Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-hvd4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T04:55:02.345Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

27 - Learning to Be Literate

from Part V - Learning Disciplinary Knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

By
Peter Smagorinsky  and
Richard E. Mayer
Edited by
R. Keith Sawyer
R. Keith Sawyer
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Get access

Summary

This chapter reviews research that examines the fundamental cognitive and social processes whereby people learn to read and write. The chapter discusses three types of literate knowledge. First, literacy can be general, such as the ability to decode words or engage in drafting and revision. Second, literacy can be task-specific: learning to read a novel and learning to read a recipe require different declarative and procedural knowledge. Third, literacy can be community-specific, in which members of a community approach a given text using different cognitive and interpretive frameworks. Learning how to read and write requires many distinct cognitive components, from decoding letters to composing and interpreting texts. Literacy also requires the ability to integrate these skills within communities of practice, and these findings are aligned with sociocultural perspectives on learning in all subjects.

Keywords

literacyreadingwritingtask-specificcommunity of practicemetacognitionargumentationdiscourse practices
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences , pp. 543 - 559
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bartlett, F. C. (1932). Remembering. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M., Sinatra, G. M., & Loxterman, J. A. (1991). Revising social studies text from a text-processing perspective: Evidence of improved comprehensibility. Reading Research Quarterly, 26, 251–276.Google Scholar
Booth, W. (1974). A rhetoric of irony. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bradley, L., & Bryant, P. (1983). Categorizing sounds and learning to read – a causal connection. Nature, 301, 419–421.Google Scholar
Bradley, L., & Bryant, P. (1985). Rhyme and reason in reading and spelling. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Bransford, J. D., & Johnson, M. K. (1972). Contextual requisites for understanding: Some investigations of comprehension and recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11(6), 717–726.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, A. L., & Smiley, S. S. (1977). Rating the importance of structural units of prose passages: A problem of metacognitive development. Child Development, 48(1), 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bus, A. G., & van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (1999). Phonological awareness and early reading: A meta-analysis of experimental studies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(3), 403–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clymer, T. (1963). The utility of phonic generalizations in the primary grades. The Reading Teacher, 16(4), 252–258.Google Scholar
De La Paz, S., Swanson, N., & Graham, S. (1998). The contribution of executive control to the revising by students with writing and learning difficulties. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(3), 448–460.Google Scholar
Ehri, L. C., Nunes, S. R., Stahl, S. A., & Willows, D. M. (2001). Systematic phonics instruction helps students learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel’s meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 71(3), 393–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fahnestock, J., & Secor, M. (1991). The rhetoric of literary criticism. In Bazerman, C. & Paradis, J. (Eds.), Textual dynamics of the professions: Historical and contemporary studies of writing in professional communities (pp. 74–96). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Fiorella, L., & Mayer, R. E. (2015). Learning as a generative activity: Eight learning strategies that promote understanding. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fish, S. (1980). Is there a text in this class? The authority of interpretive communities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Fisher, M. T. (2005). From the coffee house to the school house: The promise and potential of spoken word poetry in school contexts. English Education, 37(2), 115–131.Google Scholar
Flower, L., & Hayes, J. R. (1981). A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication, 32(4), 365–387.Google Scholar
Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L. S., Thompson, A., et al. (2001). Is reading important in reading-readiness programs? A randomized field trial with teachers as program implementers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(2), 251–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallas, K., & Smagorinsky, P. (2002). Approaching texts in school. The Reading Teacher, 56(1), 54–61.Google Scholar
Gardner, H. (1991). The unschooled mind: How children think and how schools should teach. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Geary, D. C. (2005). The origin of mind: Evolution of brain, cognition, and general intelligence. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Geary, D. C. (2012). Evolutionary educational psychology. In Harris, K., Graham, S., & Urdan, T. (Eds.), APA educational psychology handbook (Vol. 1, pp. 597–621). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Gernsbacher, M. A. (1990). Language comprehension as structure building. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Glynn, S. M., Britton, B. K., Muth, D., & Dogan, N. (1982). Writing and revising persuasive documents: Cognitive demands. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74(4), 557–567.Google Scholar
Goswami, U., & Bryant, P. (1990). Phonological skills and learning to read. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Hayes, J. R. (1996). A new framework for understanding cognition and affect in writing. In Levy, C. M. & Ransdell, S. (Eds.), The science of writing (pp. 1–28). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Hayes, J. R., & Flower, L. S. (1980). Identifying the organization of writing processes. In Gregg, L. W. & Steinberg, E. R. (Eds.), Cognitive processes in writing (pp. 3–30). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language life, and work in communities and classrooms. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, M. L. (2009). Beats, rhymes, and classroom life: Hip-hop pedagogy and the politics of identity. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Hillocks, G. (1986). Research on written composition: New directions for teaching. Urbana, IL: ERIC, National Conference on Research in English.Google Scholar
Hillocks, G. (1995). Teaching writing as reflective practice. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Hillocks, G. (2002). The testing trap: How state writing assessments control learning. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Hillocks, G., Kahn, E., & Johannessen, L. (1983). Teaching defining strategies as a mode on inquiry: Some effects on student writing. Research in the Teaching of English, 17, 275–284.Google Scholar
Huey, E. B. (1908). The psychology and pedagogy of reading. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company.Google Scholar
Hulme, C., Bowyer-Crane, C., Carroll, J. M., Duff, F. J., & Snowling, M. J. (2012). The causal role of phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge in learning: Combining intervention studies with mediation analyses. Psychological Science, 23(6), 572–577.Google Scholar
Hutchins, R. (2008). The role of cultural practices in the emergence of modern human intelligence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 363(1499), 2011–2019.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, D., & Christensen, C. A. (1999). Relationship between automaticity in handwriting and students’ ability to generate written text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(1), 44–49.Google Scholar
Juel, C., Griffin, P. L., & Gough, P. B. (1986). Acquisition of literacy: A longitudinal study of children in first and second grade. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78(4), 243–255.Google Scholar
Kellogg, R. T. (1994). The psychology of writing. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kochman, T. (1981). Black and White styles in conflict. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Limpo, T., Alves, R. A., & Connelly, V. (2017). Examining the transcription-writing link: Effects of handwriting fluency and spelling accuracy on writing performance via planning and translating in middle grades. Learning and Individual Differences, 53, 26–36.Google Scholar
Limpo, T., Alves, R. A., & Fidalgo, R. (2014). Children’s high‐level writing skills: Development of planning and revising and their contribution to writing quality. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(2), 177–193.Google Scholar
Lipson, M. Y. (1983). The influence of religious affiliation on children’s memory for text information. Reading Research Quarterly, 18(4), 448–457.Google Scholar
Majors, Y. J. (2015). Shoptalk: Lessons in teaching from an African American hair salon. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Markman, E. (1979). Realizing that you don’t understand: Elementary school children’s awareness of inconsistencies. Child Development, 50(3), 643–655.Google Scholar
Mayer, R. E. (2004). Teaching of subject matter. In Fiske, S. T., Shallert, D. L., & Zahn-Waxler, C. (Eds.), Annual review of psychology (Vol. 55, pp. 715–744). Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.Google Scholar
Mayer, R. E. (2008). Learning and instruction (2nd ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.Google Scholar
Mayer, R. E. (2009). Applying the science of learning to instruction in school subjects. In Marzano, R. (Ed.), On excellence in teaching (pp. 172–193). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.Google Scholar
Mayer, R. E. (2011). Applying the science of learning. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.Google Scholar
McCann, T. M. (1989). Student argumentative knowledge and ability at three grade levels. Research in the Teaching of English, 23(1), 62–76.Google Scholar
Melby-Lervåg, M., Lyster, S.-A. H., & Hulme, C. (2012). Phonological skills and their role in learning to read: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 322–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, D. (1980). Writing as process. In Donovan, T. R. & McClelland, V. W. (Eds.), Eight approaches to teaching composition (pp. 3–20). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.Google Scholar
National Governors Association. (2012). Common Core State Standards Initiative: Preparing America’s students for college & career, Kindergarten-grade 12. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/KGoogle Scholar
Newell, G. E., Bloome, D., & Hirvela, A. (2015). Teaching and learning argumentative writing in high school English language arts classrooms. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nystrand, M. (Ed.). (1982). What writers know: The language, process, and structure of written discourse. New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Odell, L., & Goswami, D. (Eds.). (1985). Writing in nonacademic settings. New York, NY: Guilford.Google Scholar
Paas, F., & Sweller, J. (2014). Implications of cognitive load theory for multimedia learning. In Mayer, R. E. (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (2nd ed., pp. 27–42). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Paris, S. G., & Lindauer, B. K. (1976). The role of inference in children’s comprehension and memory for sentences. Cognitive Psychology, 8(2), 217–227.Google Scholar
Parla, J. (2003). Car narratives: A subgenre in Turkish novel writing. The South Atlantic Quarterly, 102(2–3), 535–550.Google Scholar
Pearson, P. D., Hansen, J., & Gordon, C. (1979). The effect of background knowledge on young children’s comprehension of explicit and implicit information. Journal of Reading Behavior, 11(3), 201–209.Google Scholar
Pichert, J., & Anderson, R. C. (1977). Taking different perspectives on a story. Journal of Educational Psychology, 69(4), 309–315.Google Scholar
Rabinowitz, P. J. (1987). Before reading: Narrative conventions and the politics of interpretation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Rayner, K., Pollatsek, A., Ashby, J., & Clifton, C. (2011). Psychology of reading (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Reay, B. (1991). The context and meaning of popular literacy: Some evidence from nineteenth-century rural England. Past and Present, 131(1), 89–129.Google Scholar
Rose, M. (2005). The mind at work: Valuing the intelligence of the American worker. New York, NY: Penguin.Google Scholar
Saddler, B., & Graham, S. (2005). The effects of peer-assisted sentence-combining instruction on the writing performance of more of less skilled young writers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(1), 43–54.Google Scholar
Scribner, S., & Cole, M. (1981). The psychology of literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Smagorinsky, P. (1991). The writer’s knowledge and the writing process: A protocol analysis. Research in the Teaching of English, 25(3), 339–364.Google Scholar
Smagorinsky, P. (Ed.). (2006). Research on composition: Multiple perspectives on two decades of change. New York, NY: Teachers College Press and the National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy.Google Scholar
Smagorinsky, P. (2020). Learning to teach English and language arts: A Vygotskian perspective on beginning teachers’ pedagogical concept development. London, England: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Smagorinsky, P. (in press). The great equalizer of the conditions of [humanity]: How transformative can schools be when society itself remains inequitable and quarrelsome? In Berliner, D. C. & Hermanns, C. (Eds.), Public education: Defending a cornerstone of American democracy. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Smagorinsky, P., Johannessen, L. R., Kahn, E., & McCann, T. (2010). The dynamics of writing instruction: A structured process approach for middle and high school. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Smagorinsky, P., & Smith, M. W. (1992). The nature of knowledge in composition and literary understanding: The question of specificity. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 279–305.Google Scholar
Smith, M. W. (1989). Teaching the interpretation of irony in poetry. Research in the Teaching of English, 23(3), 254–272.Google Scholar
Smith, M. W. (1991). Understanding unreliable narrators: Reading between the lines in the literature classroom. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.Google Scholar
Spector, J. E. (1995). Phonemic awareness training: Application of principles of direct instruction. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 11(1), 37–51.Google Scholar
Stahl, S., Duffy-Hester, A. M., & Stahl, K. A. D. (1998). Everything you wanted to know about phonics (but were afraid to ask). Reading Research Quarterly, 33(3), 338–355).Google Scholar
Taylor, B. (1980). Children’s memory for expository text after reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 15, 399–411.Google Scholar
Toulmin, S. (1958). The uses of argument. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wagner, R. K., & Torgesen, J. K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. Psychological Bulletin, 101(2), 192–212.Google Scholar
Wassenburg, S. I., Bos, L. T., de Koning, B. B., & van der Schoot, M. (2015). Effects of an inconsistency-detection training aimed at improving comprehension monitoring in primary school children. Discourse Processes, 52(5–6), 463–488.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×