Literacy in Teacher Education: “It’s the Context, Stupid”

Smagorinsky, Peter

doi:10.1177/1086296x18784692

Cited by 26 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…First, the sample is of a small size, which limits the power to detect significant differences between groups. And, the sample is limited to two urban schools and as such lacks generalizability and the potential to detect school effects (Smagorinsky, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Children’s Plans for Writing: Characteristics and Impact on Writing Performance

Llauradó

Dockrell

2019

Journal of Literacy Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

2Planning plays an important role in the production of children's written texts. Yet little is 3 known about why children plan and the plans they create when they are not explicitly 4 instructed in planning activities. The current study explores the plans that elementary school 5 children create before writing a text. We compared performance of children educated in 6Catalan and in English (UK) to capture contextual differences and examined whether the 7 plans children produced were related to their language and reading skills. We captured 8 developmental differences by examining performance in Years 1, 3 and 5. Children of all 9 ages in elementary school produced plans before writing either by producing a draft of the 10 text or generating content and structure in the form of organisers. The types of plan produced 11 changed with age and was influenced by the children's educational context. These plans were 12 not associated with either the length or the quality of the children's written text. Nor were 13 language, reading and transcription skills associated with the plans produced. However, plans 14 differed significantly across educational contexts. The results indicate that school instruction 15 is important for the production of plans and , at this stage in development, children's self 16 generated plans do not impact on the texts produced. 17

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Children's planning for writing: impact on writing performance 27 lacks generalizability and the potential to detect school effects (Smagorinsky, 2018). 1 Secondly, teachers were asked if planning was taught at all and all teachers stated compliance 2 with the curriculum guideline.…”

Section: Limitations Of This Study 18mentioning

confidence: 99%

Children’s Plans for Writing: Characteristics and Impact on Writing Performance

Llauradó

Dockrell

2019

Journal of Literacy Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This perception has spawned the increasing privatization and frequency of dubious educational solutions by for-profit companies (Gabriel, 2020). This narrow, split-metatheoretical attention on the brain elides attention to the sorts of environmental factors that would question so-called best (Reinking, 2007) and high-leverage practices and that would argue instead that what works in classrooms also requires an accounting for the contexts that have shaped students' learning outside school and the factors that shape activity within schools (Smagorinsky, 2009(Smagorinsky, , 2018.…”

Section: The Tenuous Foundation Of Split-metatheoretical Thinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Trouble With Binaries: A Perspective on the Science of Reading

Yaden¹,

Reinking²,

Smagorinsky

2021

Reading Research Quarterly

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article, we critique the science of reading when it is positioned within the reading wars as settling disagreements about reading and how it should be taught. We frame our argument in terms of troublesome binaries, specifically between nature and nurture. We interpret that binary in relation to Overton's distinction between split and relational metatheories, with the latter suggesting a more integrative view of nature and nurture. Focusing on the nature side of the binary, which predominates when the science of reading is promoted in the reading wars, we argue that its singular focus limits the range of scientific inquiry, interpretation, and application to practice. Specifically, we address limitations of the science of reading as characterized by a narrow theoretical lens, an abstracted empiricism, and uncritical inductive generalizations derived from brain-imaging and eye movement data sources. Finally, we call for a relational metatheoretical stance and offer emulative examples of that stance in the field.A cross decades, disagreements about how to teach students to read have been framed as the reading wars (Castles, Rastle, & Nation, 2018;Goldenberg, 2020;Nicholson, 1992;Pearson, 2004). The plurality of the phrase indicates its longevity, and the war metaphor alludes to binaries that define the oppositional perspectives. What is referred to as the science of reading (SOR) has often been positioned among its adherents on one end of the binary as the final arbiter of who can claim victory (see Seidenberg, Cooper Borkenhagen, & Kearns, 2020). This perspective often views reading specialists in either schools or on teacher education faculties as largely, perhaps deliberately, uninformed about scientific research in reading (Seidenberg, 2017). Some have even argued that the SOR has already settled much of the debate (Castles et al., 2018;Petscher et al., 2020) or made it moot. However, as we argue in this article, what is considered to be the SORits essential character, its scope, and its applicability in matters of teaching reading-also stands on much contested ground.To open a window for discussion, we focus on a long-standing binary, nature versus nurture, which for our purposes historicizes a fundamentally contested dualism whenever the term science is applied to any human behavior, such as reading and teaching reading (cf. Ellis & Bloch, 2021;Ellis & Solms, 2018). It is entwined with and sustained by other binaries, one being the qualitative/quantitative paradigms that guide research methods. On the one hand, the nature side of the binary attends to the biological and neurological processes that produce cognition, with the understanding that "reading is mainly an internal event"

show abstract

“…Here is where the boundaries between research and prac tice blur. Using a teaching as inquiry lens, any find ings from the international research literature need to be examined, any implementation tried and often adjusted, especially when an educational jurisdic tion has different philosophical underpinnings and resultant features (Smagorinsky, 2018). Research that is effective in one context may not work in another; the nature of the learning needs of both students and teachers has to be established and a fit for purpose, evidence based solution sought.…”

Section: Teaching As Inquiry: Promoted Interactions Between Research and Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Relations Between Literacy Research and Practice in New Zealand

Parr¹,

Jesson²

2020

The Reading Teacher

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Teaching as a process of inquiry is the underpinning philosophy stated in the New Zealand Curriculum. Teachers are tasked with inquiring into the needs of their students and the efficacy of their own practice in the light of those needs. The results of ongoing inquiry inform how practice might be honed or changed. The authors consider how the context influences the ways in which teachers interact with research and with researchers to inform and support this inquiry. Although drawing on multiple literacy research endeavors with practitioners, the authors employ just one example of a partnership that focused on accelerating progress, particularly for underachieving writers ages 10–13, to illustrate how practices that were effective with these writers were jointly established.

show abstract

Literacy in Teacher Education: “It’s the Context, Stupid”

Cited by 26 publications

References 26 publications

Children’s Plans for Writing: Characteristics and Impact on Writing Performance

Children’s Plans for Writing: Characteristics and Impact on Writing Performance

The Trouble With Binaries: A Perspective on the Science of Reading

Relations Between Literacy Research and Practice in New Zealand

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About