The focus of this research is to examine the book club as a social context for literacy development. Students in book clubs perceive literature authentically in ways of reading, writing and talking through a variety of interactions. Meanwhile, teachers, by observing students’ learning in book clubs, reflect on their language teaching and lead to an innovation of literacy instruction in schools, which can bridge to a community instructional change for language teachers. In this research, I observed, videotaped, audio-taped, and interviewed high school students and the teacher in an urban Canadian high school, who were involved in English classroom book clubs which replaced the traditional instructional mode of teaching literature, trying to figure out a structure for a classroom book club by comparing to an extracurricular book club and by analyzing the diverse reading experiences of students both in and outside of school.

The focus of this research is to examine the book club as a social context for literacy development. Students in book clubs perceive literature authentically in ways of reading, writing and talking through a variety of interactions. Meanwhile, teachers, by observing students’ learning in book clubs, reflect on their language teaching and lead to an innovation of literacy instruction in schools, which can bridge to a community instructional change for language teachers. In this research, I observed, videotaped, audio-taped, and interviewed high school students and the teacher in an urban Canadian high school, who were involved in English classroom book clubs which replaced the traditional instructional mode of teaching literature, trying to figure out a structure for a classroom book club by comparing to an extracurricular book club and by analyzing the diverse reading experiences of students both in and outside of school.

The study explores teachers’ experiences in book clubs and how these experiences inform their pedagogical practices. Framed by a social constructivist epistemological stance, grounded in the work of narrative inquiry, and conceptualized by transactional reader-response theory, this study explores why teachers join and sustain book club membership, the ways books clubs are used to create meaning, how participating in a book club influences pedagogical practices, and ways in which clubs are used to negotiate aspects of their teaching identities and subjectivities. Through a multifaceted qualitative research design, I worked with thirteen teachers who belong to (or have recently belonged to) a book club as a separate entity from their teaching lives. I conducted interviews with thirteen teachers; attended three meetings of three separate book clubs to contextualize the study; and administered written reading profiles to explore participants’ reading practices. This research argues that teachers join and remain in book clubs for social interaction, intellectual stimulation and motivation to read ‘quality’ literature. Knowledges are created and validated by a community of readers capable of such recognition in a forum that does not otherwise exist. Club meetings are used in different and complex ways to negotiate teaching subjectivities and push back against fixed notions of the teacher identity. Further, this study showcases a myriad of ways that teachers’ experiences in book clubs enter the classroom both explicitly and implicitly.

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No description available.

Changing the existing framework for how schools operate and the "deficit frame of reference" for students of color begins with teacher awareness of differing social and cultural norms and values that privilege some and oppress others (Villegas and Lucas, 2002). These normalized cultural values are exacerbated by the fact that they are generally "invisible" to the white teacher majority. Quaye (2012) and Zuniga et al. (2002) use the term "consciousness-raising" to describe the process of developing an awareness of these norms and values. Using a Critical Race Theory lens, this study aimed to capture the process of "consciousness-raising" in a white teacher book club examining ten different African American children's picture books. The study design was supported by an Intergroup Dialogue model, developed by Zuniga et al. (2002) and adapted for white facilitators by Quaye (2012). Data Analysis was guided by a continuum of white racial identity developed by Helms (1990) and modified by Lawrence and Tatum (1998). Transcripts of participant narratives were analyzed for signs of status change along the continuum and each teacher demonstrated varying degrees of socio-cultural awareness. The researcher journal was analyzed to capture reflections on the Intergroup Dialogue Model for facilitation. Principal findings of the study include the replication of themes found in the existing whiteness literature as well as the value and limitations of the continuum of white racial identity as a tool for analysis. / Ph. D.

The prevailing discourses around refugees often serve to position them as ignorant, incapable, and needing to be assimilated into the dominant culture of receiving societies. The limited research devoted to refugees shows that they struggle in schools and on standardized tests of achievement, are underemployed, and live in poverty. Refugee women, in particular, often contend with multiple linguistic, gendered, and racialized forms of discrimination, as they navigate transnational spaces and lives in resettlement. However, this qualitative study sought to counter deficit discourses around refugee women in resettlement by critically investigating and illuminating their everyday lives and literacy practices. The participants were nine refugee women, aged 16 to 31, who engaged in an out-of-school book club over a six-month period. Sociocultural, dialogic, poststructural, feminist, and transnational theories informed this study. Critical ethnographic approaches and New Literacy Studies perspectives influenced the research process and data gathering. Qualitative data were collected from audio and video recordings of book club meetings, meeting transcripts, and researcher field notes. The data were analyzed using qualitative coding and narrative methods. The themes identified from the analysis were that participants (1) shaped and used the book club as a dialogic, border practice and space; (2) navigated and negotiated shifting and changing subjectivities and took up multi/plural identities; (3) used multiple languages and literacies as practices and resources; and (4) were living here-and-there, transnational and dialogic lives. The findings suggest that educators can foster refugee women’s English language learning and multiple literacies in three key ways: by creating learning spaces that are flexible, contingent, dialogic, and collaborative; by recognizing students’ sociocultural contexts and funds of knowledge; and by affording opportunities for students to position themselves as knowers and teachers.

A intenção deste trabalho é compreender a formação de uma rede de debates intelectuais entre dois grupos da esquerda anglófona articulados em torno do Left Book Club, de Londres e em torno da revista Partisan Review, de Nova York durante os anos da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Entendo que, especialmente na primeira metade da década de 1940, os contatos entre estes dois núcleos da esquerda anglo-saxã se estreitaram em dois caminhos: por um lado, por uma crítica comum ao stalinismo; e, por outro, por uma crítica à esquerda da cultura nativa (e tradições burguesas) em ambos os países. Defendemos ainda que essas propostas articuladas por dentro dos movimentos intelectuais de esquerda nos dois países, ora baseadas ideologicamente numa releitura nãoinstitucionalizada do marxismo, ora no trotskismo, ora no pacifismo, ora na reconstrução de um discurso liberal, se aglutinavam em torno da contestação dos rumos do movimento comunista internacional, liderado pelo stalinismo. A articulação dos debates entre esses dois grupos se reforçará no momento em que o célebre romancista anglo-indiano George Orwell, famoso por duas das distopias mais famosas do século XX, o Animal Farm (1945) e o 1984 (1949), contribui simultaneamente com ambos os grupos. Na Partisan Review, Orwell ficara encarregado da publicação da coluna London Letters to Partisan Review, entre os anos de 1941 e 1946. A possibilidade de um diálogo franco com ambos os círculos, especialmente pela rede costurada com membros de ambos os grupos, possibilitou a Orwell criar uma ponte de contatos entre os dois ambientes. Entendo ainda que essa articulação construída por Orwell foi decisiva nas futuras participações de outros intelectuais, que já haviam publicado no Left Book Club e que participavam ativamente dos debates britânicos, como contribuintes da Partisan Review. / The intention of this work is to understand the constitution of a network of intellectual debates articulated among two groups of the Anglophone left around the London\'s Left Book Club, and around the New York\'s Partisan Review, during the years of World War II. I understand that, especially in the first half of the 1940s, contacts between the two cores of the Anglo-Saxon left narrowed in two ways: firstly, by a common critique of Stalinism; and on the other, a left-wing critic of the native culture (and bourgeois traditions) in both countries. We argue that those proposals articulated inside the left-wing intellectual movements in the two countries, based ideologically on a non-institutionalized reinterpretation of Marxism, or in Trotskyism, or in pacifism, or in rebuilding a liberal discourse, coalesced around the challenge of the international communist movement course, led by Stalinism. The joint discussions among those two groups will be strengthened at the time that the famous Anglo-Indian novelist George Orwell, famous for two of the most famous dystopias of the twentieth century, Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949), contributes simultaneously with both groups. In Partisan Review, Orwell had been in charge of publishing the column \"London Letters to Partisan Review\", between the years 1941 and 1946. The possibility of an open dialogue with both circles, especially the stitched network with members of both groups, enabled Orwell to create a bridge between the two environments. I also believe that this articulation builted by Orwell was decisive in the future participation of other intellectuals, who had already published through the Left Book Club and participating actively in British debates, as contributors of Partisan Review.

A intenção deste trabalho é compreender a formação de uma rede de debates intelectuais entre dois grupos da esquerda anglófona articulados em torno do Left Book Club, de Londres e em torno da revista Partisan Review, de Nova York durante os anos da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Entendo que, especialmente na primeira metade da década de 1940, os contatos entre estes dois núcleos da esquerda anglo-saxã se estreitaram em dois caminhos: por um lado, por uma crítica comum ao stalinismo; e, por outro, por uma crítica à esquerda da cultura nativa (e tradições burguesas) em ambos os países. Defendemos ainda que essas propostas articuladas por dentro dos movimentos intelectuais de esquerda nos dois países, ora baseadas ideologicamente numa releitura nãoinstitucionalizada do marxismo, ora no trotskismo, ora no pacifismo, ora na reconstrução de um discurso liberal, se aglutinavam em torno da contestação dos rumos do movimento comunista internacional, liderado pelo stalinismo. A articulação dos debates entre esses dois grupos se reforçará no momento em que o célebre romancista anglo-indiano George Orwell, famoso por duas das distopias mais famosas do século XX, o Animal Farm (1945) e o 1984 (1949), contribui simultaneamente com ambos os grupos. Na Partisan Review, Orwell ficara encarregado da publicação da coluna London Letters to Partisan Review, entre os anos de 1941 e 1946. A possibilidade de um diálogo franco com ambos os círculos, especialmente pela rede costurada com membros de ambos os grupos, possibilitou a Orwell criar uma ponte de contatos entre os dois ambientes. Entendo ainda que essa articulação construída por Orwell foi decisiva nas futuras participações de outros intelectuais, que já haviam publicado no Left Book Club e que participavam ativamente dos debates britânicos, como contribuintes da Partisan Review. / The intention of this work is to understand the constitution of a network of intellectual debates articulated among two groups of the Anglophone left around the London\'s Left Book Club, and around the New York\'s Partisan Review, during the years of World War II. I understand that, especially in the first half of the 1940s, contacts between the two cores of the Anglo-Saxon left narrowed in two ways: firstly, by a common critique of Stalinism; and on the other, a left-wing critic of the native culture (and bourgeois traditions) in both countries. We argue that those proposals articulated inside the left-wing intellectual movements in the two countries, based ideologically on a non-institutionalized reinterpretation of Marxism, or in Trotskyism, or in pacifism, or in rebuilding a liberal discourse, coalesced around the challenge of the international communist movement course, led by Stalinism. The joint discussions among those two groups will be strengthened at the time that the famous Anglo-Indian novelist George Orwell, famous for two of the most famous dystopias of the twentieth century, Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949), contributes simultaneously with both groups. In Partisan Review, Orwell had been in charge of publishing the column \"London Letters to Partisan Review\", between the years 1941 and 1946. The possibility of an open dialogue with both circles, especially the stitched network with members of both groups, enabled Orwell to create a bridge between the two environments. I also believe that this articulation builted by Orwell was decisive in the future participation of other intellectuals, who had already published through the Left Book Club and participating actively in British debates, as contributors of Partisan Review.

This qualitative research aims to investigate identity positions of elementary school students with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) background in an afterschool book club. The increasing population of CLD students and their learning needs have become a national focus in American schools. Scholars have highlighted that understanding students’ identity positions and their interactions in social communities benefits teaching practices (Norton, 2013). Although the number of studies investigating identity in language and literacy education is increasing, most focus on English language learners (ELLs) who are currently enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) or ELL programs and few examine these students’ learning trajectories once they exit elementary school ESL programs. Research has shown that although the ELLs exit ESL programs, their culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds continue to impact their learning. This study attempts to investigate (a) what social practices contribute to elementary school students’ participation in the afterschool book club (b) how CLD students position their identities, (c) what discourses about CLD students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds emerge and shape their identities, and in an elementary school afterschool book club. The data sources of this study include audio and video recordings, observation field notes from the book club, semistructured interviews, and students’ written responses. I draw on Gee (2011) and Fairclough’s (2001) critical discourse analysis concepts and guidance to interpret responses during the data analysis process. The findings show that the afterschool book club provides multiple social functions that allows CLD students assume multiple identities, utilize their agency to negotiate, and create possible identities. For instance, this space allows the members of this book club to share their personal stories, challenge the conventions of a book club, maintain and expand their friendship circles, and share and listen to their peers’ diverse backgrounds. In addition, the discourses that emerge in the book club illustrate that the CLD students are keenly aware of their identities. However, power relations at different social levels also challenge these multiple identities. The findings of this study offer nuanced perspectives into the fields of foreign and second language education and literacy education. This study will contribute to teachers’ understanding of CLD students’ identity positions and to respond to Norton and Toohey’s (2011) call for a better understanding of how students learn in globalized sociocultural worlds. Implications for educators, teacher education programs, and researchers are also discussed in this study.