This article examines two approaches to teaching content area literacy: a strategies approach focused on general practices of reading and writing and a disciplinary approach attuned to the particular discourses of particular domains. Basil Bernstein's theory of the pedagogic device is used to critique both approaches' assumptions about…

This essay explores what it might mean to read children's literature in elementary school classrooms through a queer lens. The authors argue that because queer theory has a history as a literary theory that destabilizes normative associations among gender, sexuality, bodies, and desire, it provides a set of analytical tools classroom communities…

Drawing on the combined theoretical lenses of positioning theory and academic literacies, this article presents case studies of four children from one urban classroom, two of whom scored at or above proficient on the large-scale writing assessments required by their district and state and two of whom scored below. Using criteria from state…

Over the past few decades, there has been a marked shift away from conceptualizing literacy as a functional skill set toward its recognition, particularly for children and youth, as a social achievement that is buttressed, in part, by access to digital tools and new media. Yet, beyond the mere consumption of multimedia and the mundane assemblage…

In this article, we explore our concern with the way youth identities and literacy research and practices are framed through a dominant conceptual paradigm in new literacy studies, namely, as articulated in the 1996 New London Group's "A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures." More than any other text, "A Pedagogy of…

Focusing on matters of power and difference, this article examines rhetorical theories of genre and James Gee's theory of Discourse. Although both theories offer productive ways of understanding literate practice, it is argued, they are limited in crucial respects. Genre theory offers few ways of understanding how and why some social actors have…

This study analyzed the current state of the gender literacy gap and the change in the gender literacy gap between 1992 and 2003, using the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) and the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). The results revealed that although there were significant gender literacy gaps in 1992, virtually all…

Transnational youth represent an increasing demographic in societies around the world. This circumstance has amplified the need to understand how youths' language and literacy repertoires are shaped by transnational life. In response, this article presents a case study of a Mexican adolescent girl who immigrated to the United States and continued…

The relation between preschoolers' phonological awareness and the frequency and quality of parents' book-reading and reminiscing practices were examined in 54 low-income and ethnically diverse families. Children's phonological awareness was assessed at the beginning and end of preschool. Mothers reported the frequency with which they read books…

This study sought to provide new insights to the following questions: When discussing their literacy practices, how do adolescent girls talk about their bodies? What is the role of the body in some young women's literacy? What are the different forms that (dis)embodied learning can take, and what is its role in girls' literacy education? These…

This article relies on year-long ethnographic data to examine how the intersection of peer status, gender, and race influenced the role stances children took in one urban fifth grade classroom while participating in three different pedagogies: peer tutoring, cooperative peer editing, and collaborative writing. Informed by the sociocultural…

This article presents a detailed case study analysis of oral and written language expressed by Jacqueline Meyer, a teacher of elementary English Language Learners (ELL),as she struggled to navigate the current political terrain with her students. Ms. Meyer's district adopted commercial materials and increased the amount and substance of testing…

In this article, the author reports on what he found impressive in the evaluation results of the program Reading First (RF) in four states: Utah, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida. The author states that responding to these four exemplary state-level studies of Reading First evoked mixed feelings. He noticed three things: (1) the RF effect…

To determine the conditions that would best encourage reflection in journal writing of preservice teachers in field-based reading internships, the degree of reflective content found in self-contained traditional journals was compared to the reflective content found in journal entries shared over e-mail list serves. Participants were 56 preservice…

Research suggests that the World Wide Web (WWW) represents the intersection of at least two domains: content and technology. This investigation was designed to examine the relationship between prior knowledge and WWW browsing outcomes (i.e., navigation behavior and knowledge gain) within the context of a genetics Web site. Students randomly…