Schools bring people together. Yet for many children there are major discontinuities between their lives in and out of school and such differences impact on literacy teaching and learning in both predictable and unpredictable ways. However if schools were reconceptualised as meeting places, where different people are thrown together (Massey, 2005)…

Explores the social meaning of literacy in communities and suggests that elementary teachers can enhance literacy learning by linking writing instruction to the culture of the community as well as to the functions served by writing in the community. (SKC)