Text, Role and Context

This volume explores fundamental issues relating to student literacies and instructor roles and practices within academic contexts. After presenting a brief history of literacy theories, the author argues for "socioliterate" approaches to teaching and learning in which texts are viewed as primarily socially-constructed. Central to socioliteracy are two concepts, "genre" and "discourse community," each of which is presented in some detail. The author then argues for roles for literacy practitioners in which they and their students conduct research and are involved in joint pedagogical endeavors with faculty and students. The final chapters are devoted to outlining how the views presented can be applied to a variety of classroom texts. Core curricular design principles are outlined, and three types of portfolio-based academic literacy classrooms are described.