Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education
Date of this Version
7-18-2017
Citation
Published in Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2017. doi: 10.1002/jaal.690
Abstract
In many countries, educational policies typically mandate school activities that promote a homogeneous and narrow range of academic literacies for all learners despite the diverse nature of human learning. This ethnographic case study examines how a 12-year-old Kenyan fourth-grade student performing below average on all standardized tests used multiple invisible literacies while documenting his knowledge and life experiences in a rural context. Invisible literacies are covert meaning- making literacy practices that are not privileged in the classroom. Examination of these practices shows a convergence between school and home literacies, suggesting a need for education stakeholders to identify literacies that are otherwise marginalized and to reposition multilingual learners in nondeficit ways by centering and integrating these literacies. This study demonstrates that a monolithic and monolingual approach to literacy, in isolation from other visual, oral, and practical forms of literacy used by multilingual rural students, denies such learners access to and development of literacy in general.
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, International and Comparative Education Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons, Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons
Comments
Copyright © 2017 International Literacy Association; published by John Wiley & Sons. Used by permission.