Situated literacy : a study of family literacy in Aotearoa/New Zealand

<p>This study investigated the family as a site for literacy. The theoretical approach is that all literacy is situated in a social context. Eleven parents were interviewed about literacy use and practices both in their present families. The parents were from India, Sri Lanka, Britain and Aotearoa/ New Zealand. The study explored generational differences as well as aspects of diversity among the families. While there were similarities in the uses of literacy across the generations, diversity was evident in the differences in purpose between the Pakeha families and the others. For the Paheka the purpose of reading was for pleasure while the other parents stressed the importance of reading for moral messages and guides to behaviour. Parents spoke more often about reading than about writing, they recalled favourite books, especially those by Enid Blyton, and reported stories they told their own children. It is suggested that teachers might explore their own literacy experiences to better understand the issues of both literacy and diversity.</p>

Situated literacy : a study of family literacy in Aotearoa/New Zealand

<p>This study investigated the family as a site for literacy. The theoretical approach is that all literacy is situated in a social context. Eleven parents were interviewed about literacy use and practices both in their present families. The parents were from India, Sri Lanka, Britain and Aotearoa/ New Zealand. The study explored generational differences as well as aspects of diversity among the families. While there were similarities in the uses of literacy across the generations, diversity was evident in the differences in purpose between the Pakeha families and the others. For the Paheka the purpose of reading was for pleasure while the other parents stressed the importance of reading for moral messages and guides to behaviour. Parents spoke more often about reading than about writing, they recalled favourite books, especially those by Enid Blyton, and reported stories they told their own children. It is suggested that teachers might explore their own literacy experiences to better understand the issues of both literacy and diversity.</p>

Situated literacy : a study of family literacy in Aotearoa/New Zealand

<p>This study investigated the family as a site for literacy. The theoretical approach is that all literacy is situated in a social context. Eleven parents were interviewed about literacy use and practices both in their families of origin and in their present families. The parents were from India, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Britain and Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study explored generational differences as well as aspects of diversity among the families. While there were similarities in the uses of literacy across the generations, diversity was evident in the differences in purpose between the Pakeha families and the others. For the Pakeha the purpose of reading was for pleasure while the other parents stressed the importance of reading for moral messages and guides to behaviour. Parents spoke more often about reading than about writing, they recalled favourite books, especially those by Enid Blyton, and reported stories they told their own children. It is suggested that teachers might explore their own literacy experiences to better understand the issues of both literacy and diversity.</p>

Situated literacy : a study of family literacy in Aotearoa/New Zealand

<p>This study investigated the family as a site for literacy. The theoretical approach is that all literacy is situated in a social context. Eleven parents were interviewed about literacy use and practices both in their families of origin and in their present families. The parents were from India, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Britain and Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study explored generational differences as well as aspects of diversity among the families. While there were similarities in the uses of literacy across the generations, diversity was evident in the differences in purpose between the Pakeha families and the others. For the Pakeha the purpose of reading was for pleasure while the other parents stressed the importance of reading for moral messages and guides to behaviour. Parents spoke more often about reading than about writing, they recalled favourite books, especially those by Enid Blyton, and reported stories they told their own children. It is suggested that teachers might explore their own literacy experiences to better understand the issues of both literacy and diversity.</p>

Taking account of discourses, literacy practices and uses of texts in ethnographic research on educational inclusion: insights from two studies in Brazil

This article examines policy change in special education in Brazil, with regard to educational provision for learners with special needs. There has been a far-reaching policy shift from educational provision for such learners in special schools to provision in mainstream schools. The focus of the research reported here was on particular educational settings, schools and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Brazil. The research provided insights into the different discourses about inclusion that circulated in these settings and into the limited nature of capacity-building for teachers. It also showed that some teachers and educational practitioners (e.g. peripatetic support staff) were devising inclusive pedagogic practice by drawing on different textual and multimodal resources, thereby demonstrating individual agency and reflexivity. At the same time, they were constrained by the paperwork demands associated with the management and monitoring of policy change. These managerial constraints are illustrated here, with reference to the institutional practices, the particular literacy events, and the power asymmetries involved in the production of student evaluations. The article highlights the value of taking account of situated literacy practices and the uses of particular kinds of texts and genres in ethnographic research into educational policy processes, as well as analyzing policy discourses.

Pedagogy, Precarity, and Persuasion: The Case for Re/mix Literacies

In the contemporary cultural conditions of unstable knowledge/truth, precarious economies and 24/7 media saturation, we need to rethink knowing and learning. While there is much general agreement that the means and modes of communication have changed, and, with it, the ways we approach media, education, culture, society, citizenship, commerce, politics, art, science and everyday life, there is a diversity of terms to describe the change, each with an animating spirit and intellectual tradition behind it. There is a disconnect between school pedagogies, situated literacy practices in everyday life, and the types of abilities and knowledges needed for workplace and civic participation. Further, even as school jurisdictions around the world rush to apply solutions to the technological impasse brought upon by the digitalization of communication, too often the answer is seen as adding training in new competencies to the existing curriculum, as though the crisis is one that can be fixed with a few adjustments. If the aspirational horizon of schooling is the preparation of young people for engaged participation in cultural, civic and economic spectrums, a renewed and comprehensive model of literacy is urgently needed.

‘What is the meaning of a safety-pin?’ Critical literacies and the ethnographic turn in contemporary art

In this contribution we address the concept of critical literacies by analyzing how symbolic representations within subcultures can be understood as an engagement with specific literacy practices. For some time now, cultural studies researchers with an interest in literacy have depended upon ethnographic methods to document how members of subcultural communities mobilize literacy practices to achieve critical ends. But the extent to which ethnography actually grants researchers access to subcultural perspectives on literacy has come into question. In this article, we aim to problematize and thematize the ethnographic perspective on literacy in general – and subculture as a situated literacy practice in particular – by critically assessing contemporary art practices that focus on the representation of subcultural identities. We therefore specifically look at artwork by Nikki S. Lee, who focuses on subcultures in her work through ‘going native performances’.