Developing literacy presents certain challenges in remote contexts

Developing literacy presents certain challenges in remote contexts for a range of reasons; however, these reasons are not insurmountable, though they do present significant obstacles.

If I need to start somewhere, I will cite the lack of a literate tradition as one factor to consider. In non-remote contexts, children are exposed to literate behaviour in a range of forms from a very early age. A literate sensibility is reinforced in literate environments. And a literate environment is one which is stacked with literate artefacts (e.g. books, magazines, list on refrigerators) and populated by readers and writers. However, children in remote communities are growing up in environments with few age-appropriate books and fewer role models who exhibit the diverse habits of a literate individual. 

Furthermore - in remote contexts - it is often the case that learners are brought into literacy in a language that is not their mother tongue. If early literacy experiences were about rendering in print that which is spoken, then English language learners face additional barriers to see the relationship between speech, writing and reading. In addition to the language barrier, there is also the cultural barrier. It is understood that readers are better able to engage and understand what they read when they have the prior knowledge/experience/schema to find the reading meaningful, not to mention access to an experienced reader to aid reading. However, it is often the case that the learners are exposed to texts which (a) use an unnatural (or unfamiliar) flow of language and (b) do not connect with the learner’s experiences (or desire to attach meaning). Whilst these texts may provide “exercises in reading”, there is some doubt as to the meaning being extracted from such text. A child might “read” the text, but does the child understand what he or she is reading?

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Launch of iPhone App & New Reading Lists

Some may note that there has been a delay in updates to the journal recently. I must admit that the delay has been due to a brief amount of time spent on some experimentation. That experimentation has resulted in the Wittgenstein On Learning iPhone App. The app isn't spectacular. Instead, I was curious to see if it were possible to create an iPhone app with certain HTML5 and Javascript tools. The answer is "yes". So, I invite you to download the free app and explore some key quotes from the Tractatus, the Philosophical Investigations, On Certainty and Culture & Value. Now that the app is done, I'll happily return to journal updates which explore Wittgensteinian concepts in relation to language, literacy and learning. 

Whilst I am providing updates, I have also listed three new Mendeley reading lists: supporting refugee learners, language & literacy development, and place-based pedagogy. The three lists can be considered Wittgensteinian in spirit. It goes without saying that Wittgenstein does provoke reflection on language & literacy development, though I would like to argue that a Wittgensteinian sensibility does provide a sensitivity to the plight of refugees and a reflection on locally based knowledges. 

Podcast #1: An Introductory Episode

The podcast will provide a further outlet to present ideas in relation to the impact of Wittgensteinian ideas on contemporary discussions of language learning, literacy acquisition, cultural practices and the development of knowledge. The first episode provides an introduction to the website as well as a brief contrast between the treatment of language (and literacy) in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and the Philosophical Investigation. To keep the contemporary feel, the contrast is applied to Paris's (2005) presentation of constrained skills theory in relation to literacy development. I welcome people to listen to the podcast for more, and I look forward to taking further advantage of the medium as a complement to journal entries and other content on the website. (wittgenstein-on-learning.com)

ANNOUNCEMENT: A New Essay Has Been Added to the Site

A new essay has been added to the Essays and Presentation section of the site: 

Some may notice that the essay is a revision of a journal entry that first appeared on the site in November 2013. 

Join/Follow the Wittgenstein On Learning Reading Group

Not too long ago, I was looking for a Reference Manager to help organise readings from past and current research. Whilst quite a number of programs suited the purpose (e.g. Sente, Zotero), I eventually went with Mendeley since the interface was pretty intuitive and it was quite easy to access the reference library on web, desktop and mobile devices. 

More recently, I discovered an added benefit: the ability to create/share public reading groups. Consequently, I have created a Reading/Research group that includes all present and future references/readings that appear on this website. The Reading Group is dedicated to sharing readings which are considered to provide Wittgensteinian commentary on language, literacy and learning. This includes the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein and those in the spirit of his philosophy (as is explained in site's Introduction).

The Reading Group serves a few purposes. First, the Recently Added Readings linked on this site provides an embedded list of the most recent references added to the site/group (often listed on the linked page before they find their way into the alphabetic or topic lists). Second, the Recently Added Reading page is linked to the research group with Mendeley. If you are already a Mendeley user, I encourage you to follow/join the reading/research group. If you are not a Mendeley user, I invite you to investigate how to sign up to follow the group. Third, I openly encourage people to become members of the Reading/Reference Group, which allows individuals to post comments and their own readings. At the time of writing (22/04/14), the Reading Group was the first one on Mendeley to be dedicated a Wittgensteinian perspective. 

To be honest, I first created the public group as a quick way to provide the most up-to-date list of what I have been reading that expresses a Wittgensteinian perspective on language, literacy and learning. If it so happens that a community of followers and members develops, then I am more than happy to curate the group and for the reading group to take a life of its own. Welcome and explore!

ANNOUNCEMENT: New Essays Section added to the site

 

"In his brief life Vygotsky observed that the very process of writing one’s thoughts leads individuals to refine those thoughts and to discover new ways of thinking." (Wolf, 2008, p 73)

A new section can be found underneath the Topics drop down menu. There is now a link for Essay and Presentations. Each of the essays will reflect a Wittgensteinian approach to language, literacy, and learning. In particular, the essays seek to tease out the pedagogical implications of Wittgenstein's philosophy and related theorists and practitioners. At times, the essays will explicitly discuss the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein. At other times, the essays will reflect the spirit of Wittgenstein's philosophical themes. (For a summary of the site's interpretation, please see Why Wittgenstein?, the Introduction and Initial Notes).

To get started, you will find a link to the essay, Language and literacy are learned with steady guidance from others. Regular visitors will notice that the essay first appeared as a journal entry on 2 January. The essay has been revisited, edited and revised. 

More to come! Please explore.

Education For All

The following is a speech delivered by Alan Duncan - UK Minister of State at the UK launch of the Global Monitoring Report on 7 April 2014

"I am delighted to be here today to support the UK launch of this year’s Education for All Global Monitoring Report. Its theme, Teaching and Learning: Achieving Quality For All fits well with DFID’s education priorities. The report also rightly reminds us why investing in education is so important for any economy as a whole but also (and more importantly) why it matters for every individual.

"Behind this report is 1 simple stark truth. If all girls completed primary school in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, the number of girls getting married by the age of 15 would fall significantly. Education does indeed transform lives.

"In these brief remarks, I want to reflect on what the GMR tells us about DFID’s 3 education priorities, and then outline where more effort is needed to make better and faster progress. ‘Leaving no one behind’ is 1 of DFID’s priorities and this report presents impressive progress over the last 20 years on access to school. Globally there are 51 million more children in primary school today than there were in 1999, and 6 out of 10 countries have now achieved an equal number of girls and boys enrolled in primary school.

"These are signs of real improvement which is the result of significant domestic and international investment and effort. Good progress can be made when the world gets behind a simple and compelling message as it has done with the MDG focus on access to primary school.

"While we should recognise and celebrate this progress, we know that schooling does not always lead to learning. I don’t think any of us here would be satisfied with a primary school in which our children do not even learn to read and to count after four years in school. It’s the quality of learning achieved for every girl and boy, and not just the length of schooling, which makes education such a valuable investment."

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What does it mean to "gain an education"?

The learner must be "a biologically and socially adept human being ... susceptible to training ... [with] fundamental trust [in] the authority of the teacher ... [engaged in] socio-linguistic interaction ... transmissible ... through enculturation" (Moyal-Sharrock, 2010, pg 6 - 7)

I will contend that learning and being educated are givens in human experience. We do learn things and we are brought into learning by others. What we learn and whether or not the learning is successful is a different matter. And whether or not the learning is positive is also up to question (e.g. being raised in an environment of crime and learning certain tricks of the trade). So, I am asking people to provide their perspectives on the question, "what does it mean to gain an education?"  

What education entails for the nomadic, pastoral lifestyle of the Masai is different from that of other sectors of the world (Semali, 1994). Should the education in an elite grammar school in Paris be different from that of a school in a working class community in Manchester? Should the two schools and the students' home environments prepare learners for different forms of life? Is it fair that formal educational institutions celebrate certain forms of knowledge (e.g. of poetry or Shakespeare), whilst marginalising other knowledge (the art of car mechanics) at the same time?

How is the educational life of a young person in South Korea different than the education life of one in the surburbs of Sydney, Australia? What would be the ideal education to suit Indigenous children and young people in remote Australia?

Please use the comments field/link below to offer you own perspective on  what does it mean to gain an education?

Dr Michael A. Peters on Wittgenstein & Education

Dr Michael A. Peters is one of the authors of the Book Pick: Showing and Doing: Wittgenstein as a Pedagogical Philosopher. In the following video, Dr Peters speaks about the problems of rationality. In particular, he posits that there is a change in the way that rationality is described from the before and after the turn of the 20th century. He attributes to Wittgenstein a role in this change. Specifically, prior to the 20th century, there was talk of a single rationality (a Western scientific mode); however, in the 20th century and into the 21st century, we must speak of many rationalities, since any mode of reasoning is a byproduct of concepts that are quite familiar to the reader of Wittgenstein. Modes of reasoning are the byproduct of communities of practice, disciplines, discourses, language games, forms of life, etc, which does allow on to reflect on the cultural practices and politics around different ways of reasoning. Please enjoy the video. Dr Peters explains this much better than I.

Uploaded by educationatillinois on 2014-03-05.

What is essential for language & literacy learning? (UPDATED)

The following is an updated version of a previous post. The post now includes minor edits as well as two new sections. First, I have provide a list of 10 factors that enhances one's opportunity to learning. This list of 10 factors will be expanding in an upcoming journal post. Second, I have expanded the conclusion by including paraphrase on a related journal entry. Please enjoy and explore.

"Literacy can be seen as dependent on instruction, with the corollary that quality of instruction is key. 

"This view emphasizes the developmental nature of literacy-- the passage of children through successive stages of literacy, in each of which the reading and writing tasks change qualitatively and the role of the instructor has to change accordingly." (Chall, 1996 as referenced in Snow, 2004)

What is essential?

Gaining a command of language and literacy over time is the essential bit. In this, I want to keep things simple. The literacy learner acquires alphabetic knowledge. That is, the individual learns that letters are meant to represent sounds, and that these sounds are combined to form words. These words can come to represent aspects or objects in one's environment, experience or imagination. One is better prepared to break a word down into its sounds (or component parts) if the word is familiar to one.  So we have a picture in which objects or concepts in someone's environment or imagination are connected to words uttered by a person which can be broken down into sounds that can be represented by a written system. And this written system is rule-governed.

Individuals should be motivated by the desire to represent or convey observations about objects, which requires one to string words together in the form of sentences (or propositions).  It is essential that the learner is also able to extract meaning from them, as well. In this case, an individual is motivated to report or narrate or recount, and to interpret reports, narratives, recounts, etc. One can imagine a learning experience in which a finite portion of the language is selected that allows one to learn a portion of particular sound patterns, develop a thematic vocabulary, and use this knowledge to read, write and discuss observations in a particular domain.

More advanced language is merely an extension of the earlier practices. In other words, if one develops the cognitive habits of seeking out sounds, understanding how sounds are put/blended together, knowing how words are formed, building a robust vocabulary, forming meaningful expressions, and interpreting expressions with intent, then one is in good place.

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