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After the Testing: Talking and Reading and Writing the World
Author(s) -
Luke Allan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of adolescent and adult literacy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1936-2706
pISSN - 1081-3004
DOI - 10.1002/jaal.00095
Subject(s) - literacy , reading (process) , pedagogy , accountability , socioeconomic status , mathematics education , demographics , psychology , test (biology) , sociology , political science , paleontology , population , demography , law , biology
This critical essay discusses the challenges and prospects for the reform of school‐based literacy programs. It begins with an overview of the effects of a decade of test‐driven accountability policy on research and teachers’ work, noting the continuing challenges of new demographics, cultures and technologies for literacy education. The case is made that whole school literacy programs can make a difference in improving the overall education of students and youth from low socioeconomic and cultural minority backgrounds. But this requires a strong emphasis on engagement with substantive readings of cultural, social and scientific worlds through talk, reading and writing. The key questions facing teachers, then, are not simply around basic skills instruction and acquisition, but about sustained, intellectually demanding and scaffolded talk around texts, print and multimodal.