Getting Out of Deficit: Pedagogies of Reconnection
English Teaching: Practice and Critique December, 2011, Volume 10, Number 4 http://education.waikato.ac.nz/research/files/etpc/files/2011v10n4art1.pdf pp. 5-22
Changing literacies, changing populations, changing places – English teachers’ work in an age of rampant standardisation1 BARBARA COMBER Queensland University of Technology ABSTRACT: School-age populations in many nations are becoming increasingly diverse (in terms of languages, countries of origin, ethnicity, faith traditions and so on) especially in low socio-economic communities where recent arrivals tend to be accommodated. In Australian classrooms, it is not unusual for a single classroom to include children who speak many different languages. Their family trajectories to their current dwellings and lifeworlds may be very different from each other. Catastrophic weather events and other disasters change the very landscapes in which families and teachers work. At the same time, what constitutes literacy continues to evolve as new technologies and communication media enable different forms of meaningmaking. Yet simultaneously, what counts as literacy is increasingly “fixed” by the normative demands of high-stakes, standardised tests. This paper employs Hilary Janks’ (2010) synthesis model of critical literacy to explore some of the risk and possibilities for innovative and equitable pedagogy inherent in this contemporary demographic, policy and practice mix. KEYWORDS: Critical literacy, access, diversity, dominant discourse, equity, pedagogy, design, standardised testing. INTRODUCTION School-age populations in many nations are becoming increasingly diverse (in terms of languages, ethnicity, faith traditions and so on) especially in low socio-economic communities. In Australian classrooms it is not unusual for a single classroom to include children who speak many different languages. Their family trajectories to their current dwellings and lifeworlds may be very different from each other. At the same
Changing literacies, changing populations, changing places – English teachers’ work in an age of rampant standardisation1 BARBARA COMBER Queensland University of Technology ABSTRACT: School-age populations in many nations are becoming increasingly diverse (in terms of languages, countries of origin, ethnicity, faith traditions and so on) especially in low socio-economic communities where recent arrivals tend to be accommodated. In Australian classrooms, it is not unusual for a single classroom to include children who speak many different languages. Their family trajectories to their current dwellings and lifeworlds may be very different from each other. Catastrophic weather events and other disasters change the very landscapes in which families and teachers work. At the same time, what constitutes literacy continues to evolve as new technologies and communication media enable different forms of meaningmaking. Yet simultaneously, what counts as literacy is increasingly “fixed” by the normative demands of high-stakes, standardised tests. This paper employs Hilary Janks’ (2010) synthesis model of critical literacy to explore some of the risk and possibilities for innovative and equitable pedagogy inherent in this contemporary demographic, policy and practice mix. KEYWORDS: Critical literacy, access, diversity, dominant discourse, equity, pedagogy, design, standardised testing. INTRODUCTION School-age populations in many nations are becoming increasingly diverse (in terms of languages, ethnicity, faith traditions and so on) especially in low socio-economic communities. In Australian classrooms it is not unusual for a single classroom to include children who speak many different languages. Their family trajectories to their current dwellings and lifeworlds may be very different from each other. At the same
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