Full version of paper. Printed proceedings carried only the abstract. / The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Library has been pioneering and initiating bibliographic instruction and information literacy programmes since the inception of the university as a technological institute back in 1981. The evolving academic and research landscape since then, coupled with technological advancements in the provision of information resources and services, has provided the impetus for NTU Library to develop a structured information literacy programme with the aim of enhancing studentsâ learning and research. The objectives of the programme developed are clearly stated and closely aligned to the universityâ s as well as the libraryâ s mission statements. This paper provides a historical perspective and traces the development of this programme over the years. A model of the programme as it is currently offered to students is presented. Discussion will focus on a number of aspects: information literacy standards consulted, identification of studentsâ learning outcomes, a spectrum of delivery mode and methodology, evolving and expanding content development, as well as, formative and summative feedback. The paper also looks at the enablers of the programme, which include librarians, library management, faculty members, schoolsâ administrative units, external instructors and trainers, and technology. The paper concludes with a look at the future of the libraryâ s information literacy programme beyond 2006 and will address crucial issues which impact upon the implementation and running of the programme across all schools in the university. Issues like profiling of students, matching programme type and delivery mode with these profiles, leveraging on emerging technologies as learning tools and integrating studentsâ assessments can be further researched. A deep insight and understanding of these issues will in return stimulate further the development by the library of a more innovative and creative information literacy programme for the university.

Adolescent literacy is currently viewed as in crisis. Moore (2002) argues that a focus on adolescent literate identity seems to be a key consideration when designing literacy instruction for secondary classrooms. This dissertation argues that in order for adolescents to develop a literate identity, their teachers should possess a literate identity.This phenomenological case study investigates the transformational paths nine developing teachers traversed as they "authored" their teacher literacy identity through a university content area literacy course, student teaching, and/or the induction period. "Authoring" includes both how the teachers represent their literacy identities in their writing and speaking, and how teachers do their literacy identities when enacting or performing (Moje, 2004) literacy instruction.Six instructional engagements completed by participants when they were students in a university content area literacy course comprise one data set. During student teaching and/or during their first or second year of teaching, three types of data were gathered: the Seidman (1998) three-interview series; a content area literacy lesson planning session; and an observation of each planned lesson. A phenomenological analysis (Merriam, 1998) guided the initial examination of the data. The data sets were analyzed using the constant comparative method (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007; Merriam, 1998).Teacher literacy identity is a previously unexplored construct. Based on a literature review and the voices of the participants, the following definition took shape: teacher literacy identity is a confident view of self as responsible for and in control of improving the literacy learning of self and the competency to enact engagements to guide the literacy learning of students. Teacher literacy identity consists of three transactional dimensions: the construct of literacy, the construct of literacy in practice, and the quality of the literacy enactment. Six major categories emerged to illustrate the phenomenon: identity, learning communities, personal agency, design of practice, literacy theories, and sources of dissonance.Implications of this exploration suggest that the investigation and documentation of developing teachers' literacy learning trajectories are worthy areas of further study. Moreover, a critical re-evaluation of teacher education and professional development in the support of teacher literacy identity deserves close attention.

The purpose of this study was to document the literacy practices of three 5-7 year old boys who were in the formative stage of formal schooling. The study took place in the British Virgin Islands, a group of 60 or so islands, cays, and islets located in the Caribbean. I examined these boys’ literacy practices in three contexts — home, community and school. Through observations, interviews and samplings of conversations at home, I found that school literacy dominated all three contexts and was used similarly in all three contexts. Additionally, parents were consciously reinforcing school literacy in the home. The three boys were reading, writing, speaking and listening at their expected grade level and appeared to be steadily progressing. Religion appeared to play an important role in supporting the children’s literacy development, consistent with the country’s Christian heritage. As previous research in other contexts (e.g., Marsh, 2003) has shown, home and community literacy practices remain largely unrecognized and untapped at school.

This study addresses the problem of a lack of culturally responsive literacy instruction in poorand marginalized communities, in developing countries. Relatedly, the study addresses factors that affect the implementation of this instruction, specifically the training of teachers to provide culturally responsive literacy instruction. This research provides a grounded description of how teachers in a Bolivian Fe y Alegria school use culturally responsive literacy instruction in the classroom and what factors affect their ability to do so. This case study was based on qualitative data collected from participant interviews, classroom and community observations and analysis of school and government documents. This study concludes that in this setting, despite the Fe y Alegria school's philosophy that reflects the aspects of culturally responsive instruction, few instances of this type of pedagogy in practice were observed. The data revealed rich and varied literacy practices within the community context. However, the data also suggested gaps between the home literacy practices and the literacy practices students were exposed to at school. As well, during the course of teacher interviews regarding formal and informal training, the data supports previous findings in other research that teacher training programs in the developing world were theory laden and for the most part impractical. This study contributes to a small but, hopefully, growing base of research on culturally responsive schools, give educators much needed information on how to consider and utilize the communities' cultural contexts when planning and teaching their students and highlight some of the factors, such as teacher training, that hinder or help the implementation of this type of instruction.

The increasing popularity of Instant Messaging (IM) among adolescents in North America (Kids' Take On Media, 2003; Lenhart, Ranie & Lewis, 2001; Tagliamonte & Denis, 2006) is prompting two educational debates. One debate contests whether IM is more like speech or writing (e.g. Tagliamonte & Dennis, 2003). The second debate disputes whether IM has a positive or negative effect on school writing (e.g. O’Connor, 2005). This thesis addresses these debates from a New Literacies Studies (NLS) stance. It reports on a qualitative study of the perspectives and literacy practices of high school students. The purpose is to examine how IM shapes student writing and perception of literacy. The study focuses on the communication that transpired between five experienced IM users—one researcher and four adolescent participants—during a six-week IM writing group. Findings indicate the participants regard IM as a space for written slang; a space where speech and writing merge. Sensitive to context, the participants note that they can switch language registers to accommodate their audience, but they think confusion between registers may be a possibility. They demonstrate an attitude of “linguistic whateverism” (as described by Baron, 2002) when writing in the context of IM to increase efficiency, but they do not use as many acronyms as expected. The “whatever” attitude is linked to mistakes in writing, but it also exposes them to a sense of freedom and enjoyment. In general, IM provides these students with a new purpose for language, which they perceive as disconnected from school literacy. The findings suggests that IM language is a hybrid of speech and writing, and connecting IM with school writing (both literally and figuratively) may help teachers be more effective in making school writing processes more relevant to students’ lives. While making this connection, it is important for teachers to emphasize the plurality of literacies and the importance of revising and editing “finished” writing. In conclusion, this thesis considers new opportunities and concerns for writing pedagogy and new prospects for language research. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-01-25 11:40:10.265 / Queen's University; Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program (OGS)

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This inquiry explores how eight young francophone scientists within anglophone and francophone postsecondary institutions in Montreal and Paris developed academic literacies in English and French, and constructed identities as members of national, linguistic, academic, and socio-cultural groups. I define literacy development as an individual's development of writing competencies and appropriation of language and social practices in and around written texts within specific socio-cultural, interactional, and discursive contexts. I adopt a socio-cultural, hermeneutic approach to literacy and identity to propose an integrated model of academic biliteracy development and identity construction inspired by Bakhtin, Halliday, Ricoeur, Taylor, and Vygotsky. To understand how the participants engaged in academic literacy practices and constructed identities in their academic writing, I conducted 50 hours of autobiographical and text-based interviews about their writing, life plans and experiences, and sense of self as writers and learners, over three years. I also paid visits to the participants' homes and workplaces, and collected documents such as legal texts, university statutes, and national census data so as to situate the participants' texts and experiences within their autobiographical, institutional, historical, and societal contexts. Through selected excerpts from interviews, documents, and writing samples, I argue that the participants' academic biliteracy development and identity construction was shaped by their individual evaluative responses to social forces. I suggest the shared individual and collective responsibilities of scientists, language specialists, academic gate keepers, universities, and governments for the advancement of academic literacies in more than one language. I draw implications of this inquiry for academic biliteracy, instruction and research in bilingual academic writing, and the theoretization of writers' identiti

This small-scale, qualitative, instructional study examined creative writing, publishing and empowerment of Inuit adult learners in Baker Lake, Nunavut. I studied whether instruction in culturally relevant topics in English and Inuit songs in Inuktitut motivated the learners to write. In addition, I examined whether having their creative writing published led to empowerment for the learners. This was a participatory action research project, and a Project Advisory Committee of community members helped in planning and carrying out the study. I examined concepts of orality and literacy and discussed how Inuit have historically practiced many types of literacy—such as reading snowdrifts and Inuksuit to navigate. The project took place in Baker Lake, an Inuit community that has experienced the colonization of the South. Thus, throughout the project, I examined my positionality in terms of culture, colonialism, disability and its affect on my research. I taught a creative writing workshop at the Nunavut Arctic College, along with the local Elders, who taught songs from the Baker Lake area. In the process of curriculum planning, the Elders asserted their right to teach the songs in Inuktitut, which is the way that they originally composed or learned them. In this context I explore the work of Fanon (1963) concerning the role of storytellers in the decolonization of cultures. After the workshop, in February 2006, The Sound of Songs: Stories by Baker Lake Writers (Utatnaq, 2006), an anthology of the adult learners’ writings, was published. This small book was then launched at the Community Centre in Baker Lake, where community members listened to learners’ readings. In the course of the project, the Project Advisory Committee and I examined the meaning of the term “empowerment” in the context of Inuit culture. Each of the nine learners who took part in the workshop published at least one piece in the book. The majority of the nine learners who took part in the study reported some degree of empowerment, in the area of confidence about their own writing, in gaining the respect of community members, especially the Elders, and also in learning to be a “real Inuk” from the Elders who taught songs from the Baker Lake area. Most of the learners had not heard these songs before and thus this was an opportunity for Elders and younger people in their twenties and thirties to better understand each other. Indeed, the community itself may have been empowered in the process of doing participatory action research for this project and in seeing its young people take an interest in their heritage.

This case study of two combined grade 7 and 8 classrooms investigated the qualities of student engagement during a modified Four Blocks (Cunningham, Hall & Defee, 1998) literacy blocks intervention. The teachers’ experiences with implementing and engaging their students in literacy blocks were also examined. Qualities of student engagement were described across four domains: affective, behavioural, cognitive and social. Participant interviews, professional development meetings and classroom observations were analyzed to describe instructional context and teacher experiences during the implementation of literacy blocks. Teacher involvement and opportunities for choice seemed to positively impact student engagement. Findings suggest that student engagement may be increased through the effective use of collaborative learning strategies and the explicit teaching of strategies and skills leading to the gradual release of responsibility. Data provided insight into the teacher experiences of implementing literacy blocks and suggests that further research into teacher professional development to support implementation is needed.

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