The dominant thread of the work I present here is an analysis of children's text production. I begin with a book I co-wrote in 1991 [Cath Farrow wrote Chapter 3] containing a framework which forms the basis of much of my later analysis of multimodal texts. In that first book I offer a critique of genre theory so that a second thread traceable through A Writing Policy in Action and the later chapters presented here is about genre in writing from its early adoption into a view of literacy in the UK through to current issues of multimodal texts [see Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996] and the ways in which these cross genre boundaries. My interest lies in the ways in which texts are shaped to have coherence, and this means considering what has become a pivotal part of my current work: a concentration on text cohesion. The gradual shift in my focus towards multimodal texts relates to two other areas of interest: popular forms of text, their place in cultural settings and their impact on children's text production; and the demand for a more precise description of the texts children now produce which goes beyond simply giving status to the verbal elements. In presenting a critical reflection on my publications, my concern is to outline the possibilities for a new theory of' literacy', based on cohesion, which takes into account a range of texts beyond written genres. For me, it must also be a critical theory and this inevitably means taking into account the popular cultural forms of texts which children absorb and use, so that this statement presents a cultural theory of text which acknowledges and honours the agency of the young text-maker. Any adequate educational theory has to take into account: theories of individual development; issues of pedagogy, classroom culture and the nature of knowledge; and social, cultural ideological and political discourses which surround schools, classrooms and learners. This is a demanding agenda in a relatively short context statement and whilst I offer background discussion, I have decided to concentrate on my analysis of children's texts and their production. In sketching an integrated theory of multidimensional text, my starting points are: children's production of texts, how these can be analysed and the implications for teaching. However, I begin with some of the theoretical background to my writing over the years to give the broad context.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:568475 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Bearne, Eve |
| Publisher | Middlesex University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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