The Literacy Policy Project examines the trends in UK government policy interventions into literacy curriculum and pedagogies in schools in England. We undertake a policy scholarship methodology to read policy texts through a conceptual framework that frames policy interventions with functional, realist or socially critical purposes. We identify…

In this paper, I will consider the lessons that can be learnt about literacy policy and its role in large-scale education reform programmes, with particular reference to policy-making in England since the election of New Labour in 1997. New Labour's promise to the electorate in 1997 was that state-funded education could be fixed and turned into a…

A National Strategy for Adult Basic Skills has been proposed to deal with the English situation in which about one adult in five is not functionally literate and far more people have problems with numeracy. The National Strategy has these 10 main elements: national targets; an entitlement to learn; guidance, assessment, and publicity; better…

This book can be used as a comprehensive introduction for instructors, researchers, and students, and as an interactive text for students. In designing the text the authors have been particularly attentive to the needs in teacher education, especially in the preparation of bilingual teachers. Thus, each of the readings is followed by questions and…

Readings on language and literacy within their social context include: "The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages" (Bronislaw Malinowski); "Toward Ethnographies of Communication" (Dell Hymes); "Language as Social Semiotic" (M. A. K. Halliday); "Language and Ideology" (V. N. Volosinov); "Family…

England's Learning and Skills Development Agency welcomes the introduction of a coherent national funding and delivery strategy for adult literacy, numeracy, and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). The agency believes that the strategy should incorporate the lessons of previous literacy and numeracy initiatives and build on examples of…