Understanding Literacy and Disadvantage

Addressing literacy and disadvantage requires high-quality teaching, first and foremost: there are no quick fixes, simplistic solutions or silver bullets.

Both research and professional evidence from schools have revealed a strong association between social disadvantage and achievement in literacy: in fact, it has been a concern for over 70 years. Yet, many trainee teachers, and teachers in general, feel ill-equipped to deal with the issue. This book supports trainee teachers to explore the complex relationships between literacy achievement and social background. It offers practical strategies for teaching and supports trainee teachers to understand that:

*children's individual backgrounds need to be valued and drawn upon;

*deficit descriptions of disadvantaged children and low expectations must be avoided and challenged;

*schools, teachers and classrooms must provider rich literacy environments for learning.

Auteur

Debra Myhill is Professor of Education at the University of Exeter, UK, and Director of the Centre for Research in Writing, which promotes inter-disciplinary research, drawing on psychological, socio-cultural and linguistic perspectives on writing. Her research interests focus principally on writing and the teaching of writing, particularly linguistic and metalinguistic development, the composing processes involved in writing, the talk-writing relationship, and creative writing. Underpinning this research is the principle that literacy, especially writing, is a pathway to empowerment. Over the past twenty years, she has led a series of research projects in these areas, in both primary and secondary schools.

Key Publications

Chen, H. Myhill, D. A and Lewis, H. (2020) Developing writers across primary and secondary years: Growing into Writing. London: Routledge

Contenu

Understanding the relationship between literacy and social disadvantage
Building foundations for literacy in the Early Years
Talk for learning and democratic participation
Reading the world
Words and worlds: the challenge of vocabulary
Creating a community of writers
Enriching literacy with digital resources
Literacy environments, culture and experience