Research in English: Composing Process in Writing and Video

10-second review: “If the foundation of writing is word>clause>text, then the foundation of video is frame>image> sequence. Both composing in print and composing with video are recursive.

Title: “Writing with Visual Images: Examining the Video composition Processes of High School Students.” DL Bruce. Research in the Teaching of English (May 2009), 426-450.

Summary: It’s well known what the writing process is. The author observed students making videos to try to create a model for video composition. “The stages of producing a video tend to be described as following the sequential order of pre-production, production, and post-production.”

Quote: “Students tended to begin with visual conceptualization, where they envisioned what their video might look like.”

Quote: This is not to say that video is superior to print—far from it, as they can have different roles.”

Note: “Although the possibilities and applications of video are widening, the focus of standardized testing in academic settings makes it difficult to invest the classroom time that video projects and training require.”

Comment: The preceding quote is another warning about the limitations imposed by standardized testing on the English curriculum. RayS.

Research in English: The New and Old Literacies

10-second review: There is much about the old literacies that we still do not understand. And, of course, there  is much about the new literacies we do not understand. We need research in both.

Title: “A Call for New Research on New and Multi-literacies.” EB Moje. Research in the Teaching of English (May 2009), 348-362.

Quote: “In the last hour, I talked by mobile phone to a friend who was driving across another state while I Mapquested his location and gave him updates on his estimated time of arrival; wrote email back and forth to a former research participant who now lives in New Mexico; re-watched the YouTube video, Shift Happens; sent my family notes describing my hotel room; watched the news on television; charged my Ipod; and worked on this essay, using books I had lugged with me on my trip.”

Comment: All right, so personal communication is quicker than ever before with technology. Mundane, everyday tasks in communication can be accomplished instantly. The real question is how technology can assist in academic learning. I am NOT a Luddite. I recognize the advantages of digital technology. For heaven’s sake, I was there for the transformation of writing with the word processor. But we still need to use technology to enable academic learning in our classrooms. I’m not opposed to Twittering or Facebook “Friends” or YouTube videos. I am interested in how these technologies can become useful in academic learning in the classroom. RayS.

Research in English: Digitization vs. Traditional Print Literacy

10-second review: When adolescent students use computers they are engaged and learning and empowered. When they are involved with conventional print literacy, they are not. The workplace seems to favor the adolescent students’ point of view.

Title: “Editors’ Introduction: Adolescents’ Literacy and the Promise of Digital Technology.” Mark Dressman, et al. Research in the Teaching of English (May 2009), 345-347.

Quote: "First, these studies have found that in marked contrast to conventional measures of in-school literacy which find that many adolescents struggle to read and write with efficacy, when literacy is digitized and made personally and socially empowering, adolescents become highly engaged and excel as readers and writer across a broad range of print- and image-based formats. The second point, which builds from the first, is to emphasize the stark contrast between the print-centric curriculum of conventional secondary schools and the multimodality of contemporary work place and everyday life, and to argue that in their literate practices many adolescents today seem to be anticipating and preparing for lives of work and play that leave the traditional practices of schooling far behind.”

Comment: I question the word “excel” in adolescents’ performance of reading and writing as a result of the use of digital technology. Further, if Twittering and Facebook “friends” are the face of the new office technology, I think we are in for a relapse in literacy. RayS.

Time out!

Resume Monday, 5/17/2010.

Research in English: Identity and Literacy

10-second review: When people are engaged in literacy, what identity do they assume?

Title: “Literacy and Identity: Examining the Metaphors in History and Contemporary Research.” EB Moje, et al. Reading Research Quarterly (October/ November/ December 2009), 415-437.

Summary: Five conceptions of Identity: 1) difference; 2) sense of self/subjectivity; 3) mind or consciousness; 4) narrative and 5) position.

Identity as difference: groups, national, race, ethnic or cultural identities.

Identity as a sense of self: how selves come to be.

Identity as mind or consciousness: shapes the consciousness of others.

Identity as narrative: narratives shape our identities.

Identity as position: the importance of one’s position in society.

Comment: This article is 22 pages long. It’s heavy with philosophy as well as a review of research on each theory of identity. The gist of it is that these perspectives describe the identities of individuals when involved in literacy. The identity changes. If the subject interests you, read the article. RayS.

Research in English: Branded and Marketable Fictional Characters

10-second review: In older times, children had only the books and their imagination. Today, there are movies, TV shows, lunchboxes, running shoes, etc.

Title: “The Market Child and Branded Fiction. A Synergism of Children’s Literature, Consumer Culture and New Literacies.” DC Sekeres, Reading Research Quarterly (October/ November/ December/ 2009), pp. 399-414.

Quote: In the days of (1837) Rollo at Play, ‘…he or she would have held an engaging story, full of pragmatic advice and pointed instruction. One can imagine that, during playtime, the child pretended to be Rollo or Cousin Lucy, enacting and altering the character and story to suit his or her imagination.” Today, there are movies, television shows, placemats, stationery, lunchboxes, aprons, running shoes, fan-fiction Web sites and action dolls to augment the child’s imagined Rollo.

Quote: “The Harry Potter brand alone has been licensed to so many products that the estimates range from 200… to more than 500….”

Quote: “The impact of such change is unpredictable and in light of the possible effect on children, important to monitor and understand.”

Comment: Is the child’s imagination constrained or freed by so many products related to the characters? RayS.

Topic: A Transnational Use of Language and Technology

10-second review: A migrant Chinese girl communicates across borders back to China, and to other Asian countries from America through technology.

Title: “Multiliteracies Instant Messaging in Negotiating Local, Translocal, and Transnational Affiliations: A Case of an Adolescent Immigrant.” W SE Lam. Reading Research Quarterly (October/ November/ December 2009), 277-397.

Comment: Obviously, I did not understand much of this but the well-educated migrant Chinese girl made use of variations of languages, Asian, American hip-hop, etc., to communicate with her circle of friends and acquaintances through technology, especially the Internet—across borders and cultures. She was resourceful in her use  of language characteristics. An interesting perspective on the manipulation and integration of various languages in order to communicate. I found the study and the linguistic resourcefulness of the student fascinating. RayS.

Topic: Does Explicit Morphological Knowlege of Words Aid in Reading?

10-second review: The authors were able to show if students had specific knowledge of words and their morphology, but were unable to show that that knowledge helped in the process of reading. 81 fifth-grade students and 82 eighth –grade students.

Title: “Making Meaning: Children’s Sensitivity to Morphological Information During Word Reading.” D. McCutchen, et al. Reading Research Quarterly (October/ November/ December 2009). 300-376.

Here are examples of the test questions to determine if students were sensitive to morphology in words.

The McCutchen Measure of Explicit Morphological Knowledge.

Directions: In this task, you will see a word printed in bold followed by a sentence containing a blank. You should change the word in bold to fit in the blank and complete the sentence in a way that makes sense.

Example. 1. Farm: My uncle is a …………………………….

Example. 2. Caution: While crossing the street, the students were ……………………………

Comment: This study comes under the heading of a clever test that says something about students’ reading, but does not contribute to our knowledge about students’ reading.  RayS.

Topic: The Complexity of Meaning in Reading

10-second review: Meaning in reading goes beyond comprehension questions.

Title: “Girls As ‘Struggling Readers’: Delineating the Sociopolitical and Sociocultural Terrains of Books and Reading.” Jennifer M. Graff. Reading Research Quarterly (October/November/December 2009), 357-359.

Summary/Quote: “Although ‘gaining meaning from print has always been a goal of reading instruction’ (Venezky, 1987, p. 257), meaning extends beyond comprehension questions. It is critical that educators and students authentically dialogue about books, reading and the ways in which both are purposeful and purposeless. By distancing themselves from the current consolidation of reading as a set of skills to be mastered, and by viewing reading as complex and practices and processes involving genuine and critical inquiries of self and society, educators can better assist struggling readers in becoming lifelong readers.”

Comment: It’s about time someone said that comprehension is not simply a set of someone else’s comprehension questions. Comprehension is about ideas, one’s own questions and conclusions, and includes other people’s interpretations. RayS.

Topic: Research Abstracts

10-second review: Basic writers; different audiences; basic writers’ identification of other students ‘ problems in writing; writing process.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RL Larson and AL Saks. Research in the Teaching of English (May 1993), 200-214.

Summaries: Basic writers with unpromising grade histories have performed adequately in work place writing tasks because the writing required was short and routine, they were not given immediate grades, knew the subject matter, had clear purposes in writing and knew their audiences. E Agnew, 1992, 212. ………. Different audiences. Fifth-grade students wrote differently for third-graders and adults, though they wrote more effectively for the third-graders than they did for the adults. L Frank, 1992, 213……….. Basic writers’ identification of other students’ problems in writing. Students were able to identify other students’ problems, including semantic problems, problems of meaning over the whole text, problems of coherence, problems of clarity and problems with inadequate development of ideas. They did not do as well in recognizing their own problems, however. B Greene, 1992, 214. ………. Writing process. Planning, production of text and revisions take place simultaneously so it is unwise to isolate components of the act of writing. P. Schall, 1992, 214.

Comment: The processes might be simultaneous, but in order to teach them, they must be isolated. RayS.