| This thesis investigates educators' conceptions of literacy, what beliefs and conceptual frameworks support them, how literacy seems to be defined in educators' sites of practice, and how conceptions of literacy inform teaching. Main findings show that `literacy' is a sliding signifier: a sign that bears no connection to the thing it ostensibly represents; dominant literacy pedagogies in teachers' sites of practice are the strongest determinants of how teachers conceptualize and teach literacy, influencing or superseding personal definitions when differences exist; and elementary and secondary teachers described different notions of both the ontology and function of literacy. Specific professional development is needed to allow educators to deal with policies that aim to standardize and decontextualize the teaching and assessment of literacy, and that posit literacy as a series of discrete skills, as opposed to a series of context-specific social practices. |
