This is a conceptual paper, based on several semesters of collaboration in which the American author interacted with students in the Taiwanese author's EFL classes in Taiwan. The best native language users are typically those who read extensively, especially reading for pleasure in their youth. This gives them a large vocabulary and an intuitive…

This study examined the discourse of preservice teacher candidates in order to better identify those practices and experiences by which they shape their identity and conceptualize their role in teaching. The study's purpose was to find out (a) how secondary preservice teacher candidates conceptualize the practice of their teaching, (b) what…

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the intersection of three facets of the Community Writing Project's (CWP) small writing workshops that are at the core of its democratic practice: (1) legitimating the experiences and stories of ordinary people as expressions of their cultural work in the world; (2) fostering a mutual relationship of the…

Teachers encounter immense variety in literary competence among students in their secondary school classrooms. Yet, little is known about how they perceive and deal with this variety. Moreover, little is known about the literary development that students undergo during their school career and the different levels of development that can be…

Using a sample of 282 Norwegian upper secondary students, we examined whether two dimensions of topic-specific epistemic beliefs, concerning the certainty of knowledge and the justification for knowing, predicted students' understanding of seven texts representing partly conflicting views on climate change. Text comprehension was measured at three…

School is sometimes framed as a place for preparing, a place for becoming college and career ready. At times this approach positions school as an important space "within" the world of college and careers, envisioned perhaps as Dewey imagined it, as a safe place to try things, a space where real work of participation in society could be done but in…

In a teaching context fraught with conflicts on religious and ethnic backgrounds, I decide as a teacher researcher to address these issues with Israeli-Arab middle school students in my EFL classroom. Picture books on religious diversity and minority issues are used as a springboard for providing spaces for students to discuss these issues orally,…

Teachers frequently read aloud as a part of writing instruction so that children's book authors can serve as mentors for students' writing. Despite extensive anecdotal reporting of the significance of reading aloud children's literature within writing workshop, the intertextual connections students construct between interactive read alouds and…

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2008) requires that institutions preparing teachers consider not only the knowledge and skills needed to enter the classroom but also the dispositions for professional practice. Thus, teacher educators need to develop pedagogical practices designed to foster dispositions such as those…

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of teachers' use of a print-referencing style during whole-class read-alouds with respect to accelerating 4- and 5-year-old children's print-knowledge development. It also examined 8 specific child- and setting-level moderators to determine whether these influenced the relation…

This article explores learning experiences utilized in an adolescent literacy course to facilitate preservice teachers' development of knowledge and dispositions to teach critical literacy for social justice. The analysis is conducted through self-study methods and the theoretical construct of third space. Findings indicate that engaging…

This article focuses on the ways "hevruta" learning can contribute to teachers' capacity to be present to self, other, subject matter and the cultural context in which the learning occurred. "Hevruta" learning, when conceptualized for the purposes of teachers' professional development, brings to the fore both the interpretive and relational…

The author explains how principles of cognitive science can help teachers of literature use texts as a means of increasing students' commitment to social justice. Applying these principles to a particular work, Uncle Tom's Cabin, he calls particular attention to the relationship between cognitive science and literary schemes for building reader…

The purpose of this study was to describe how bilingual, Mexican American third graders engaged with culturally relevant picture books during whole-group book discussions and then to further examine how culture (specifically) was reflected in efferent and aesthetic responses. Engagement was defined as the nature in which the readers interpreted…

In this paper, the author looks at how she attempted to teach her students--preservice teachers--to engage in dialogic conversation about gay and lesbian identity using children's literature with gay and lesbian characters as a jumping off point. Through her analysis, the author has identified two requirements for dialogic conversation among…