Upon entering middle school, students within the study district in southeastern Tennessee had low literacy proficiency scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) for 3 consecutive years. Middle school administrators implemented a program called Lexile Framework (LF) into the literacy curriculum in 2011 to improve TCAP scores. However, the change in literacy scores had not been examined following the implementation of LF. The purpose of this quasi-experimental research study was to examine the differences in literacy scores on TCAP of students across the years of pre- and post-LF implementation into the curriculum (2009-2011 and 2012-2014). The theoretical framework for this research study was Vygotsky's social development theory used within the LF to create student-centered learning in order for students to construct new knowledge by making connections with their literacy experiences. With a convenience sample of 225 students, a repeated-measure analysis of variance determined if there was a significant change in the archived matched literacy TCAP scores before and after the implementation of LF. The multivariate tests indicated a significant (Wilk's Î? = .21, F (3, 222) = 276.85, p < .01) and linear effect (F (1, 224) = 709.75, p < .01) with partial eta squared (η2 = .76) of LF on literacy TCAP scores of students across the years of pre- and post-LF implementation. Positive social change implications include providing school administrators with research findings to inform district-wide decisions regarding the use of LF in the curricula in their middle schools. Increasing students' literacy TCAP scores may ultimately improve graduation rates for students.

The aim with this research is to get an idea ​​how younger preschool children embrace literacy in spontaneous activities, started by themselves or together with other people. We want to pay attention to and delimit the literacy events and investigate, interpret and understand what happens in the interaction between the children and between children and the material in the preschool environment. In addition to get an understanding how the children interact with the material in the physical environment and what strategies they use in the encounter with literacy. We hade to observe the children closely, in order to achieve that we conducted, an ethnographically inspired study, we can interact and observe children for a longer period. That helped to give us the opportunity to get closer to the children and we were regarded as a natural part of the group. Based on the observations, we saw that the children are exploring literacy with the material, which includes pens, papers and books. The specific material captured the children's curiosity and it contributed to that they started "test-writing" and "test-reading", both on their own but also with others. Although the children in some situations wanted to explore the material themselves, at the same time they wanted to be close to the group. Based on Karen Barad's theory of realistic realism, we saw that the environment and the material interact with the children. We can note that the children conquer literacy, literally in social interactions but in order to conquer literacy, the material's availability is crucial.

No description available.

Este artículo describe una de las prácticas letradas poco estudiadas por los sociolingüistas, etnógrafos y los estudiosos de la literacidad: la escritura generada por los comerciantes de los mercados. Esta ma-nera de usar la escritura es una práctica común en muchos pues-tos comerciales peruanos, no solo el comprador elabora su listado de compras, sino que también el vendedor suele hacer registros del negocio y otras anotaciones peculiares, características que los iden-tifican y que junto con otros patrones sociales de conducta y otras condiciones materiales que los rodean la convierten en una práctica social. Por tanto, es importante conocer los eventos letrados de los compradores y vendedores en los mercados como una forma de co-nocer situaciones letradas más allá de la escuela o la universidad; de esta manera, este trabajo buscar explicar qué y cómo se escribe, y con qué finalidades se escribe. Para ello, nos basaremos en los Nuevos Estudios de Literacidad (NEL). Con este trabajo, se concluye que la escritura sirve como herramienta cognitiva y social en un espacio social determinado con objetivos específicos: para los compradores y vendedores permite organizar y memorizar datos, y facilita las tran-sacciones. / This survey describes one of the literacy practices little studied by the sociolinguists, ethnographers and the researchers of the litera-cies: the writing generated by the merchants in the markets. This way of using the writing is a common literacy practice in many Peruvian commercial markets, not only the buyer elaborates his purchases list, but also the seller usually makes business records and other pecu-liar annotations, that identify them as social agent, and together with other behavior social patterns and other material conditions that su-rround them make it a social practice. Therefore, it is important to know the literacy events of buyers and sellers in the markets as a way to know literacy situations beyond school or university; in this way, this paper seeks to explain what and how it is written, and for what purposes it is written. For this, we will be based on the New Literacy Studies (NLS). The survey concludes that writing serves as a cogni-tive and social tool in a specific social space with specific objectives: to buyers and sellers it allows organizing and memorizing data, and facilitates transactions. / Revisión por pares

No description available.

This thesis explores the literacy practices in literacy history, in everyday life and in Swedish tuition for immigrants (sfi) of five Kurdish adults. The study analyses connections and dividing lines between literacy practices of the sociotextual domains of everyday life and literacy practices of the sociotextual domain of sfi. It also explores the interaction between literacy history and present literacy practices. Further, there is a focus on the connections between identification, learning and literacy practices. The methodological approach is inspired by ethnography, employing individual semi-structured interviews and classroom observation. Video documentation, audio recordings and field notes are used for documentation. Theoretically the study is influenced by the research field New Literacy Studies where literacies are conceived of assets of socially and culturally grounded practices. The interviews are analysed from two perspectives: focusing on content and on linguistic discursive practices. In the analysis of interviews and observations, a number of interacting aspects of literacy events and literacy practices are also researched, such as purpose, time, place, participants, verbal language and artefacts. A lack of connection between the participants’ notions of who they are and the identities offered to them in sfi impairs the conditions of their active participation in the literacy practices, and consequently also impairs their learning. Identities connected to literacy history are of importance in this process. To exemplify this, the professional career they had in Kurdistan is still of central importance for two of the participants of the study. This complicates their identification as sfi-students and their engaging in the literacy practices of the sfi-education. If sfi teachers know which identities from everyday life are important to their sfi students and try to find connections between the sfi teaching and these identities, the chances improve of the students accepting the identities which they are offered in the literacy events. Then it will also be more probable that the students’ participation in the literacy events in sfi will lead to deep learning. In the sfi classrooms, the participants take part in literacy events of everyday life. There are three types of overlap between the literacy practices of sfi and of everyday life. (1) Literacy events from other sociotextual domains take place in the sfi-classrooms, but without recontextualization into sfi. (2) Literacy events based in sociotextual domains of everyday life are recontextualized into sfi. (3) Literacy events belong to more than one sociotextual domain. In spite of these three types of overlap there are complications when it comes to students starting out from literacy practices of everyday life when they take part in the literacy practices of sfi. It is not possible to transmit literacy practices in their totality, from one sociotextual domain to another. The literacy practices are situated in a specific sociotextual domain and will undergo a transformation as they are based in a different sociotextual domain. On the other hand, it is possible for sfi students to make use of everyday micro practices (e.g. cooperation and non-linear reading) when they take part in the literacy practices of sfi.

This is about how pupils in years 4 to 6 of compulsory school and their teachers make meaning in teaching activities and texts. The aim of the study is to investigate the teaching and learning of writing and the pupils’ discursive texts. Another aim is to use linguistic theories and develop methods and analytical concepts for studying teaching practices. Sources for the material are the teaching practices in two classes, the teachers and the pupils. The field studies lasted for two years, consisting of observations and interviews. Twelve pupils’ texts and four writing projects are studied in depth. The theoretical framework is linked to systemic functional linguis­tics, critical discourse analysis, dialogical conception of language and new literacy studies. Analytical tools are also derived from rhetorical structure theory, relief theory and theory of text sequences. These tools have been adap­ted and are also applied in the analysis of the teaching practice. To analyse pupils’ meaning making in their texts, a theory of mobility in texts is used. The analyses show two different categories of texts and teaching practices. The hierarchically composed texts are characterized by hierarchies concerning the entire text. The sequentially coupled texts are charac­terized by many vague relations between text entities. One conclusion is that the students in the hierarchically composed texts develop knowledge during writing. They make meaning recursively when writing and they seem to grasp the text as a whole in a way they do not in the sequentially coupled ones. In the sequentially coupled texts, pupils seem to develop knowledge mostly before they write the text, rather than during the writing. In the hierarchically composed practice the pupils deepen their knowledge about text. The result can be interpreted as showing that pupils primarily need education about global text levels in order to develop text knowledge and subject knowledge. Teaching practice seems to promote all pupils’ meaning making if the practice is characterized by many interpersonal relations in the chains of spoken and written texts and if pupils learn to write texts that can structure their meaning making in a functional way.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Essa pesquisa insere-se em um contexto de muitas discussões acerca da qualidade da educação no Brasil, motivadas principalmente pelos maus resultados atingidos pelo país em exames internacionais. Os constantes debates têm dado margem, inclusive, a movimentos que, culpando os PCNs pelo fracasso generalizado na alfabetização, clamam pela volta de um ensino tradicional. De fato, apesar das imensas contribuições trazidas pelos estudos que embasam os PCNs, apenas a sua institucionalização não garantiu a ocorrência de mudanças efetivas na educação. Principalmente no campo da alfabetização, interpretações equivocadas levaram, por exemplo, ao desencadeamento de um processo de desmetodização do ensino, caracterizado pela exclusão total, nos últimos anos, das questões de ordem metodológica das pautas de discussões. Tal fenômeno, denominado por Soares (2004) de desinvenção da alfabetização, e também abordado por outros pesquisadores (cf. MORAIS, 2006; FRADE, 2003; CARVALHO, 2007), obviamente, acabou se refletindo nos novos livros didáticos, avaliados e recomendados pelo MEC. O problema é que os novos livros parecem não estar satisfazendo às necessidades dos docentes. Estudos recentes têm revelado tanto uma insatisfação desses profissionais em relação a tais materiais quanto a manutenção de práticas didáticas preconizadas pelos métodos tradicionais (Cf. BRITO et al., 2007; SILVA 2008; e MORAIS E ALBURQUERQUE, 2008). Considerando-se que: (a) hoje já se reconhece que os processos de alfabetização e letramento são complementares e indissociáveis (SOARES, 2004); (b) na realidade brasileira os livros didáticos ainda são recursos centrais no trabalho em sala de aula; (c) as obras são avaliadas a partir de rígidos critérios, alinhados às mais recentes teorias; e (d), a disponibilização gratuita desses materiais demanda um alto investimento do governo, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar criticamente um dos livros didáticos de alfabetização do PNLD/2010 (L.E.R., Leitura, escrita e reflexão 1 ano, FTD), na tentativa de levantar pistas sobre os possíveis motivos dessa não-adesão dos docentes aos novos livros. Para tanto, foi realizada uma análise documental crítica, de abordagem qualitativa, que observou na obra os seguintes aspectos: o espaço dedicado ao ensino do sistema de escrita alfabética; a existência de articulação desse trabalho com o de letramento; a coerência entre a orientação pedagógica declarada e as atividades propostas; e a clareza e objetividade das instruções e sugestões fornecidas ao docente. As análises realizadas mostram, entre os dados mais relevantes, que o livro estudado ainda dedica um espaço muito reduzido às atividades de ensino do sistema de escrita e não apresenta uma articulação satisfatória entre essas atividades e àquelas voltadas ao letramento, corroborando dados de outros estudos, aqui já mencionados. Esses resultados podem ser indicativos de que os critérios estipulados para a avaliação desses livros precisariam ser revistos de forma que atendessem mais equilibradamente tanto aos objetivos da alfabetização e do letramento quanto às necessidades da prática docente. Para um maior aprofundamento deste estudo considero que, futuramente, seus dados podem ser complementados por análises dos próprios docentes sobre o livro estudado, ou até mesmo por pesquisas sobre seu uso efetivo em sala de aula / This research has been developed in the light of an extensive debate over the quality of education in Brazil, primarily motivated by the poor results the country achieved in international exams. Such debate has even led to movements that blame the institutionalization of the Brazilian National Curriculum Parameters (PCNs) for the "general failure" in literacy and call for the return of traditional instruction on how to read and write. In fact, despite the invaluable contribution made by studies that foreground the PCNs, their institutionalization did not ensure the expected improvements in Brazilian education, especially in K-8 traditional literacy. Misinterpretations of the PCNs moved reading instruction away from traditional literacy methodologies to their total exclusion from the debate. This phenomenon, addressed by many researchers (cf. SOARES, 2004; MORAIS, 2006; FRADE, 2003; CARVALHO, 2007), soon reflected on the organization of the new textbooks evaluated and recommended by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC). These books do not seem to be meeting the needs. Recent studies have revealed practitioners dissatisfaction in relation to such materials and their maintenance of instructional practices aligned with traditional methods (see BRITO et al., 2007; SILVA, 2008, and MORAIS AND ALBUQUERQUE, 2008). Considering that: (a) literacy does not represent an alternative to reading and writing instruction, but a process that goes together with it, complementing and elaborating it (SOARES, 2004); (b) in the Brazilian educational context, textbooks are still key to teaching practice; (c) these materials are evaluated according to strict criteria, aligned with the latest theories, and (d) require the Governments investment of large sums to make them available, this study aimed at critically analyzing one literacy textbook from the Brazilian National Plan of Textbooks (PNLD/2010) L.E.R., Leitura, escrita e reflexão 1 ano, FTD. In doing so, it sought to understand why practitioners have not adhered to the new textbooks. For this purpose, it developed a critical documental analysis, within a qualitative approach, observing the following aspects in the textbook: space devoted to reading instruction; existence of joint work in reading instruction and literacy practices; consistency between the declared theoretical perspective and the activities proposed; and objectivity and clarity of instructions and suggestions given to practitioners. The analysis has shown, among other facts, that the textbook not only devotes a very small space to reading instruction, but also that these activities are not well coordinated with those aimed at literacy instruction, corroborating with previous reviewed studies. This may indicate that the PNLD textbooks evaluation criteria needs revision to cause a better balance between reading instruction and literacy practices, further meeting the practitioners needs. Future studies should complement this data by collecting teachers views of the analyzed textbook, or even by investigating its effective use by practitioners in the classroom

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Essa pesquisa insere-se em um contexto de muitas discussões acerca da qualidade da educação no Brasil, motivadas principalmente pelos maus resultados atingidos pelo país em exames internacionais. Os constantes debates têm dado margem, inclusive, a movimentos que, culpando os PCNs pelo fracasso generalizado na alfabetização, clamam pela volta de um ensino tradicional. De fato, apesar das imensas contribuições trazidas pelos estudos que embasam os PCNs, apenas a sua institucionalização não garantiu a ocorrência de mudanças efetivas na educação. Principalmente no campo da alfabetização, interpretações equivocadas levaram, por exemplo, ao desencadeamento de um processo de desmetodização do ensino, caracterizado pela exclusão total, nos últimos anos, das questões de ordem metodológica das pautas de discussões. Tal fenômeno, denominado por Soares (2004) de desinvenção da alfabetização, e também abordado por outros pesquisadores (cf. MORAIS, 2006; FRADE, 2003; CARVALHO, 2007), obviamente, acabou se refletindo nos novos livros didáticos, avaliados e recomendados pelo MEC. O problema é que os novos livros parecem não estar satisfazendo às necessidades dos docentes. Estudos recentes têm revelado tanto uma insatisfação desses profissionais em relação a tais materiais quanto a manutenção de práticas didáticas preconizadas pelos métodos tradicionais (Cf. BRITO et al., 2007; SILVA 2008; e MORAIS E ALBURQUERQUE, 2008). Considerando-se que: (a) hoje já se reconhece que os processos de alfabetização e letramento são complementares e indissociáveis (SOARES, 2004); (b) na realidade brasileira os livros didáticos ainda são recursos centrais no trabalho em sala de aula; (c) as obras são avaliadas a partir de rígidos critérios, alinhados às mais recentes teorias; e (d), a disponibilização gratuita desses materiais demanda um alto investimento do governo, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar criticamente um dos livros didáticos de alfabetização do PNLD/2010 (L.E.R., Leitura, escrita e reflexão 1 ano, FTD), na tentativa de levantar pistas sobre os possíveis motivos dessa não-adesão dos docentes aos novos livros. Para tanto, foi realizada uma análise documental crítica, de abordagem qualitativa, que observou na obra os seguintes aspectos: o espaço dedicado ao ensino do sistema de escrita alfabética; a existência de articulação desse trabalho com o de letramento; a coerência entre a orientação pedagógica declarada e as atividades propostas; e a clareza e objetividade das instruções e sugestões fornecidas ao docente. As análises realizadas mostram, entre os dados mais relevantes, que o livro estudado ainda dedica um espaço muito reduzido às atividades de ensino do sistema de escrita e não apresenta uma articulação satisfatória entre essas atividades e àquelas voltadas ao letramento, corroborando dados de outros estudos, aqui já mencionados. Esses resultados podem ser indicativos de que os critérios estipulados para a avaliação desses livros precisariam ser revistos de forma que atendessem mais equilibradamente tanto aos objetivos da alfabetização e do letramento quanto às necessidades da prática docente. Para um maior aprofundamento deste estudo considero que, futuramente, seus dados podem ser complementados por análises dos próprios docentes sobre o livro estudado, ou até mesmo por pesquisas sobre seu uso efetivo em sala de aula / This research has been developed in the light of an extensive debate over the quality of education in Brazil, primarily motivated by the poor results the country achieved in international exams. Such debate has even led to movements that blame the institutionalization of the Brazilian National Curriculum Parameters (PCNs) for the "general failure" in literacy and call for the return of traditional instruction on how to read and write. In fact, despite the invaluable contribution made by studies that foreground the PCNs, their institutionalization did not ensure the expected improvements in Brazilian education, especially in K-8 traditional literacy. Misinterpretations of the PCNs moved reading instruction away from traditional literacy methodologies to their total exclusion from the debate. This phenomenon, addressed by many researchers (cf. SOARES, 2004; MORAIS, 2006; FRADE, 2003; CARVALHO, 2007), soon reflected on the organization of the new textbooks evaluated and recommended by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC). These books do not seem to be meeting the needs. Recent studies have revealed practitioners dissatisfaction in relation to such materials and their maintenance of instructional practices aligned with traditional methods (see BRITO et al., 2007; SILVA, 2008, and MORAIS AND ALBUQUERQUE, 2008). Considering that: (a) literacy does not represent an alternative to reading and writing instruction, but a process that goes together with it, complementing and elaborating it (SOARES, 2004); (b) in the Brazilian educational context, textbooks are still key to teaching practice; (c) these materials are evaluated according to strict criteria, aligned with the latest theories, and (d) require the Governments investment of large sums to make them available, this study aimed at critically analyzing one literacy textbook from the Brazilian National Plan of Textbooks (PNLD/2010) L.E.R., Leitura, escrita e reflexão 1 ano, FTD. In doing so, it sought to understand why practitioners have not adhered to the new textbooks. For this purpose, it developed a critical documental analysis, within a qualitative approach, observing the following aspects in the textbook: space devoted to reading instruction; existence of joint work in reading instruction and literacy practices; consistency between the declared theoretical perspective and the activities proposed; and objectivity and clarity of instructions and suggestions given to practitioners. The analysis has shown, among other facts, that the textbook not only devotes a very small space to reading instruction, but also that these activities are not well coordinated with those aimed at literacy instruction, corroborating with previous reviewed studies. This may indicate that the PNLD textbooks evaluation criteria needs revision to cause a better balance between reading instruction and literacy practices, further meeting the practitioners needs. Future studies should complement this data by collecting teachers views of the analyzed textbook, or even by investigating its effective use by practitioners in the classroom

The aim of this dissertation is to describe and critically discuss the literacies apprentice-students in the Health and Social Care Programme in the upper secondary school in Sweden are given access to during the workplace-based learning part of the education. The study draws on sociocultural understandings of learning and knowing, and on perspectives developed in the field of new literacy studies of literacies as situated social practices. Ethnographically inspired methods consisting of participant observation, interviews and study of textual artefacts in both the work and school domain are used to generate data. Literacy events and literacy practices students are given the opportunity to participate in are explored as a part of tasks in the work or school domain. Additionally, the literacies students do not gain access in these workplaces but are crucial in health care and social work are explored.  The results indicate that literacies in the work domain are to a large degree embedded in other work tasks. This contributes to making a large part of the reading and writing invisible for the students and their supervisors. Access to literacies at the workplace is not discussed between teachers and supervisors. A major finding is that students’ access to digital literacies in the work domain depends on the local culture of each workplace and on individual supervisor’s decisions, bringing questions of equality in the apprentice-education to the forefront. The digital literacies support central activities in the workplaces; not getting access to these practices raises questions about what kind of working life the apprentice-students are being prepared for. Thus the meaning given to the term employability, which is central in policy-documents for the apprentice education, seems to be enacted as preparing the students for a job in one position, rather than offering broad competences for advancement or changes in working life. School tasks can function in a compensatory way by introducing central texts in Health and Social care work for students, but writing these kinds of texts in the school domain are part of different literacy practices than when writing them in the work domain. Furthermore the schools have no possibilities to offer students access to the kinds of digital systems that are used in the work domain.