Emerging Reading and the Social Practice Turn in Literacy: Still Becoming a Nation of Readers

Abstract

In this article, we focus on the past, the present, and the future. We consider the ways in which Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading (BNR) (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985) fulfilled the authors’ aspirations to introduce into schools everywhere “the practices seen in the classrooms of the best teachers in the best schools” (p. 3). We focus on the emerging literacy chapter and conclude that the authors offered significant insights for the field at a critical time in reading research and in a way that anticipated the future. We also examine some changes in literacy theory and practice since the report was published, including fundamental shifts in the ways many researchers have come to explore literacy as an emerging social practice both at the individual and societal levels. We consider the literacy as a social practice turn, first in relation to literacy theory, and then in two areas critically related to literacy practices in schools today: teaching bi/multilingual children and teacher preparation in literacy. We conclude with a cautionary note regarding reports like BNR and their potential to shape policy, research, and practice.

Preservice Literacy Teachers “Bringing Hope Back” Through Practice-Based Research

“…This research rests on a sociocultural perspective (Vygotsky, 1978) and is framed in the practice turn in teacher education and in literacy studies (Hoffman et al, 2016; Janks, 2012). In this view, the practice of literacy teaching includes not only what teachers already do, but how they adapt practices through reflexive action.…”

Practicing Justice, Justifying Practice: Toward Critical Practice Teacher Education

“…As adoption of the phrase has ballooned, it has become increasingly nonspecific, pointing the need for new and more precise language to describe our work (see Figure 1 and the conclusion of this article). Drawn from our previous work (Hauser & Kavanagh, 2019; Hoffman, Martinez, & Danielson, 2016), Figure 1 is our attempt to offer the field more specific language for describing approaches to PBTE. Our hope is that this language can help the field differentiate between different models.…”

Keeping Students Interested: Interest‐Based Instruction as a Tool to Engage

“…Whereas current educational policy views teachers as technicians and has narrowed the curriculum, we view teachers as professionals and innovators of classroom teaching (Hoffman, Martinez, & Danielson, ) who adapt and refine curricular materials in response to the students in front of them so students may act more agentively (Vaughn, Premo, Sotirovska, & Erickson, ). We envision students as agentive individuals who want to read because they see how reading helps them explore and discover more about the world and because they see themselves and their cultures represented in their reading choices (Ladson‐Billings, ; Sailors & Kaambankadzanja, ).…”

“…Interest‐based teaching requires educators who are willing and able to adapt curricular materials and programs with their students in mind (International Literacy Association, ). The trust in teachers to do so honors them as the professionals and innovators that they are (Hoffman et al., ). Moreover, doing so helps students realize the possibilities for directing their own learning throughout their lives.…”