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…

Explores of the influences of social class on one adolescent's language and literacy practices as she moved from high school in an isolated rural community to college in an urban framework. Notes the student became alienated by college courses that did not acknowledge language competencies related to her status as a working-class person. Concludes…

Explains that as young readers respond to narrative texts in a variety of media, they repeatedly step in and out of the fictional universe of their different stories. Outlines contemporary texts that foster various forms of such border crossing, in and out of diegesis, the framework of events as narrated in the text. Explores how an awareness of…

Examines literacy practices in their sociohistorical contexts, drawing examples of religious reading practices and stances from Orthodox Jewish reading practices. Notes that religious reading practices highlight the repertoire of reading genres, strategies, and stances that members of modern multicultural societies learn to control. Concludes that…

Presents an interpretive text which functions as a report of the author's personal engagements with literary fiction and with philosophical, theoretical, and historical writings. Provides a theoretical and historical overview of literary anthropology as a research method. Concludes with a discussion of what literacy anthropological methods might…

Notes that many phonological terms are found in contemporary literature on reading, and some inconsistencies are apparent in how they are used and understood. Presents definitions of many of these important words and several dozen related terms (for a total of 51 terms). Emphasizes the historical and conceptual links between similar terms, because…

Follows four female language-minority students through their last semester in high school and first semester in college. Focuses on these students' perceptions of reading and writing they encountered across the curriculum. Finds that what they found more challenging in college was not necessarily predicted from a developmental perspective but…

Notes undergraduate students read both a one-sided text on educational reform and a two-sided nonrefutational text on the V-chip; and that they completed topic-specific beliefs, knowledge, and interest measures and reacted to specific text characteristics. Finds that although both forms of texts affected readers, the effects varied by the type of…

Examines reflections of 71 preservice teachers as they tutored literacy in a predominantly Hispanic American, low-income school. Finds the experience of working one-on-one with a student positively influenced preservice teachers' content and procedural knowledge and self-confidence as teachers. Suggests tutors' strong emotional ties with students…

Argues that the preparation of novice literacy researchers should change in response to the growing diversification of epistemologies and methods employed in literacy research. Suggests ways in which coursework related to research methods and epistemologies, research apprenticeships and mentoring, and the reading and writing of literacy research…

Provides a comparative analysis of 54 studies (18 literacy; 36 general teacher education) of preservice teacher reflection. Produces descriptive observations that highlight similarities and differences between the two data sets and five interpretive patterns that characterize researchers' conceptualizations and problem solving. Recommends…

Presents a qualitative study that problematizes the authors' classroom authority as they sought to enact critical inquiries with preservice teachers. Contends that preservice teachers must face the reality of having to function as authority figures while still maintaining a classroom conducive to meaning making. Provides three lenses through which…

Describes three case studies of young, middle-class European American female preservice teachers' experiences teaching literacy to diverse students literacy while enrolled in a field-based literacy methods course. Finds field experiences had a greater impact on one preservice teacher than on the other two in terms of enhanced capabilities for…

Presents case studies of three Anglo American preservice teachers as they worked with children of color and/or poverty. Asks the preservice teachers to look within to explore their own literary backgrounds in a reading-autobiography assignment. Argues the combination of autobiographical accounts with reflective field experiences helps preservice…

Examines the impact of conducting a case-study research project on a preservice teacher's professional development. Finds the research provided a context for posing meaningful questions and promoted professional reflection for the teachers in terms of her prior beliefs and contexts for literacy development. Notes that qualitative procedures…