Index to Library Trends Volume 38

published or submitted for publicatio

Discourse and religion in educational practice

Despite the existence of long-held binaries between secular and sacred, private and public spaces, school and religious literacies in many contemporary societies, the significance of religion and its relationship to education and society more broadly has become increasingly topical. Yet, it is only recently that the investigation of the nexus of discourse and religion in educational practice has started to receive some scholarly attention. In this chapter, religion is understood as a cultural practice, historically situated and embedded in specific local and global contexts. This view of religion stresses the social alongside the subjective or experiential dimensions. It explores how through active participation and apprenticeship in culturally appropriate practices and behaviors often mediated intergenerationally and the mobilisation of linguistic and other semiotic resources but also affective, social and material resources, membership in religious communities is constructed and affirmed. The chapter reviews research strands that have explored different aspects of discourse and religion in educational practice as a growing interdisciplinary field. Research strands have examined the place and purpose of religion in general and evangelical Christianity in particular in English Language Teaching (ELT) programmes and the interplay of religion and teaching and learning in a wide range of religious and increasingly secular educational contexts. They provide useful insights for scholars of discourse studies to issues of identity, socialisation, pedagogy and language policy

Emissaries of Literacy: Refugee Studies and Transnational Composition

Emissaries of Literacy: Refugee Studies and Transnational Composition uses qualitative research in refugee communities and textual analysis of stories written by and about refugees to argue that the experiences of resettled refugees, as well as the experiences of the volunteers, aid workers, tutors, and teachers who work with them, do not fit neatly within composition\u27s current paradigms for studying literacy in global contexts. Refugee identity and experience shows a complex link between literacy and citizenship which is complicated by the economic and geographic histories of linguistic imperialism. Refugee perspectives, and more precisely the challenges they pose, can help composition scholars and teachers rethink our established modes of inquiry

Increasing multimedia literacy in composition for multilingual writers: a case study of art analysis

This multiple case study/critical ethnography/autoethnography was done in two composition classes for multilingual writers at EWU in order to explore ways to foster multimodal literacies in English Language Learners (ELL\u27s). Digital composing environments force writers, readers, and texts to change .... Today, more than ever before, attention is being given to the role of the arts, multi-modality, and new literacies as they relate to research and practice in English language arts classrooms and operate within 21st century literacies (NCTE.org, 2016; Jocius, 2016). Following the call from the NCTE, the author urges us to consider postmodern views of reading and writing through different voices, different lenses, and different technologies--to go beyond print media. The author reports on a writing unit requiring students to select, analyze, and present works of art to increase their own multimodal literacies. She analyzes student essays for insights about their diverse cultures, world views, and preferences for art analysis. Recommendations for incorporating art analysis and material cultural artifacts are offered --Leaf iv

Workplace literacy practices of clerks in the South African Police Services (SAPS)

This thesis examines the patterning of literacy practices of clerks in the South African Police Services (SAPS) and how power relations are perpetuated through institutional structures and associated divisions of workplace tasks, within a workplace like SAPS. An ethnographic-style case study approach was used to examine the literacy practices of three clerks at three different SAPS sites. The data collected included participant observations, interviews, analysis of texts and photographs of documents. The data was then analysed using thematic analysis and discourse analysis. The qualitative data analysis indicated fragmentation of literacy tasks into “bits and pieces” reflecting the “old” capitalism of the traditional workplace. The fragmentation of the clerks’ literacy tasks also resonated with the decontextualized, skillsbased approach of literacy and language curricula and pedagogies that still dominate formal education and literacy learning. Furthermore, it would appear as if the literacy tasks were used as mechanisms to regiment workers since the paper trail served as a means of accountability for compliancy. The problem was compounded by the disjuncture between what is prescribed by SAPS language policy and what was happening in practice, namely, that English is the only “working language” used by SAPS in all official documents despite its claim to facilitate “functional multilingualism” (in Government Gazette, 8 March 2016). Thus, the study concludes that SAPS work-based literacy practices, like the literacy and language practices of the schooling system, are not conducive to producing students and workers who could apply critical and holistic thinking to make sense of disparate literacy tasks. Hence, the patterning of the literacy practices within the workplace serves to perpetuate institutionalized power in a context where needs for compliancy and accountability are high. The study points to the importance of the development of a language and literacy curriculum in the training of members of SAPS that is a hybridization of principles of the skills based and social practices approaches, especially where critical literacy skills still have to be honed. It argues that enabling workers to fulfil tasks with a more holistic understanding of the nature of their work could improve their efficiency, effectiveness and work satisfaction. Clarity, and I daresay, the political will, around the implementation of the prescribed “additive multilingualism” would go a long way to challenging the hegemony of English in powerful institutions of the state