Volume 27, Number 2, 2025

EN:

This study examines multilingual high school students’ responses to social studies assignments as a window into their content area literacy experiences in Canadian schools. Data for this study are drawn from two qualitative case studies which produced retrospective accounts for two multilingual learners who had completed high school in Alberta. The participants were undergraduate students at a reputable Canadian university when they participated in the research. The study highlights what was challenging for the students and how their efforts in written assignments took direction from what their teachers emphasized. The students’ perspectives on their experiences with the content area writing in social studies can inform thinking about related instruction and research.

EN:

This essay explores the relative dominance of plot, character, and theme as core concepts in English Language Arts (ELA) and argues for a renewed focus on literary discourses and the teaching of interpretive procedures. Using Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses as a case study, it illustrates how instructional attention to narrative style, point of view, and form can reveal and nurture the processes of literary meaning making and better align high school ELA with disciplinary practices of reading.

EN:

Effective implementation of a new curriculum requires investment in curriculum leaders, educator capacity-building, and resources. In their most recent curriculum releases, the Ontario Ministry of Education has failed to effectively support curriculum implementation (Office of the Auditor General for Ontario, 2020). Using a mixed-methods online survey, this study investigates the initial implementation of the Ontario Language Curriculum 2023 as perceived by Ontario educators. Research suggests that the Ministry of Education failed to adequately equip Ontario’s educators with professional development and resources in the initial implementation phase. Furthermore, it suggests strategies that can bolster implementation moving forward.

EN:

This is a theoretical paper which presents a Distributed Cognition (DCog) perspective on reading that supplements existing approaches to account for phenomena that appear contradictory. The DCog approach moves understandings of reading beyond the individualistic, mental processing of text to a consideration of reading as situated, embodied material engagement that draws on multiple timescales. Drawing on the field of cognitive anthropology, the DCog framework situates reading within an ecology of three closely connected dimensions: 1) mind-body-material environment coordination, 2) distribution across a social group, and 3) distribution across time. By integrating cognitive, affective, sensory-motor, and cultural dimensions, this framework provides a robust approach to understanding contemporary reading practices in complex multimedia environments. The resulting conceptualisation of reading accounts for seeming disparities in existing empirical research without the need for ad hoc adjustments as new reading ecologies emerge, for instance with digitisation. It is also sufficiently simple to promote communication of research findings to practitioners in the field.

EN:

This study explores the phenomenon of book insecurity, a condition extending beyond lack of access to books, to the emotional and mental state of students' attitudes toward obtaining and owning books. Grounded in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the study posits that book scarcity intersects with multiple levels of human needs. The study introduces and defines the concept of "book insecurity" as a state where individuals lack access to books and experience anxiety related to book acquisition, retention, or loss. The findings underscore the need for multifaceted interventions to improve book access and foster a culture of reading among low-income students.

EN:

While many scholars note the important role disciplinary literacy can play in advancing social justice, much of the current research focuses on how English experts approach canonical texts of Western origin. This article investigates the meaning-making approaches employed by 11 English disciplinarians when approaching texts of Indigenous origin. These scholars participated in semi-structured interviews and participated in a read-aloud. Findings highlight that, in addition to traditional disciplinary practices such as contextualizing, performing definitional work, and drawing upon background knowledge, approaching Indigenous texts requires specific meaning-making practices grounded in Indigenous frameworks and drawing upon specific Indigenous Literary tools. This study hopes to show how disciplinary meaning-making practices, as applied to Indigenous literature, can allow expanded access to these diverse perspectives.

FR:

Alors que de nombreux chercheurs soulignent le rôle important que la culture disciplinaire peut jouer dans la promotion de la justice sociale, la plupart des recherches actuelles se concentrent sur la manière dont les experts anglais abordent les textes canoniques d'origine occidentale. Cet article étudie les approches de construction de sens employées par 11 spécialistes des disciplines anglaises lorsqu'ils abordent des textes d'origine indigène. Ces universitaires ont participé à des entretiens semi-structurés et à une lecture à haute voix. Les résultats soulignent qu'en plus des pratiques disciplinaires traditionnelles telles que la contextualisation, le travail de définition et l'utilisation des connaissances de base, l'approche des textes indigènes nécessite des pratiques spécifiques de construction de sens fondées sur des cadres indigènes et incluant l'utilisation d'outils littéraires indigènes spécifiques. Cette étude espère montrer comment les pratiques disciplinaires de construction de sens, appliquées à la littérature indigène, peuvent permettre un accès élargi à ces diverses perspectives.

EN:

This mixed methods inquiry seeks research insights into the inter-relationships among handwriting, quality writing outcomes, fluency and various indices of vocabulary use visible in writing samples of 216 Grade 3 students in response to an expository prompt. The findings highlight the connection among these variables most importantly the role of handwriting. Sustained attention on direct teaching of handwriting that will in turn increase fluency and improve retrieval of vocabulary is warranted. Secondly, instructional attention is warranted in developing academic vocabulary especially for linguistically vulnerable young learners.

EN:

This study explores the effects of two two-year literacy intervention programs (phonics and whole word) on L1 German speaking children’s L2 English reading, spelling, and cognitive-linguistic development (N = 49). We assessed reading skills (L2 reading comprehension and fluency), spelling ability (L2 real word and pseudoword accuracy), and cognitive-linguistic skills (working memory, phonological short-term memory, non-verbal intelligence, phonological awareness, L2 receptive grammar, and vocabulary). Based on mixed-effects modeling, phonics instruction led to significantly better L2 real word spelling accuracy and L2 vocabulary knowledge. Phonological short-term memory skills profited from phonics instruction, resulting in significantly higher scores over time.

EN:

Literacy can have a major impact on comprehension of vocabulary rich content specific areas, such as science. Understanding the vocabulary rich science terminology introduced during the Middle School Years can support conceptual understanding of science and by extension students’ future academic pathways. In our action research project, we worked with a grade eight science teacher along with 75 students to design and test two units of work (Cell and Microscope) when taught using an integrated literacy approach founded upon the inclusion of morphological awareness and the Greek and Latin etymology of scientific vocabulary. Though our quantitative results showed there was little to no difference in students’ unit knowledge or vocabulary scores through the use of this adapted teaching model, the qualitative results provided enough strength for the partner teacher to adopt the integrated approach in all of her future teaching of vocabulary. The teacher noted the new method was particularly useful for engagement of habitual non- participators, and those more reluctant to take risks in the classroom. Therefore, while the new instructional method did not show an immediate increase in test scores, qualitative findings provided strong support that it is critical to deconstructing barriers for learners.

EN:

With advancements in technology, more children are engaging with media at younger ages. While elementary teacher candidates recognize the importance of media literacy instruction, and the willingness to learn more to better support their future students, attention to the overall implementation of media literacy education in teacher education programs appears to be limited. This paper shares survey data of elementary teacher candidates’ perceptions of and experiences with media literacy instruction and the kinds of resources they have been introduced to in their program that (re)highlight the need for better programming and support in relation to media literacy education.

EN:

Multilingual students enter classrooms with complex language, literacy, and cultural repertoires. Drawing on these repertoires, they use knowledge, skills, practices, and perspectives that make their language and literacy practices dynamic. This paper, based on a context review of educational policies and practices in the United States, as well as a literature review of transformative pedagogies, asserts the importance for teachers to honor and empower students’ use of dynamic practices to make and share meaning. To this end, and in order to help reframe education for multilinguals, in this paper we provide strategies to help foster students’ multilingualism, multiliteracies, and multiculturalism.