Thomas P. Crumpler

The role of educational drama in the composing processes of young writers

How do young children learn to write? What types of instruction best facilitate the composing processes of young learners and what role could educational drama play in these processes? Fortunately, researchers in literacy learning have provided substantial insights into children’s writing development in the last 25 years. For example, Dyson’s work from a socio-cultural perspective has presented compelling arguments for the role that popular culture plays in how children construct meaning as they learn to write in school settings (Dyson, 1993, 2003). Her ethnographic research presents detailed accounts of how young children draw upon cartoon characters, television, popular music, and other media as they construct written texts. Other researchers have argued persuasively from a socio-cognitive framework for the importance of understanding domains of knowledge as critical for young children’s composing processes (Pontecorvo & Orsolini, 1996; Tolchinsky, 2003). These researchers have investigated the interaction between writing as a system of representation and educational environments of children. The interactions of oral and written language have been explored in the research of Sulzby (1986, 1996) as she attempted to chart the paths that young writers follow as they move towards conventional literacy. Another line of research has considered the composing of texts from a phenomenological perspective (Himley, 1991). Drawing on Bakhtin’s philosophy of language in her study of children’s composing processes, Himley adopts the geographical metaphor of ‘shared territory’ to argue for children’s texts as ‘semiotic spaces’ where young writers negotiate meaning. This negotiation is dramatic in nature as a person’s autobiographical experience is expressed ‘within, through, and against culture’ (Himley, 1991, p. 5). Clearly, current theorists and researchers into literacy learning have developed an understanding of the development of young children’s composing processes as complex, involving personal, linguistic, and social meaning systems. Yet, what pedagogical approaches can best help children explore and connect these systems as they learn to write remains a topic of discussion. The research of Neelands et al. (1993) suggested that drama in the context of writing with older students facilitates positive attitudes toward writing. Other preliminary investigations by

Assessment of Foreign Language Teachers: A Model for Shifting Evaluation Toward Growth and Learning

Although there is no consensus on how to assess teacher quality, scholars do agree that the improvement of teaching is the most important step that we can take toward improving the quality of education of our students and the one that directly affects learning outcomes (Perlman & McCann, 1998). Teacher assessment has become a cornerstone issue insofar as teaching improvement is concerned; yet, there is no consensus as to what constitutes an effective assessment method (Brent & Felder, 1997; Wood & Harding, 2007). This problem particularly affects foreign language teachers. In this conceptual article, we explore and argue for a model that situates peer evaluation at the center of teacher assessment. Further, we argue that foreign language teacher assessment: 1) should include multiple types of assessments, ranging from administrative evaluations to peer observations and feedback; and 2) should primarily serve as a platform for improvement of the quality of teaching and for the teacher’s growth and professional development. We conclude by identifying directions for future research examining the potential of this proposed model.

“Do you want an idea of what they’re doing?” Transgressive data generation and analysis within a bilingual writers workshop

We consider how research participants engage alongside researchers as choreographers of data generation and highlight the everyday practices of researchers and participants in motion within and across time and space. Data for this case analysis were generated during a two-year qualitative study investigating multimodal literacies, multilingualism, and literacy teacher development. We utilized microethnographic discourse analysis to analyze a video excerpt from a classroom observation during writers workshop in a fourth-grade bilingual classroom. We sought to understand how the teacher’s and students’ discursive moves during the event tactically disrupted the researchers’ agenda in the moment and complicated attempts at data analysis. Our analyses illustrate how the teacher multiply situated herself in ways that trouble dichotomous framings of teachers’ work, such as traditional or nontraditional, as well as dominant conceptualizations of qualitative research, such as data “collection.” We end with implications for interpreting and representing research findings.