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Literary Practices As Social Acts

Power, Status, and Cultural Norms in the Classroom

• By Cynthia Lewis

• Price: $36.50
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Pages: 232
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 1st July 2001
• ISBN: 978-0-8058-3678-3

About the Book

This book examines the social codes and practices that shape the literary culture of a combined fifth/sixth-grade classroom. It considers how the social and cultural contexts of classroom and community affect four classroom practices involving literature--read aloud, peer-led literature discussions, teacher-led literature discussions, and independent reading--with a focus on how these practices are shaped by discourse and rituals within the classroom and by social codes and cultural norms beyond the classroom. This book's emphasis on intermediate students is particularly important, given the dearth of studies in the field of reading education that focus on readers at the edge of adolescence.

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface. Foreword. Part I: Contexts. The Social Politics and Performance of Literature. A Social Geography of the Classroom and Surrounding Community. Part II: Literary Practices. Enacting Classroom Culture Through the Ritual of Read-Aloud: What Do We Have in Common? Negotiating Classroom Culture in Peer-Led Literature Discussions: What Are Our Social Roles? Probing Cultural Norms in Teacher-Led Discussions: Why Do We Believe What We Believe? Appropriating Cultural Norms Through Independent Reading: What Will We Accept, Reject, or Reinvent. Part III: Reflections and Implications for Pedagogy. Literary Practices as Social Acts. Appendix: Methodology.