Lindsey Moses

A Rose By Any Other Name Is Still a Rose? Problematizing Pseudonyms in Research

Pseudonyms, an integral part of the social science research, are ubiquitous, thereby garnering minimal published reflection. In practice, researchers may apply pseudonyms with little thought or deep reflection. The purpose of this methodological article is to increase the scholarly discussion to provide transparency in the participant naming process. The authors review the literature, detail their reflexive engagement with pseudonyms, and advance issues of consideration in the areas of power in participant naming and confidentiality. Throughout the article, the authors interrupt the text with apercus or narrative interludes to share personal experiences, pausing the traditional scholarship, thus allowing room for reflexivity.

Microethnographic Discourse Analysis in an Inquiry Classroom.

This article addresses the relationship among theories related to classroom language and literacy events by first examining the researcher’s theoretical perspective on discourse and sociocultural theories of learning development. The analytical heuristic for a microethnographic approach using a variety of theoretical tools is discussed and supported with empirical data. This article provides evidence from the data collection and analysis involving research regarding how students make sense of text in a first-grade, inquiry-based classroom to show how discourse analytical methodologies account for language identity and power as socially situated and co-constructed phenomena.

‘We’re a little loud. That’s because we like to read!’: Developing positive views of reading in a diverse, urban first grade

In this formative experiment, we examined interventions in and modifications to literacy instruction in a first-grade classroom with the aim of cultivating a love of reading among the students. Consistent with the design of formative experiments, the teacher established a pedagogical goal of building a love of reading, and throughout the year reflective modifications were made during the literacy block to encourage this love among the students. The participants were part of a diverse urban first-grade class of 28 students in the Southwest United States. The initial intervention included making a broad array of texts accessible to students and frequently discussing the teacher’s and students’ enjoyment of reading. Modifications throughout the year included establishing literary discussion groups, purchasing accessible text sets including many non-fiction books, author studies based on students’ most frequently checked-out books, book spotlights presented by students and a book exchange party proposed by the students. The findings demonstrate that students did in fact develop a positive view of reading as shown through positive talk about books, establishing favourite authors and genres, resisting the end of reading time, choosing to read over other activities and making reading a part of their social interactions.

Meaning Making With Picturebooks: Young Children’s Use of Semiotic Resources

ABSTRACT As part of a year-long, classroom-based research study examining literacy instruction and development, the research team observed emerging decoders draw from a range of semiotic resources while reading picturebooks. Utilizing a case study approach, the researchers selected eight first graders to act as a representative case, and examined their interactions with multimodal picturebooks. Analysis of students’ interactions led to the development of a typology of semiotic resources that students used to make meaning with picturebooks including typographical features, paralinguistic features, design features, illustrations, and background knowledge. Analysis also revealed that students articulated meaning in three distinct ways: explicitly, inferentially, and performatively. Findings suggests that traditional ways of assessing emerging decoders may not fully represent their meaning making practices.

The Development of Positive Literate Identities among Emerging Bilingual and Monolingual First Graders.

In this study, the researchers examined how first-grade students initially positioned as struggling readers took up literacy practices to reposition themselves as capable competent readers and part of a literate community of practice over an academic year. Using positive discourse analysis and case study methodology, the researchers documented and analyzed the identity work of two students, an English monolingual and a Spanish-English emerging bilingual, who worked to reposition themselves in their classroom community. The participants were part of a diverse, urban, first-grade dialogic inquiry-based classroom in the Southwest. The yearlong study documented students taking up inclusive literacy practices, practices that invited the participation of all students regardless of literacy level or language background, to negotiate positive identities in the literate community. The in-depth qualitative analysis utilized both positive and critical discourse analysis lenses to provide research that not only deconstructs power but also identifies positive ways in which students make room for themselves within academic settings. The use of both lenses led to findings on identity negotiations that provide insight into possibilities for power to be redistributed in positive ways for young children.

Young bilinguals’ voices: reflecting on being experts and becoming literate

ABSTRACT This article provides findings about how the construction of literacy practices mediated the positive identity development of first-grade bilinguals in an inquiry-based setting over an academic year. Utilizing a sociocultural approach and a Positive Discourse Analysis lens, the researcher reports findings from an exemplary primary classroom that facilitated positive identity development among young bilinguals as they simultaneously developed language, literacy, and content knowledge.

Looking Closely at Informational Texts: Considering the Role(s) of Mentor Texts for Kindergarten Children

ABSTRACT To fully consider the potential of informational texts to serve as mentor texts in the elementary classroom, the authors propose an inquiry about the intersections among the author’s intentions, instructional contexts, a teacher’s approaches, and students’ responses to informational texts when contemplating the roles these texts might serve. In this article, the authors investigate how the intentions of the author-illustrator, classroom teacher, and students relate and differ when introducing an informational picture book in the context of an inquiry-based kindergarten classroom. The analysis involves the perspectives of a children’s author-illustrator, a classroom teacher, and kindergarten students as they self-selected an informational picture book to use as a mentor text.