Sociocultural Approaches to Language and Literacy: An Interactionist Perspective

One of the most crucial areas of education--the acquisition of literacy--is examined here with an effective combination of theory and practice. The sociocultural perspective is illustrated through descriptions of learning by populations usually neglected in treatments of literacy--American Sign Language users, second-language speakers, and minority students. The book covers a broad range of ages, ethnic backgrounds, locations, and literacy concerns from preschool to law school. Although the populations and literacy issues are diverse, the book's unity is provided by a broadly shared theoretical framework.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction to the Volume; Part I. Context: 2. Introduction to the Section; 3. An interactionist approach to the analysis of similarities and differences between spoken and written language Larry Smith; 4. Repair in spontaneous speech: A window on second language development Hanery Shonerd; 5. Struggling for a voice: An interactionist view of language and literacy in Deaf Education Sherman Wilcox; Part II. Mediation: 6. Introduction to the Section; 7. Nonverbal factors in the interpsychic to intrpsychic internalisation of objects David McNeill Karl-Erik McCullough and Martha Tyrone: 8. An ecological approach to the emergence of the lexicon: Socializing attention Patricia Goldring Zukow and Kelly R. Duncan: 9. Learning how to explain: the effects of mother's language on the child Maria Silvia Barbieri and Liliana Landolfi; 10. Developing the representational functions of language: the role of parent-child book reading activity Carolyn P. Panofsky; 11. The implications of Vygotskian theory for the development of home-school programs: A focus on storybook reading Patricia A. Edwards and Georgia Earnest Garcia; 12. Vygotsky in the classroom: An interactionist literacy framework in mathematics Pat Cordeiro; Part III. Functunal Systems: 13. Introduction to the Section; 14. Adults learning literacy: The role of private speech in reading comprehension Juan D. Ramirez; 15. From 'Paj Ntaub' to paragraphs: Perspectives on Hmong processes of composing Francine Filipek Colignon; 16. Toward a definition of law school readiness Michelle Minnis.

Review :
"This is an interdisciplinary book that...effectively illustrates the impact of the sociocultural perspective proposed by Vygotsky by describing its applicability to the language learning process of a wide range of groups...The major contribution of this book is...the demonstration of the versatility and generalizability of the Vygotskian theory. The maxim that there is nothing better than a good theory is clearly proven in this book." Chieh Li and Ena Vasquez Nuttall, Contemporary Psychology