Literacy Beliefs Pamela Z. Spillane RD651 Socio-psycholinguistics and Critical Literacy

THE LEARNER AND LEARNING

Readers and writers construct knowledge through social, affective, and cognitive processes during encounters with text, teachers, peers, and others. Readers construct meaning using their knowledge they bring to the text, the text information, and the interactions with teachers and peers in the classroom. Writing, as reading, is an interactive process using intellect, feeling, motivation, and the environment (Goodman, 1994; Harste, Burke, & Woodward, 1994; Hayes, 2000; Rosenblatt, 1994; Ruddell & Unrau, 1994; Schickedanz, 2000).

Readers draw upon linguistic and world knowledge that mediate their understanding and meaning. Meaning is constructed when the reader’s prior knowledge interacts with information in the text to create new knowledge. The readers’ past experiences impact their success or failure with literacy (Goodman, 1994; Kintch, 1994; Rosenblatt, 1994; Sletter, 1996).

Culture, social class, and family dynamics influence literacy acquisition. Through interactions with others, learners develop a rich oral language base that provides a foundation for literacy. Learners need rich oral language activities, wide reading, active discussions, and strategies to become effective communicators (Dyson, 2000; Halliday, 1994; Harste, Burke, & Woodward, 1994; Hodges, 2000; Ruddell & Ruddell; Sletter, 1996, Schickedanz, 2000)

Students need to learn reading and writing strategies and know how, when, and why to use them. Learners need to be immersed in authentic literacy activities within an environment that promotes the use of good reading and writing strategies. Learners must work with teachers or others who model the selection and use of good strategies and who provide the necessary scaffolding as learners develop ownership of those strategies, such as how to hypothesize, to question, and to self-monitor during literacy activities (Bransford, 1994; Brown, Palincsar, & Armbruster, 1994; Goodman, 1994; Paris, Lipson, & Wixson, 1994; Schickedanz, 2000;Yopp & Singer, 1994).

Learners construct knowledge and meaning in developmental stages. Learners move through these stages as they develop strategies as readers and writers. Learners are immersed in authentic, developmentally appropriate experiences generated by and compatible with their current stance as emerging readers and writers (Applebee, 2000; Forman & Cazden, 1994; Harste, Burke & Woodward, 1994; Hodges, 2000; Rosenblatt, 1994; Schickedanz, 2000; Yopp & Singer, 1994).

TEACHER ROLES

Teachers make decisions supported by research, knowledge of learners and literacy practices as they design instruction. Teachers’ life experiences, belief systems, and cultural values impact the decision-making process. Reflective practice allows teachers to become aware of their own belief systems and cultural values and those of their students and to modify their classroom practice based on their evolving understanding of themselves and their students (Dyson, 2000; Goodman, 1994; Ruddell & Unrau, 1994; Sletter, 1996).

Teachers are mindful of literacy developmental stages when planning instruction. Teachers must consistently plan and implement scaffolding experiences in order to bring readers and writers to the next level of development. Teachers gradually release responsibility to the learner so that reading and writing strategies become part of a repertoire for success (Brown, Palincsar, & Armbruster, 1994; Dyson, 2000; Harste, Burke, & Woodward, 1994; Hodges, 2000; Ruddell & Unrau, 1994; Schickedanz, 2000; Yopp & Singer, 1994).

Teachers must create a print-rich environment in which all students become active participants in a community of learning.Teachers provide activities that give meaning to students’ lives and provide real life experiences with literacy. Effective teachers create classroom environments that support developing readers and writers by scaffolding instruction, facilitating classroom discourse, and changing instruction based on students’ needs. The teacher’s role becomes that of facilitator, coach, and creator of meaningful learning opportunities. These opportunities include rich oral language activities, daily wide reading, direct instruction with words, and engagement with writing, discussion, and collaboration (Applebee, 2000; Halliday, 1994; Johnson, 2000).

Teachers must know and understand their students’ cultural background, various learning styles, developmental stages, and prior knowledge. Teachers need access to appropriate technologies and instructional and community resources to meet the diverse needs of students. By activating students’ schemata, teachers promote meaningful literacy events (Anderson, 1994; Dyson, 2000; Freire, 1985; Moll, 1994; Sletter, 1996).

Teachers must model strategies for literacy development, but just as important, must model their aesthetic and efferent stance for reading and writing. When teachers model their feelings of love for reading and writing, they influence their students’ motivation and purpose for literacy activities. By modeling, teachers create a supportive, authentic environment for their students (Applebee, 2000; Brown, Palincsar, & Armbruster, 1994; Dyson, 2000; Forman & Cazden, 2000; Harste, Burke, & Woodward; Hayes, 2000; Hodges, 2000; Rosenblatt, 1994; Ruddell, 1994).

CURRICULUM

Reading and writing instruction must be taught across the curriculum. Curriculum needs to include all components of literacy instruction. The major components are listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking (Applebee, 2000; Dyson, 2000; Halliday, 1994; Hayes, 2000; Ruddell & Unrau, 1994).

Curriculum must be developmentally appropriate to meet the needs of all students. It must assist students in “making meaning, sharing meaning, extending meaning, evaluating meaning, savoring meaning, and generating new meaning” (Harste, 1994 p1221). Curriculum must grow out of the students’ interests, values, and cultural belief (Applebee, 2000; Freira, 1985; Harste, 1994; Sletter, 1996).

An effective literacy curriculum builds upon strong home- school-community relations. Parents, families, and community members are valued as active and contributing members of the school cultural community. The experiences and knowledge parents, families, and community members bring must be valued and implemented into the curriculum. Effective communication between home-school-community is ongoing, with group members’ participating not only in the development of curriculum, but also in the implementation of curriculum (Moll, 1994; Ruddell & Ruddell, 1994; Schickendanz, 2000; Sletter, 1996).

Curriculum needs to include cooperative learning and social interactions. Curriculum designed around centers (writing centers, resource centers, listening centers, viewing centers, conference center, computer center, and teacher-sharing center) make the classroom an environment for success with literacy. Sharing experiences with literacy helps students create meaning (Halliday, 1994; Flood & Lapp, 2000; Hodges, 2000).

Curriculum builds upon learners’ natural understandings of the world, language, and how language works. The reader’s schema, or knowledge of the world, provides the foundation for comprehension of text and enables the writer to convey meaning by choosing “just the right word” (Johnson, 2000, p. 183). The writers of curriculum must recognize and value the learners’ background, and promote more than one interpretation of text (Anderson, 1994; Bransford, 1994; Freire, 1985; Harste, 1994; Johnson, 2000; Rosenblatt, 1994).

ASSESSMENT

Assessment is ongoing, embedded, and used to inform instruction. Teachers use information gathered during ongoing assessment to make instructional decisions. Teachers analyze where students are developmentally and design instruction accordingly. Knowing the learner’s zone of proximal development enables the teacher to plan and implement scaffolded instruction that challenges the learner to reach the next level (Foreman & Carden, 1994; Hodges, 2000; Moll, 1994; Shickendanz, 2000).

Students and teachers need to work together to develop some of the assessment tools used in classrooms. For example, students should participate in creating rubrics for some assignments, with attention given to writing techniques as well as effective communication of concepts or ideas. Students should articulate what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how they know when it’s done (or when it’s good enough). Frequent use of self- assessment, along with assessment by peers and teachers, contributes to learners’ literacy development (Applebee, 2000; Flood & Lapp, 2000; Moll, 1994; Tierney, 1998; Weaver, 1998).

Teachers should use a variety of different assessment tools. These tools include observations, product analysis, anecdotal records, checklists, rubrics, and standardized tests. Teachers need to use three or more assessment tools to gather accurate information of the students’ performance at a given time (Anderson, 1994; Bransford, 1994; Dyson, 2000).

In creating questions for assessment, teachers need to be mindful of students’ cultural background, various learning styles, developmental stages, and prior knowledge, so mismatches do not occur. A mismatch happens when teachers assume students have proper background knowledge. Preventing mismatches avoids misdiagnosis and inappropriate instruction (Anderson, 1994; Bransford, 1994; Dyson, 2000; Freire, 1985; Heath, 1994; Moll, 1994; Sletter, 1996).

Assessment must be authentic and meaningful. It must occur within students’ daily activities and directly relates to what the students are doing in class. Students must also understand the real purpose for assessment (Applebee, 2000; Harste, Burke, & Woodward; Tierney, 1998).

References Applebee, A.N. (2000). Alternative models of writing development. In. R. Indrisiano & J. Squire (Eds.), Perspectives on writing: Research, theory, and practice (pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Anderson, R. (1994). Role of the reader’s schema in comprehension, learning, and memory. In Ruddell, R., Ruddell, M., & Singer, H. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4 th ed., pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Bransford, J.D. (1994). Schema activation and schema acquisition: Comments on Richard C. Anderson’s remarks. In. Ruddell, R., Ruddell, M., & Singer, H. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4 th ed., pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Brown, A., Palinscar, A., & Armbruster, B. B. (1994). Instructing comprehension-fostering activities in interactive learning situations. In.Ruddell, R., Ruddell, M., & Singer, H. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4 th ed., pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Dyson, A.H. (2000). Writing and the sea of voices: Oral language in, around, and about writing. In. R. Indrisiano & J. Squire. (Eds.), Perspectives on writing: Research, theory, and practice (pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Flood, J & Lapp, D. (2000). Teaching writing in urban schools: Cognitive processes, curriculum resources, and the missing link-management and grouping. In. R. Indrisiano & J. Squire. (Eds.), Perspectives on writing: Research, theory, and practice (pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Forman, E., & Cazden, C. (1994). Exploring Vygotskian perspectives in education: The cognitive value of peer interaction. In.Ruddell, R., Ruddell, M., & Singer, H. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4 th ed., pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Goodman, K.S. (1994) Reading, writing, and written texts: A transactional sociopsycholinguistic view. In.Ruddell, R., Ruddell, M., & Singer, H. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4 th ed., pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). The place of dialogue in children’s construction of meaning.. In Ruddell, R., Ruddell, M., & Singer, H. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4 th ed., pp.70-82). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

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Johnson, D. (2000). Just the right word: Vocabulary and writing. In R. Indrisiano & J. Squire. (Eds.), Perspectives on writing: Research, theory, and practice (pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Kintch, W. (1994). The role of knowledge in discourse comprehension: A construction-integration model. In.Ruddell, R., Ruddell, M., & Singer, H. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4 th ed., pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Lin, Q. ( Toward a caring-centered multicultural education within the social justice context. Education, 122 (1) Moll, L.C. (1994) Literacy research in community and classrooms: A sociocultural approach. In Ruddell, R., Ruddell, M., & Singer, H. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4 th ed., pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

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Ruddell, R.B., & Ruddell, M.R. (1994). Language acquisition and literacy processes. In.Ruddell, R., Ruddell, M., & Singer, H. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4 th ed., pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Ruddell, R.B. & Unrau, N.J., (1994). Reading as a meaning construction process: The reader, the text, and the teacher. In.Ruddell, R., Ruddell, M., & Singer, H. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4 th ed., pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Schickedanz, J. (2000). Emergent writing: a discussion of the sources of our knowledge. In.R. Indrisiano & J. Squire. (Eds.), Perspectives on writing: Research, theory, and practice (pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Sletter, C. E. (1996). Multicultural Education as Social Activism.Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Tierney, R.J. (1998). Literacy assessment reform: Shifting beliefs, principled possibilities, and emerging practices. The Reading Teacher, 51 (5), Weaver, C. (1994). Reading process and practice: from sociopsycholinguistics to whole language (2 nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Yopp, H.K., & Singer, H. (1994). Toward an interactive reading instructional model: Explanation of activation of linguistic awareness and metalinguistic ability in learning to read. In. Ruddell, R., Ruddell, M., & Singer, H. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4 th ed., pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Pam’s Home Page