Literacy Practices in Transition

Perspectives from the Nordic Countries

Edited by Anne Pitkänen-Huhta, Lars Holm

Publication date:

14 November 2012

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

210x148mm
6x8"

ISBN-13: 9781847698407

Literacy Practices in Transition explores the connections between local, situated literacy practices and global processes of mobility in the geographical space of the Nordic countries, an example of contemporary mobile societies. The detailed empirical analyses show how these connections affect individuals, practices and policies; how the global and local meet in discourses and practices and how people need to (re)negotiate their way in the complex and messy spaces in which they move. The volume challenges current trends in the global standardization of language and literacy education. Instead, it promotes the idea of literacy as a multiple, multilingual, multimodal and constantly contestable and negotiable phenomenon, which calls for the development of language and literacy education that is sensitive to the needs and experiences of the individual actors.

Preface
Lars Holm and Anne Pitkänen-Huhta: Literacy Practices in Transition: Setting the Scene
Section I: Literacy and Identities in Transition
Chapter 1: Anne Golden and Elizabeth Lanza: Narratives on Literacies: Adult Migrants’ Identity Construction in Interaction
Chapter 2: Åsa Wedin: Literacy in Negotiating, Constructing and Manifesting Identities: The Case of Immigrant Unaccompanied Refugee Boys in Sweden Chapter 3: Sangeeta Bagga-Gupta: Privileging Identity Positions and Multimodal Communication in Textual Practices. Intersectionality and the (Re)negotiation of Boundaries
Section II: Local Practices in Transition
Chapter 4: Line Møller Daugaard and Helle Pia Laursen: Multilingual Classrooms as Sites of Negotiations of Language and Literacy
Chapter 5: Mia Halonen: Skills as Performances: Literacy Practices of Finnish Sixth-graders
Chapter 6: Monica Axelsson and Kristina Danielsson: Multimodality in the Science Classroom
Chapter 7: Laura McCambridge and Anne Pitkänen-Huhta: Discourses of Literacy on an International Master’s Programme: Examining Students’ Academic Writing Norms
Section III: Policies and Practices in Transition
Chapter 8: Lars Holm and Sari Pöyhönen: Localising Supranational Concepts of Literacy in Adult Second Language Teaching
Chapter 9: Lise Iversen Kulbrandstad and Anne Marit Vesteraas Danbolt: Teacher Reflections under Changing Conditions for Literacy Learning in Multicultural Schools in Oslo
Chapter 10: Rita Hvistendahl: Bilingual teachers: Making a Difference?
Afterword: David Barton: On the Move: Transitions in Literacy Research

This book offers a new and much needed road map for understanding how literacies shape our lives today. Not only do the individual research studies from the Nordic countries make interesting reading, but they also show in fine detail how multilingual diversity has diversified recently. It is an essential read. What an innovative book!