Return-Path: <nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id iAMEwLQ22856; Mon, 22 Nov 2004 09:58:21 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 09:58:21 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <681A95205B5ACB4AAD697401486AE712047199@hal9000.lvgh.prv> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "George Demetrion" <george.demetrion@lvgh.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:741] Re: The problem situation (reading vs literacy) X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 1922 Lines: 50 Hi Karen, We have the same thing in the US in a wide divide between policy formation and what our adult literacy scholars and critically-informed practitioners are saying. There's some effort afoot to mediate the breach by linking empirically-based researchers (essentially the neo-positivists) with the insights drawn from "practitioner wisdom." I agree that that's a healthy step (and from a policy perspective, perhaps the best that can be accomplished at this time). Still, the concern remains that critically-informed "practitioner knowledge" and a wide stream of research and theory produced by practically-informed adult literacy scholars over the past 35 years is being marginalized in the process. There are no easy resolutions to this dilemma of which I am aware. At the least this requires of such practitioners and scholars a continued grappling with the issues, seeking out creative spaces of operation, and continued publication of work, however much it parallels or goes against the grain of normative-policy based assumptions. I would qualify your last statement where you say. "it is therefore not accurate to say that any of their ideas has influenced adult literacy work." In the trenches and struggling George Demetrion Literacy practitioner & scholar -----Original Message----- From: nifl-assessment@nifl.gov [mailto:nifl-assessment@nifl.gov] On Behalf Of HthKar@aol.com Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2004 5:41 PM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:733] Re: The problem situation (reading vs literacy) Re the New Literacy Studies Living as you do in the US, you may not appreciate that few people involved in teaching adults to read and write have ever heard of the writers you mention. A piece of research by the BSA demonstrates this quantitatively. it is therefore not accurate to say that any of their ideas has influenced adult literacy work. Cheers Karen.
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