Table Of Content2
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Dimensions of Literacy
“Kucer’s Dimensions of Literacy offers a balanced overview of key issues in the psycholinguistics of literacy for
current and prospective teachers. The practical examples and engaging exercises help readers grasp the
essential concepts presented.”
Alice Horning, Oakland University, USA
“A comprehensive view of literacy that supports advanced-level teacher thinking and practice, this text shows
how literacy development and practices emerge from complex sources that can best be addressed through
educational strategies that engage with literacy’s multiple dimensions.”
Thomas C. Crochunis, Shippensburg University, USA
This popular text, now in its fourth edition, “unpacks” the various dimensions of literacy—linguistic and other
sign systems (the nature of language and sign systems, oral–written language relationships, language
variation); cognitive (constructive nature of perception, the reading process, understanding written discourse,
the writing process); sociocultural (literacy as social practices, authority of written discourse); and
developmental (constructing and mediating the written language system)—and at the same time accounts for
the interrelationships among them. Distinguished by its examination of literacy from a multidimensional and
interdisciplinary perspective, it provides a strong conceptual foundation upon which literacy curriculum and
instruction in school settings can be grounded.
Linking theory and research to practice in an understandable, user-friendly manner, the text provides in-depth
coverage of the dimensions of literacy, includes demonstrations and “hands-on” activities, examines authentic
reading and writing events that reflect key concepts, and summarizes the concepts in tables and figures.
Changes in the Fourth Edition:
Addresses academic language, new literacies/multiliteracies, and their relationship to literacy learning
More fully develops the developmental dimension of literacy in separate chapters on adult mediation
and learner construction
Expands the discussion of multimodal literacies
Extends and integrates the discussion of bilingualism and biliteracy throughout the text
Integrates instructional implications more fully throughout
Stephen B. Kucer is Professor of Language and Literacy Education in the Department of Teaching and
Learning in the College of Education at Washington State University, Vancouver, USA.
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Dimensions of Literacy
A Conceptual Base for Teaching Reading and Writing in School Settings
Fourth Edition
STEPHEN B. KUCER
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Fourth edition published 2014
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
The right of Stephen B. Kucer to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 2001
Third edition published by Routledge 2009
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Kucer, Stephen B., 1950–
Dimensions of literacy: a conceptual base for teaching reading and writing in school settings /by Stephen B. Kucer.—Fourth edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Language arts. 2. Reading. 3. English language—Composition and exercises—Study and teaching. 4. Literacy—Social aspects. I. Title.
LB1576.K83 2014
372.6—dc23
2013028989
ISBN: 978-0-415-82645-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-82646-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 9780-203-42840-5 (ebk)
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Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
PART 1—Introduction
CHAPTER 1—A Multidimensional View of Reading and Writing
PART 2—The Linguistic and Other Sign Systems Dimension of Literacy
CHAPTER 2—The Nature of Language and Other Sign Systems
CHAPTER 3—Oral and Written Language Relationships
CHAPTER 4—Language Variation
PART 3—The Cognitive Dimension of Literacy
CHAPTER 5—The Constructive Nature of Perception
CHAPTER 6—The Reading Process
CHAPTER 7—Understanding Written Discourse
CHAPTER 8—The Writing Process
PART 4—The Sociocultural Dimension of Literacy
CHAPTER 9—Understanding Literacy as Social Practices
CHAPTER 10—The Authority of Written Discourse
PART 5—The Developmental Dimension of Literacy
CHAPTER 11—Constructing the Written Language System
CHAPTER 12—Mediating the Written Language System
References
Author Index
Subject Index
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Preface
Since my days as a doctoral student, the field of literacy and literacy education has expanded significantly. In
fact, until somewhat recently, referring to literacy as a field or a discipline was not commonplace. Today,
however, literacy studies—under a variety of names—can be found at most major universities across the USA.
Accompanying this ongoing expansion of the domain of literacy—as well as promoting it—has been an
evolution of our understanding of literacy itself. I entered graduate school when cognition was all the rage,
having recently supplanted or at least overshadowed the linguistic revolution for those of us with an interest in
text processing. Since my leaving graduate school as a student and returning as a faculty member, literacy has
continued to evolve from a language process to an act of cognition, and currently, to a sociocultural expression.
What has been lacking in this evolutionary process, however, is a synthesis and theory of what we know—or
at least what we think we know—literacy to be. Too often, each new view of literacy has replaced rather than
extended and reformulated prior views. Conceptualizing literacy in a more harmonic and holistic manner,
therefore, is a primary goal of this book.
Paradoxically, although this book highlights theory and research more than practice, teachers and teacher
educators are its primary audience. Never in my lifetime have educational institutions, and teachers in
particular, come under such scrutiny by the public. In many respects, the standards movement, high-stakes
testing, and leaving no children behind are holding classrooms hostage, determining what is taught, when it is
taught, and how it is taught. If teachers of literacy are to have a voice in these policies, it is critical that they
have an understanding of what literacy entails. Although some politicians may understand literacy in reduced
ways, teachers have an intuitive sense of the complexities of the literacy processes because they work with
students who are reading and writing on a daily basis. This book attempts to make this teacher knowledge
explicit as well as to more fully develop it.
The book is organized around four interrelated themes: linguistic and other sign systems, cognitive,
sociocultural, and developmental. Each theme represents an aspect or dimension of literacy that is utilized as
readers and writers construct meaning through written language. These dimensions of literacy, however,
operate in a transactive and symbiotic manner—each impacts and is impacted by all the others. The challenge
in writing this book, therefore, has been to fully explain each dimension in a comprehensible manner, yet also
to demonstrate the interrelations among them. I have tried to meet this challenge by progressively drawing on
information discussed in previous dimensions as later dimensions are introduced and addressed. Throughout
the book are discussions about what all of this theory and research means for the classroom, for the teacher,
and most of all, for the students.
Changes in the Fourth Edition
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