and acknowledging the historical and political context in which family literacy work is located.This paper is rooted in an assumption that the tenacity of deficit thinking in family literacy programs in Canada is partly a reflection of our colonial settler history. I explore how embracing an ethic of “robust respect” may offer a way of re-orienting family literacy programs away from deficit thinking and towards relationships. Drawing on observation of the Traditional Aboriginal Parenting Program, I describe how “robust respect” is characterized by building respectful relationships, valuing the other, and acknowledging the historical and political context in which family literacy work is located
Embodied Cognition: Laying the Foundation for Early Language and Literacy Learning
No full textFor children, hands are the critical conduit for learning the world and constructing mental models of its size and shape. Such embodied cognition (EC) is mediated through language in the social environment. In this paper we review the literature and develop the conceptual underpinnings for a framework for play-based pedagogy that integrates sensorimotor, cognitive, and linguistic systems that lay the foundations for early literacy experiences expected in the kindergarten and Grade 1 year. We provide suggestions for incorporating games and tasks in a play-based program that will promote EC
