Lefstein, Adam;
(2008)
Changing Classroom Practice through the English National Literacy Strategy: A Micro-Interactional Perspective.
American Educational Research Journal
, 45
(3)
pp. 701-737.
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Abstract
How and why is national policy translated into interactions between teachers and pupils? This article examines the enactment of the English National Literacy Strategy (NLS) in a case study of two consecutive Year 6 literacy lessons, which are drawn from a year long ethnographic study of the NLS in one school. Although the teacher taught directly from and adhered closely to the prescribed materials, curricular contents were recontextualised into the interactional genres habitual in that classroom, and the open questions that constituted the primary aim of the lesson were suppressed. In explaining these patterns of enactment, I supplement analysis of teacher knowledge and policy support with consideration of conditions of teacher engagement with the curricular materials and the durability of interactional genres, rooted in pupil collusion and habitus.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Changing Classroom Practice through the English National Literacy Strategy: A Micro-Interactional Perspective |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article employs a case study of National Literacy Strategy enactment to explore the limitations of theoretical explanations of the difficulties of changing classroom practice. By bringing a micro-interactional perspective to bear on policy problems that are typically understood through cognitivist frames, the article demonstrates the durability of habitual interactional genres and the shortcomings of current professional development strategies in confronting them. Audio-recorded lessons were transcribed and analysed through both quantitative discourse analysis (contrasting interactional patterns to a national sample) and linguistic ethnographic micro-analysis (to follow the trajectory of the prescribed curriculum’s enactment). The article was published in the flagship journal of the American Educational Research Association, which has an acceptance rate of under 10% (according to 2007 figures). Currently, Lingua Escrita is seeking permission to translate and republish the article in Portugese. Copyright © 2008 by American Educational Research Association |
| Keywords: | English |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10001309 |
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