Before Writing
Rethinking the Paths to Literacy
Published on 19. August 2005
208 pages
978-1-134-77403-6 (ISBN)
Description
Gunther Kress argues for a radical reappraisal of the phenomenon of literacy, and hence for a profound shift in educational practice. Through close attention to the variety of objects which children constantly produce (drawings, cuttings-out, 'writings' and collages), Kress suggests a set of principles which reveal the underlying coherence of children's actions; actions which allow us to connect them with attempts to make meaning before they acquire language and writing.
This book provides fundamental challenges to commonly held assumptions about both language and literacy, thought and action. It places these challenges within the context of speculation about the abilities and dispositions essential for children as young adults, and calls for the radical decentring of language in educational theory and practice.
This book provides fundamental challenges to commonly held assumptions about both language and literacy, thought and action. It places these challenges within the context of speculation about the abilities and dispositions essential for children as young adults, and calls for the radical decentring of language in educational theory and practice.
Reviews / Votes
'A call for a fundamental change in education. Provocatively, he defines school as a place where teachers insist the world can only be known through the abstractions of written language. His book shows the fascinating ways in which children express and exchange meaning on their progress to literacy.' - New Scientist'Before Writing has radical implications both for linguistic theory and for educational practice. It calls into question the accepted focus on written language as a privileged system of representation.' - Journal of Sociolinguistics
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
File size
5,73 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-134-77403-6 (9781134774036)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
12/1996
1st Edition
Routledge
€246.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Book
12/1996
1st Edition
Routledge
€98.00
Shipment within 15-20 days
Content
List of colour plates, List of figures, Preface, 1 Literacy, identity and futures, 2 'My Gawd, I made it like Australia':making meaning in many media, 3 Making sense of the world:'The seagulls are reading the newspaper', 4 Drawing letters and writing dinosaurs:children's early engagement with print, 5 'You made it like a crocodile':a theory of children's meaning-making, 7 Teaching literacy, learning literacy, 8 Futures, Sources and contexts, Bibliography, Index
