This article explores the use of Bourdieusian analysis for examining how policy and practice interact in the teaching of English and therefore in the development of children's language and literacy, in particular how. Bourdieusian analysis uncovers the ways in which teachers' practice has been influenced unconsciously by centralised…

This article presents the outcomes of research, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in England and informed by work in the fields of new literacy research, gaming studies and the socio-cultural framing of education, for which the videogame "L. A. Noire" was studied within the orthodox framing of the English literature…

In this paper, I give an account of the ways in which narratives and identities change over space and time. I give an account of a mobile and changing human subject, one who does not simply express or represent her- or himself through narrative, but is constructed and reconstructed through narrative. I draw on Paul Ricoeur's concepts of "narrative…

Interviews with 216 Grades 4-8 teachers and observations in 21 classrooms show that computers are widely used to teach writing across Canada. Restricted access to computers plays a role in the frequency and types of interactions that students and teachers have with computers in writing classes. Equally influential are assumptions about writing…

In this paper, I describe ongoing research exploring ways in which young teachers' digital lives unfold inside and outside classrooms. I first interviewed teachers in 2006, and identified three different routes into digital worlds: serious solitary self-taught, serious solitary school-taught and playful social. A number of teachers agreed to be…

Samoan school children living in New Zealand were given disposable cameras and asked to photograph examples of the uses of reading and writing outside the school. Interviewed later, they explained their photographs including information about literacy in church and family. Rote learning and oral presentation of biblical texts that were read and…

This is a follow-up study regarding one of the early readers whose metacognitive reading strategies were explored in my 1991 qualitative case study research, published in "Reading", 29 (2), 30-33. Unique factors in the original study involve the inclusion of young children as informants related to self, task and text. Six-year-old "Jan" is now…

This paper draws on early data from a cross-Canada research project in which researchers at six Faculties of Education have been engaged in introducing picture books with multiple and diverse representations of Canadians to classes of pre-service teachers, inviting them to explore the pedagogical possibilities of the picture books and to discuss…

The main objective of this study was to explore how teachers and classroom factors contribute to students' successful literacy learning. Eight Grade three classes, achieving at higher levels than expected with regard to socio-economic background and language factors, were identified in a multicultural Stockholm district and statistically…

This article explores the fine detail of practice by three teachers, all recognised as effective teachers of literacy. The three were observed during nine literacy lessons (three lessons each), working with Year 2 classes (6/7-year-olds) in successful inner-city primary schools in the south of England. Data collection took place in 2003, just as…

This paper reports a small-scale study of wider reading at Key Stage 3 in current English classrooms in secondary schools in the south of England. Six English teachers, three of whom were relatively new to teaching, were interviewed on what they thought about wider reading. The findings indicate that because of a lack of time and absence of demand…

The article presents findings from a research project that investigated young, fluent writers' revision practices. The project adopted a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews based on the students' written scripts. This article focuses on a small sample of children and profiles the extent of their ability to reflect on their…

Although it contains a statutory inclusion statement, England's National Curriculum "hardly acknowledges the learning practices of different minority groups" ( Gregory and Williams, 2003, p. 103). Through observation and interview, this study examines the repertoire of languages that six children for whom English is an additional language (EAL)…

This article considers the role of literacy in the lives of four people with physical disabilities. Interviews with them reveal that despite experiencing potential barriers to participating in literacy activities, literacy is nevertheless an important dimension to their identities. Limitations of the traditional models of disability and literacy…

This recorded interview with Stephen Anwyll took place in Summer 2004, just prior to his departure from the post of Director of the National Literacy Strategy to take up a new post. In the interview, Stephen challenges those critics who characterise the Strategy as reductive and mechanistic, but recognises the potential for it to be interpreted in…