Front cover image for Literacy : an introduction to the ecology of written language

Literacy : an introduction to the ecology of written language

David Barton
Print Book, English, ©2007
2nd ed View all formats and editions
Blackwell Pub., Malden, Mass., ©2007
xi, 245 pages ; 28 cm
9781405111430, 9781405111140, 1405111437, 1405111143
424167370
Alphabétisation
Composition (Exercice littéraire)
Composition (Language arts)
Educational Status
Lecture
Linguistics
Linguistique
Literacy
Reading
linguistics
literacy
Prefaceviii
Preface to the first editionx
Chapter 1 An integrated approach to literacy1
Introduction
1
Literacy in everyday life
3
The study of literacy
5
Outline of the book
7
Chapter 2 Talking about literacy10
Metaphors for literacy
10
Theories and metaphors
13
Metaphors and thinking
16
Definitions of literacy
18
Literacy studies
22
Looking for a metaphor
28
The ecological metaphor
29
Chapter 3 The social basis of literacy33
Practices and events
35
Literacies and domains
37
Broader social relations
40
Literacy as communication
42
Literacy as thought
44
Values and awareness
45
Individual history
47
Social history
49
Chapter 4 Researching literacy practices51
Researching literacy as social practice
52
Research methods
53
Local and community literacy practices
56
Multilingual literacy practices
59
Literacy is gendered
64
Workplace literacy practices
66
The social patterning of literacy practices
68
Chapter 5 Literacy embedded in language72
Literacy and language
72
From registers to genres and discourses
73
Texts and intertextuality
76
Taking meaning from texts
82
Language mediates
84
Chapter 6 Configurations of language87
Written and spoken language are different
89
Continua from written to spoken
91
Configurations of language
93
Decontextualized and explicit?
97
Chapter 7 Writing systems and other notations101
Writing systems
101
Comparing writing systems
103
Other notations
106
Chapter 8 Points in history111
Introduction
111
The archaeology of literacy
112
What is writing?
112
Earlier forms of symbolic representation
115
Early uses of writing
117
Literacy and historical change
118
Writing as evolution
120
Evolution towards the alphabet?
122
Contact and change
123
A social history of literacy
124
The development of printing
124
The development of a literate culture
126
Chapter 9 The roots of literacy131
Introduction
131
Approaches to learning
132
Learning to speak
136
Chapter 10 Emergent literacy140
Reading to children
140
Literacy events
148
Writing
154
Knowing about literacy
157
Chapter 11 Public definitions of literacy160
The skill of reading
160
Writer as scribe and as author
164
The literary view of literacy
167
The professional writer
168
Chapter 12 School practices174
Introduction
174
What goes on in schools
176
Talk around texts
178
From home to school
181
Literacy as language
183
Chapter 13 Adults and world literacy186
Introduction
186
Functional literacy
189
Industrialized countries
192
Not literate in a literate world
196
Language issues in adult literacy
199
Chapter 14 Some implications of an ecological view205
Literacy in education
206
Global literacy
208
Notes214
References222
Index239