Reconceptualizing Literacy Through a Discourses Perspective by Analyzing Literacy Events Represented in Films About Schools

Abstract

A cohort of secondary English preservice teachers was engaged in a series of articles designed to bring about a shift in their initial autonomous views of literacy toward a more sociocultural “Discourses and literacies” perspective. Students wrote an essay in which they articulated their initial assumptions about what literacy was and what teachers of literacy do. They were then introduced to a sociocultural (multiliteracies) theory of literacy, as well as to the important concept of literacy events, by reading, writing about, and discussing selected academic articles and chapters. To deepen their explorations of Discourses, literacies, and literacy events, students then analyzed scenes from selected films, noting how they represented a variety of literacy events. Finally, students designed a variety of literature and composition lessons that revealed the Discourses perspective on literacy that they had been exploring.

Taking a ‘reality’ check: Expanding pre-service teachers' views on pedagogy and diversity

“…Pre-service teachers often enter teacher education programs with problematic or unexamined assumptions, beliefs and knowledge about students and the role of a teacher (Trier, 2006). Disrupting such assumptions is crucial if, as White (2000) suggests, pre-service teachers with naïve epistemological beliefs (i.e.…”

Learning to Teach: What Do Pre-service Teachers Report.

“…First, teacher education programmes have rarely taken advantage of the background experiences that pre-service teachers bring to their university classroom, nor have they used this information to inform their tertiary teaching, differentiate instruction and evaluate learning (Feiman-Nemser, 1983;Trier, 2006;Wideen, Mayer-Smith, & Moon, 1998). Background information, such as past educational experiences, epistemological beliefs and self-efficacy, are paramount to regular teaching, but it is even more important in adult learning, where experiences may be 'rich' and able to contribute positively to learning to teach.…”

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

“…(2002: 22) From this perspective, fictional literacy narratives (novels, plays and films) have been increasingly used in literacy research and in education to reflect upon traditional views of literacy (Eldred and Mortensen, 1992;Trier, 2001Trier, , 2006Williams and Zenger, 2007). Trier (2001Trier ( , 2006, for example, problematized students' traditional views on literacy through the study of popular films.…”