Traditional narratives of sport posit winning as the defining goal in ways that can feel and be exclusionary to young people and result in a lack of enjoyment and subsequent decision to avoid or discontinue involvement in sport. This is particularly true for girls and young women who participate in sport at lower rates and quit at higher rates…

In this article, I consider expanding meaningfulness in literacy research by exploring the possibilities offered by a relational perspective on literacy and its study. An interdisciplinary relational perspective is outlined and used to rethink what happens when we engage in reading and writing. Questions guiding this exploration include: What…

In reviewing what lecturers found valuable for their professional development, it has been argued that "professional reading" of both higher education research and literature in their disciplines is a major theme for individual enhancement. Despite the increased interest in the writing practices of students and staff in higher education, however,…

As people attempt to make sense of the world, they develop personal knowledge structures. These structures often contain misconceptions--inaccurate or incomplete information--that are highly resistant to change because existing knowledge networks must be restructured to accommodate counterintuitive information in a process known as conceptual…

In U.S. schools, African American students are typically fed steady diets of stereotypical and culturally invasive literature and often do not see themselves positively and consistently represented in books. The crisis is fueled, in part, by teachers who (for various reasons) do not include and draw upon counter-narratives in their classrooms.…

Over the past decade in the United States, levelled texts, or "little books" with finely graduated levelling of text difficulty, have regained their status as a literacy staple for beginning readers. Despite their resurgence, questions remain regarding the reliability and quality of these books. In this study, we conducted a detailed…

The works of French literary theorists Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida, and Roland Barthes reflect a view of the text as the primary object of investigation for any discipline in the human sciences. Each of the three has been involved with pedagogical reforms within French cultural institutions: Derrida with the teaching of philosophy, Lacan with…

Differing views on how meaning in a literacy event is formed have a large impact upon literacy instruction and language research. Teaching and research are often conducted without considering who is in charge of meanings. Yet the answer to this question establishes an interpretive frame that creates the questions, methods, and findings in language…

Arguing that writers must be able to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the texts they produce, this paper begins by isolating some of the persistent questions raised by people in education, business, and government who want to judge how well their texts are working. The paper then compares the cognitive processes involved in "reading…

Education lags behind other scientific disciplines in its effective use of data displays. An example is provided in which the reorganization of data from two bar graphs into one table highlights the obvious and subtle results. To address the need for effective data display, the companion article, "Understanding Graphs and Tables," was…

Reading comprehension can be more effectively taught using new instructional frameworks--such as explicit comprehension instruction--rather than the basal reading model. Traditionally, comprehension has been taught through a process of mentioning the skill that students should apply, practicing the skill in workbooks, and assessing student…