A still-widespread perspective on "academic language" is that the most important dimension of language used for academic purposes is the extent to which its linguistic features contrast with "everyday language" used outside of school. But focusing on the unique linguistic features of written academic texts ignores the important…

This article focuses on teaching critical literacy in the context of Singapore. It begins with a conceptualization of critical literacy as a stance oriented to questioning and challenging the often taken-for-granted meanings and assumptions found in "everyday" texts. It then discusses how this stance can be cultivated in students through…

Observing that place may be understood in a range of sometimes conflicting ways, the paper picks up on recent work within literacy studies on notions of place-making and locational disadvantage to argue for increasingly sophisticated and reflexive uses of place in the field, as a counterpoint to both increasing educational standardisation and…

As an offshoot of the Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute (CILLDI), the Department of Linguistics at the University of Alberta offers a Community Linguist Certificate (CLC) program to speakers of First Peoples' languages of (mainly) Western Canada. The CLC program provides linguistic analysis and language documentation…

The impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is changing the nature of literary narratives for children and the contexts in which they experience and respond to such narratives outside of school contexts. However, in the main, teachers do not feel confident or comfortable in the world of digital multimedia. Children's literature…

This article is about progression in further and higher education for migrants to the United Kingdom who are users of non-standard varieties of English. The focus is on the struggles of Tobi, a first-generation migrant Nigerian student. Tobi's story describes the local barriers he must navigate in order to gain access to the courses he wishes to…

This paper discusses a teaching experience developed in the context of Brazilian higher education, which had as its central goal developing critical social awareness through digital literacy teaching. The discussion begins with an explanation of a Neo-Gramscian approach to critical literacy education, contextualising this perspective within…

This paper outlines the methodological dimensions of the secondary literacy research evaluation that is the focus of this special issue-the New Zealand-based Secondary Schools' Literacy Initiative (SSLI). We argue that these methodological dimensions are an example of the type of contextualised and critical research that might be usefully applied…

With a focus on educational provision the area of English as a second language (ESL), this paper takes stock of developments in the last 10 years since the inception of the Australian "Literacy for All" policy in 1998. A review of the issue is timely, not least because of the recent window of opportunity afforded by the first change of…

A strong case can be made for developing more flexible and relevant multilingual strategies for teaching and learning within the field of bilingual education. This paper aims to demonstrate how current linguistic and educational practices in countries like Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Ethiopia suggest new directions for research and practice. A…

Literacy in the home is often judged as an inferior version of school literacy. In multilingual contexts, family literacy practices tend to be characterised as traditional and more reliant on oral than literate practices, with the children being seen as disadvantaged by the lack of parental literacy support. This paper argues that literacy…

This paper aims to contribute a sociocultural theoretical perspective for the creative identity work involved in the ongoing process of learning and using literacies. Drawing on anthropological theories of identity formation, I argue that people employ cultural resources, such as cultural artefacts, to develop new identities and literacies. I…

The paper draws on ethnographic data on children's game-playing in Khwezi Park outside Cape Town. This unsupervised, child-choreographed play is seen as a site of meaning-making and identity work where children draw on a range of resources and influences to take and make meaning. These resources for semiosis and interaction are multilingual and…

Addresses problems that arise when literacy education is brought from national and international centers to people whose identity is with local languages and literacies. Local literacies are defined with respect to different languages and writing systems, invented local literacies, and vernacular literacies. (Contains 33 references.) (Author)

Sociopolitical change occurs in conjunction with sustaining local literacies. In hierarchically organized societies, ruling elite perceive local literacies as threat to existing power structure. The Ambedkar Nagar project in India, a literacy drive that adopted a campaign-based approach (CBA), is described. A CBA uses mass participation, voluntary…