Foundational Perspectives
New Literacy Studies
Critical Literacy
Literacy and Digital Technologies
Multimodality and Artifactual Literacies
Space, Play and Literacy
Reframing Sociocultural Theory: Identity, Agency and Power
Bringing the Frameworks Together: Implications for research, policy
and practice
Joanne Larson is Michael W. Scandling Professor of Education and
Chair of the Teaching and Curriculum program at the University of
Rochester’s Warner Graduate School of Education and Human
Development, USA. She received her PhD at the University of
California, Los Angeles in 1995. Larson’s ethnographic research
examines how language and literacy practices mediate social and
power relations in literacy events in schools and communities. She
is currently collaborating with Rochester community residents on a
participatory action research project examining changes associated
with transforming a local corner store into a cornerstone of
healthy living. Her book Radical Equality in Education: Starting
Over in US Schooling (Routledge, 2014) makes the case for beginning
with assumptions of equality instead of inequality in education.
She is the editor of Literacy as Snake Oil: Beyond the Quick Fix,
Second Edition (Lang, 2007) and co-editor with Jackie Marsh of
Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy (Sage, 2013). Larson′s journal
publications include research articles in Research in the Teaching
of English; Written Communication: Linguistics and Education;
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, and Discourse and Society.
Jackie Marsh is Professor of Education at the University of
Sheffield, UK, where she conducts research on young children′s play
and digital literacy practices in homes, communities and early
years settings and primary schools. Her most recent publications
include Changing Play: Play, Media and Commercial Culture from the
1950s to the Present Day (with Bishop, 2014) and Handbook of Early
Childhood Literacy (edited with Larson, 2013). Jackie is an editor
of the Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.
Larson and Marsh reassemble a polyphonic choir to interpret
literacies as critical social practices - with new voices, adding
powerful contrapuntal harmonies to contest the logic, theory, and
practice of the National Curriculum and Race to the Top. Sing
out!
*Patrick Shannon*
When it was first published, this groundbreaking book brought key
contemporary theories of literacy together in a coherent and
accessible form. Making Literacy Real quickly established
itself as a key resource for educators, students and
researchers working in a rapidly changing field. This updated
edition incorporates the latest research around play, space and
multimodality ensuring that it remains essential reading for
those of us interested in literacy theory and literacy
education.
*Victoria Carrington*
When it was first published this groundbreaking book quickly
established itself as a key resource for educators, students
and researchers working in a rapidly changing field. This updated
edition incorporates the latest research around play, space and
multimodality, ensuring that it remains essential reading
for those of us interested in literacy theory and literacy
education.
*Victoria Carrington*
This is one of very few books that considers the world of
possibilities within literacy pedagogy and challenges the dominant
techno-rational approach that reduces literacy to skills teaching.
The book is grounded in robust theoretical models that challenge
the reader to critically reflect on their practice. The vignettes
are extremely helpful in contextualising what the authors say. A
must read for all aspiring and current literacy teachers.
*Jan Gourd*
This new edition of Joanne Larson and Jackie Marsh’s important book
Making Literacy Real is theoretically illuminating and insightfully
grounded in useful cases and effective practices. It is the
foundation anyone interested in Literacy Studies needs to start
with.
*James Paul Gee*
Engaging and invitational, this second edition of Making Literacy
Real skilfully illuminates the inseparability of theory and
practice. It makes accessible a comprehensive range of theoretical
frameworks, including new sections on Space and Play, and
Multimodalities and Artifactual Literacy and describes their
application and realisation in the classroom through authentic
examples. A ‘must have’ text for all contemporary literacy
professionals.
*Professor Teresa Cremin*
In this wonderful new edition of Making Literacy Real, Larson and
Marsh present vivid portrayals of literacy in a variety of
classrooms. They invite readers to consider key theories, which
inform literacy in the 21st century, and make their presence
visible in transformative teaching and learning. Making Literacy
Real (2nd edition) will be an inspiration to teachers,
teacher-researchers, and all who care about the transformative
potential and power of education. (Mariana Souto-Manning, Teachers
College, Columbia University) Alongside learners and
teachers, Larson and Marsh’s wonderful new edition of Making
Literacy Real considers what might be possible in today’s
classrooms and schools. In practical and theoretically
sophisticated ways, Making Literacy Real invites teachers,
teacher-researchers, and educators to rethink literacy and to
witness compelling classroom practices in empowering and hopeful
ways. In a time when literacy is being defined in reductionist
terms, Making Literacy Real will be an inspiration to teachers,
teacher-researchers, and all who care about the expansive,
transformative potential and power of education. (Mariana
Souto-Manning, Teachers College, Columbia University)
Starting with the understanding that literacy is social, cultural,
historical, and political, Larson and Marsh explain literacy
theories and vividly describe classroom contexts that bring those
theories to life. In accessible, practical, empowering, and
theoretically-sophisticated ways, Making Literacy Real makes
visible various ways in which teachers may engage in
theoretically-rich teaching in powerful and transformative ways,
engaging learners of all ages. In a time when literacy is being
defined in reductionist terms, Making Literacy Real will be an
inspiration to teachers, teacher-researchers, and all who care
about the transformative potential and power of education. (Mariana
Souto-Manning, Teachers College, Columbia University) Making
Literacy Real is a theoretically powerful and practical resource
for all who believe that literacy teaching and learning must take
into account the social and cultural worlds of children and youth.
Beyond sharing vivid examples from a variety of classrooms, Larson
and Marsh shed light onto how teachers can engage in
transformative literacy teaching. In a time when literacy is being
reduced to skills, this is a very timely resource for all who want
to teach in hopeful and transformative ways. (Mariana
Souto-Manning, Teachers College, Columbia University) Larson
and Marsh masterfully make visible the links between theories
informing literacy and classroom practice. They not only explain
literacy theory, but vividly portray ways in which these theories
have come to life in a variety of classrooms. This book beautifully
shows how theory and practice are inseparable, moving away from
ideas of applying or translating theory. Larson and Marsh show
readers how classroom practices are theorized as practices are
transformed over time. In a time when literacy is being reduced to
skills and teachers are being told what and how to teach, this is a
must-read; truly a timely resource for all who want to teach in
hopeful and transformative ways. (Mariana Souto-Manning, Teachers
College, Columbia University) Moving away from deficit
perspectives that have historically informed the field of literacy,
Larson and Marsh make visible how, across a variety of classroom
settings and in theoretically rich ways, teachers engage in action,
reflect, and transform their teaching. While recognizing that many
theories inform literacy, Making Literacy Real focuses on six
theoretical traditions shaping literacy, offering insights onto the
ways that teachers can plan, teach, and organize their classrooms
so that their literacy practice will be theoretically sound and
their curriculum will build on the strengths and expertise of their
students. During a time when mandated and commercial curricula
abound, Making Literacy Real will prove an invaluable resource.
(Mariana Souto-Manning, Teachers College, Columbia University)
Making Literacy Real invites readers to move beyond
traditional approaches to literacy education which emphasize
one-size-fits-all, normalized learning trajectories. Larson and
Marsh vividly portray classrooms that have rejected reductionist
and constraining models of literacy teaching and, instead, embraced
ways of teaching that recognize and build on the many strategies
and resources students bring to classrooms. Moving beyond the false
theory-practice dichotomy, this new edition, which includes 21st
century literacies, is a gem. In a time when literacy is being
defined in reductionist terms, Making Literacy Real will be an
inspiration to teachers, teacher-researchers, and all who care
about the transformative potential and power of education. (Mariana
Souto-Manning, Teachers College, Columbia University)
*Mariana Souto-Manning*
Making Literacy Real invites readers to move beyond
traditional approaches to literacy education which emphasize
one-size-fits-all, normalized learning trajectories. Larson and
Marsh vividly portray classrooms that have rejected reductionist
and constraining models of literacy teaching and, instead, embraced
ways of teaching which recognize and build on the many strategies
and resources students bring to classrooms. Moving beyond the false
theory-practice dichotomy, this new edition, which includes
21st century literacies, is a gem. In a time when literacy is
being defined in reductionist terms, Making Literacy
Real will be an inspiration to teachers, teacher-researchers,
and all who care about the transformative potential and power of
education.
*Mariana Souto-Manning*
![]() |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
![]() |