The Department of Library and Information Science, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, in association with UNESCO, completed a research study to measure information literacy competency and reading habits amongst the urban and semi-urban habitants in a metropolitan city in India. UNESCO releases a report on this research entitled Information Literacy Competency and Readership Study of Five Specific Localities in Urban, Industrial and Semi-Urban Areas of Kolkata Metropolitan City. The study sought to identify and critically examine the information literary competency and reading habits of mixed habitants, having contrasting professions or vocations. More particularly, the study had the following objectives: * to assess the readership of people from different social strata of five specific localities of Kolkata metropolitan city; * to measure the encroachment of different media on people's reading habit; * to find out the probable causes behind the difference in pattern of the reading habits of people in different localities of Kolkata; * to assess the role played by public libraries in promoting reading habits; and * to map the information literacy level of people living in urban, industrial and semi-urban areas of Kolkata. This study illustrates information seeking behaviour of diverse groups of habitants, including youths, women, industrial workers and elderly persons. The report concludes that the number of men who do not read regularly far exceeds the number of women in the same category, and that women are more prone to use libraries for satisfaction of their reading needs. Among the non-print media, television attracted most respondents. The study also demonstrated that, despite the electronic media boom, reading still survives. The public libraries in the city play wider role to inculcate reading habits amongst youths and neo-literates. This study suggests that information literacy competency and lifelong education can also be imparted to marginalised groups through public library networks in the country.

The study contributes to the growing body of research that examines the meanings and practices of literacy in community settings. While the study sheds some light on the history of community-based literacy learning, it is also a project in rhetorical analysis. It traces the influence of public discourse and beliefs about literacy on the teaching of English to non-native speakers, focusing on the Progressive Era (1890-1920), a time of major social and educational change. Turn-of-the-century educators and members of the public believed that literacy was in a state of decline, and immigrants were often blamed. Public debate about literacy was marked by an acute sense of crisis exacerbated by economic unease and rapid social and political change. In this atmosphere of change and anxiety, the public called on English teachers to assimilate immigrants by bringing them in line with cultural norms, teaching them patriotism, and preparing them to be efficient workers. In response to public pressure, some educators embraced a vision of a monolingual society and adopted a pedagogy of assimilation. As Americanization programs emerged in large numbers in the 1910s, the goals and curricula often reflected this vision. However, not all educators embraced the assimilation model. Some educators and immigrant writers argued for the need for a pedagogy rooted in students' community lives and individual needs, with the potential to contribute toward a more democratic society for all.

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In European, UK and Scottish policy social exclusion has been the main discourse of poverty and disadvantage for at least the last sixteen years. However social exclusion is a contested term and there is limited consensus about its nature and definition. Adult physical activity and adult literacy provision have been identified in policy as having a role in addressing social exclusion and so this study explored understandings of social exclusion in policy and in practitioners’ discourses about their practice in both these types of provision. I undertook an analysis of Scottish policy texts relating to social exclusion, literacy and physical activity. This showed that policy discourse about social exclusion had evolved between 1999 and 2011 from a combative to a more enabling style. It also showed an increasingly overt individualistic economic discourse established as the underpinning rationale for policy intervention. I then undertook a series of semi-structured interviews with nine literacy practitioners and seven physical activity practitioners. Using an approach informed by Critical Discourse Analysis I identified themes in the data. Practitioners’ narratives were analysed in reference to a typology, RED, MUD and SID, (Levitas, 2005) which describes the different ways social exclusion is understood in the UK. These are respectively, a redistributive discourse (RED) which links social exclusion to poverty, a discourse that deploys cultural explanations of social exclusion (MUD) and a discourse which analyses social exclusion in relation to the labour market (SID). The study indicated that social exclusion was understood and interpreted by practitioners in different ways but that a theme of economic individualism framed their discursive practices and echoed policy. The study also revealed discursive links between policy texts and practitioners’ discourses and these were more apparent in literacy practitioners’ discourses than in physical activity practitioners’ discourses. Similarities between both groups of practitioners were most evident in how they identified lack of confidence as a defining characteristic of people who experienced social exclusion and the central role of confidence building in their respective provision. My analysis showed that individual practitioners sometimes articulated simultaneously contradictory discourses about their practice however literacy practitioners’ discourses considered together were more uniform than those of physical activity practitioners. The findings illuminate the complicated and sometimes contradictory landscape of policy and practitioners’ discourses about social exclusion and their practice. They draw attention to the delimitations and constraints on practitioners’ discourses and to the need to support reflexivity in professional practice.

Syftet med denna studie var att bidra med ökad kunskap kring läs och skriftspråksinlärning i förskolan. I studien observerades den skriftspråkliga miljön kopplat till texter, och tre förskollärare intervjuades utifrån deras tankar kring texter i förskolan. Det sociokulturella perspektivet ligger till grund för arbetet, vilket ser att barnen lär i det sammanhang de befinner sig i och via de artefakter som erbjuds dem. Studien är förlagd till en förskola i en mindre stad. Urvalet blev tre av fem avdelningar med verksamhet för barn i åldern 1-5 år, samt till tre förskollärare. Studien är kvalitativ, med insamlat materialet ifrån intervjuer och fotoobservationer utav de texter som var synliga i förskolans miljö. Jag har tagit inspiration utav den etnografiska forskningsansatsen vilken söker kunskap genom deltagarnas perspektiv och sociala processer. Forskningsansatsen använder gärna flera metoder som intervju och observation. Resultatet visar en blandad variation av texter i förskolans innemiljö, där textkategorierna märkning och artefakter användes mest i miljön. Förskollärarna belyser poängen utav att stärka texter tillsammans med bild samt att göra texter tillgängliga i miljön för barnen. Detta utvecklar ett meningsskapande hos barnen. Resultaten visar också att barnen utforskar textmiljön på egen hand, och samspelar med barn och vuxna kring artefakter som intresserar dem, vilket blir en slutsats för arbetet. Ett annat tydligt resultat blir att miljön bör berikas med fler texter som barnen kan utforska kring, samt att texter kopplat till bilder kunde ökas eftersom detta var något som barnen tydligt fann intresse för. Intressant för fortsatt forskning blir därmed att studera hur pedagoger fångar upp och samspelar kring det som barnen visar intresse för inom skriftspråk och texter.

One of the three-fold purposes of this study is to indicate the relationship between the cultural advancements of the Cherokees and the development and implementation of a written, printable language into their culture. In fulfilling a second purposes, the study emphasizes the influence of literacy on the social values of the Cherokees. The third purpose is to consider the idea of the Cherokees themselves that bi-lingual education, first in Cherokee, then in English, and a renewed national pride and productivity in literacy could go far in solving the problems of social alienation and educational negativism that exist among un-assimilated Cherokees.

Background/Aims: Urie Bronfenbrenner's bioecological systems model is well regarded in the field of child development. Although this model is not commonly used by literacy researchers, I argue that Bronfenbrenner's emphasis on the roles of personal characteristics, proximal processes, contextual systems, and historical time has explanatory power in the area of literacy. Methods: I review this body of literature and describe a visual representation that clarifies the relevant aspects of the theory. Results: Adoption of Bronfenbrenner's model increases the likelihood that literacy development will be understood as occurring at the site of transaction between cognitive processes and social practices. Literacy researchers who have applied this theory differ in the degree to which they have attended to Bronfenbrenner's guidance relative to adequate research practice and, as such, findings from this research range from less to more theoretically sound and useful. Conclusion: As contemporary literacy researchers consider employing Bronfenbrenner's theory to frame their work, it is necessary for them to account for all aspects of his rich and complex model.

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Magister Educationis - MEd / Reading is one of the components of literacy that plays a crucial role in accessing knowledge. It develops the children’s mind and stimulates their understanding of the reading content and enables them to function and communicate effectively in society. Research conducted in the field of literacy suggests that there is a literacy crisis (especially in reading), around the world. Recent research indicates that South African Foundation Phase learners perform poorly in reading comprehension. Considering poor literacy results observed in South Africa, it is important to explore reading as a socio-cultural and cognitive practice and to identify the factors that contribute towards adequate acquisition of reading comprehension skills in the Foundation Phase. Thus the focus of this study is on reading comprehension in isiXhosa Home Language which is used as the main language of learning and teaching from Grade R - 3. I have used a qualitative approach as an underpinning research methodological framework for this study. Data was collected by means of interviews and classroom observations from two selected Grade three classrooms in one primary school in the Western Cape. The findings of this study illustrate the significance of learners’ prior knowledge and the use of adequate resources to enhance learners’ reading comprehension. The study concludes that reading comprehension is a cognitive process that demands innovative teaching approaches that will facilitate meaningful learning across the curriculum.