Journal of Education

Includes bibliographical references.

Prologue: Becoming Becoming a Nation of Readers -- From "What is Reading?" to What is Literacy? -- Emerging Reading and the Social Practice Turn in Literacy: Still Becoming a Nation of Readers -- Extended--and Extending--Literacies -- The Teacher and the Classroom -- Epilogue: Looking Back to Look Ahead.

[Article Title : Prologue: Becoming Becoming a Nation of Readers / Ian A. G. Wilkinson, Judith A. Scott, Santa Cruz, Elfrieda H. Hiebert, Richard C. Anderson, p. 1-5] Abstract : In this foreword to the special issue of the Journal of Education celebrating the 30th anniversary of the publication of Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading (BNR) (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985), we share the backstory of the making of BNR. We view our role as that of commentators, narrators, and storytellers. As members of the Staff of the Commission on Reading (Elfrieda H. Hiebert, Judith A. Scott, and Ian A. G. Wilkinson) and as the Chairman of the Commission (Richard C. Anderson) our task, as we see it, is to tell the untold story of how BNR came into being and to reflect on what we were able to achieve given the circumstances of the time, what we wish we could have achieved, what issues went under the table, and what lessons can be learned from the endeavor.;[Article Title : From "What is Reading?" to What is Literacy? / Katherine K. Frankel, Bryce L. C. Becker, Marjorie W. Rowe, and P. David Pearson, p. 7-18] Abstract : In their 1985 report, Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading, Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, and Wilkinson defined reading and proposed five principles that guide its successful enactment: (1) reading is a constructive process, (2) reading must be fluent, (3) reading must be strategic, (4) reading requires motivation, and (5) reading is a continuously developing skill. In this article we revise the definition from reading to literacy and rethink the principles in response to theoretical and empirical developments in the intervening years with regard to the processes of, and contexts for, reading. Our updated principles include: (1) literacy is a constructive, integrative, and critical process situated in social practices; (2) fluent reading is shaped by language processes and contexts; (3) literacy is strategic and disciplinary; (4) literacy entails motivation and engagement; and (5) literacy is a continuously developing set of practices. We redefine each principle and offer new explanations in light of what we now know.;[Article Title : Emerging Reading and the Social Practice Turn in Literacy: Still Becoming a Nation of Readers / James V. Hoffman, RamÓN A. Martinez, and Katie Danielson, p. 19-26] Abstract : In this article, we focus on the past, the present, and the future. We consider the ways in which Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading (BNR) (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985) fulfilled the authors' aspirations to introduce into schools everywhere "the practices seen in the classrooms of the best teachers in the best schools" (p. 3). We focus on the emerging literacy chapter and conclude that the authors offered significant insights for the field at a critical time in reading research and in a way that anticipated the future. We also examine some changes in literacy theory and practice since the report was published, including fundamental shifts in the ways many researchers have come to explore literacy as an emerging social practice both at the individual and societal levels. We consider the literacy as a social practice turn, first in relation to literacy theory, and then in two areas critically related to literacy practices in schools today: teaching bi/multilingual children and teacher preparation in literacy. We conclude with a cautionary note regarding reports like BNR and their potential to shape policy, research, and practice.;[Article Title : Extended--and Extending--Literacies / Elizabeth Birr Moje and Tisha Lewis Ellison, p. 27-34] Abstract : We examine the impact of Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading (BNR) (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985) with the idea of extending literacy learning beyond the early grades, describing present-day conceptions of secondary-school literacy learning, and calling to further extend the concept of extended literacy. In particular, we consider the ways that sociocultural theories of reading and 'new literacies' extend the field's thinking about literacy beyond the classroom/school to include 'everyday' literacy settings. Finally, we examine how the concept of extended literacy can be understood as extending conceptions of what it means to read, particularly in an age of digital tools and easy access to information.;[Article Title : The Teacher and the Classroom / Nell K. Duke, Gina N. Cervetti, and Crystal N. Wise, p. 35-44] Abstract : In Becoming a Nation of Readers (BNR) (1985), Richard C. Anderson, Elfrieda H. Hiebert, Judith A. Scott, and Ian A. G. Wilkinson argued that the quality of teaching is a powerful influence on children's reading development-more powerful than the influence of the general teaching approach or materials used. In this article, we focus on one research tradition in the area of literacy teaching quality: case studies of teachers who are identified as effective or exemplary as literacy educators. Review of these studies reveals a wide range of well-coordinated practices used by effective literacy educators, echoing, expanding, and deepening points made in BNR.;[Article Title : Epilogue: Looking Back to Look Ahead / Donna E. Alvermann, Latasha Hutcherson Price, and A. J. Jackson, p. 45] Abstract : By definition, an epilogue is a concluding segment of a literary work that often describes the futures of its main characters. It can also be a short speech at the end of a play or musical interlude that addresses the audience directly. Leaning in the direction of the latter, we propose as writers of this epilogue to engage in a bit of poetic license while not deviating from the seriousness of the subject at hand. Our intention is to use multiple modes-as much as possible within a traditional print text-to achieve what we perceive is the purpose of the Journal of Education's themed issue on "Becoming a Nation of Readers: Retrospectives and Visions." Namely, we offer a retrospective and visionary examination of literacy instruction from a multimodal perspective that includes visual imagery, icons, and memes to make connections between what the authors of other pieces in this issue have argued and how we envision their points playing out in the future.