Sociocultural Approaches to Language and Literacy: An Interactionist Perspective

Description

One of the most crucial areas of education--the acquisition of literacy--is examined here with an effective combination of theory and practice. The sociocultural perspective is illustrated through descriptions of learning by populations usually neglected in treatments of literacy--American Sign Language users, second-language speakers, and minority students. The book covers a broad range of ages, ethnic backgrounds, locations, and literacy concerns from preschool to law school. Although the populations and literacy issues are diverse, the book's unity is provided by a broadly shared theoretical framework.

"This is an interdisciplinary book that...effectively illustrates the impact of the sociocultural perspective proposed by Vygotsky by describing its applicability to the language learning process of a wide range of groups...The major contribution of this book is...the demonstration of the versatility and generalizability of the Vygotskian theory. The maxim that there is nothing better than a good theory is clearly proven in this book." Chieh Li and Ena Vasquez Nuttall, Contemporary Psychology