Harvey Graff's pioneering study presents a new and original interpretation of the place of literacy in nineteenth-century society and culture. Based upon an intensive comparative historical analysis, employing both qualitative and quantitative techniques, and on a wide range of sources, The Literacy Myth reevaluates the role typically assigned to literacy in historical scholarship, cultural understanding, economic development schemes, and social doctrines and ideologies.

In his latest writings on the history of literacy and its importance for present understanding and future rethinking, historian Harvey J. Graff continues his critical revisions of many common ideas about literacy among scholars and others. The eight wide-ranging and diverse essays speak to each other's central concerns about the place of literacy in modern and late-modern culture and society, and its complicated historical foundations. The introduction for Literacy Myths, Legacies, & Lessons sets the stage for connections between the principal concerns of this book. Drawing on other aspects of his research, Graff places the chapters that follow in the context of current thinking and major concerns about literacy, and the development of both historical and interdisciplinary studies. Special emphasis falls upon the usefulness of "the literacy myth" as an important concept and subject for interdisciplinary study and understanding. Critical stock-taking of the field includes reflections on Graff's own research and writing of the last three decades and the relationships that connect interdisciplinary rethinking and the literacy myth. The collection is noteworthy for its attention to Graff's reflections on his identification of "the literacy myth" and in developing the LiteracyStudies@OSU initiative as a model for university-wide interdisciplinary programs. The essays also deal with ordinary fears about literacy, or illiteracy, that are shared by academics and concerned citizens. The nontechnical essays will speak to both academic and nonacademic audiences across disciplines and cultural orientations. --Book Jacket.

Shamos argues that a meaningful scientific literacy cannot be achieved in the first place, and the attempt is a misuse of human resources on a grand scale. He is skeptical about forecasts of "critical shortfalls in scientific manpower" and about the motives behind crash programs to get more young people into the science pipeline.

" --History of Education Quarterly"A stimulating challenge to traditional assumptions and scholarly commonplaces." --Journal of Communication

Harvey Graff's pioneering study presents a new and original interpretation of the place of literacy in nineteenth-century society and culture. Based upon an intensive comparative historical analysis, employing both qualitative and quantitative techniques, and on a wide range of sources, The Literacy Myth reevaluates the role typically assigned to literacy in historical scholarship, cultural understanding, economic development schemes, and social doctrines and ideologies.

In this important contribution to the scholarly study of myth, philosopher William Marderness articulates a comprehensive theory of myth that accounts for the diverse interpretations of Eliade, Barthes, and others.

The written word has taught a way of being. Since the written version of language is visible and permanent, many of our attitudes to and normative assumptions about language - and human communication in general - derive from our experiences of written language. In recent years, scholars from such disciplines as history, anthropology, education and linguistics have joined forces to readdress issues surrounding the problems of the relationship between oral and written language. The lessons to be learnt are fascinating and imply that many of the assumptions we hold concerning language and the human condition are neither "natural" nor universal; rather, they build on highly specific norms and attitudes introduced through a certain literate tradition. Furthermore, these norms have come to dominate many modern social institutions such as schools, the legal system and bureaucracies of various kinds that influence and determine our lives. The present volume analyzes in detail the impact of written language on a broad range of issues that relate to human development in both an ontogenetic and a phylogenetic perspective, together with the relationship of written language to oral and literate practices. The articles cover empirical studies as well as theoretical analyses of literate practices in diverse settings.

A unique collection of original essays by 21 of the world's leading linguists. The topics discussed focus on some of the most popular myths about language: The Media Are Ruining English; Children Can't Speak or Write Properly Anymore; America is Ruining the English Language. The tone is lively and entertaining throughout and there are cartoons from Doonesbury andThe Wizard of Id to illustrate some of the points. The book should have a wide readership not only amongst students who want to read leading linguists writing about popular misconceptions but also amongst the large number of people who enjoy reading about language in general.

In this much anticipated follow-up to their groundbreaking book, Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom, authors Jan Burkins and Kari Yates, together with co-author Katie Cunningham, extend the conversation in Shifting the Balance 3-5: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom. This new text is built in mind specifically for grades 3-5 teachers around best practices for the intermediate classroom. Shifting the Balance 3-5 introduces six more shifts across individual chapters that: Zoom in on a common (but not-as helpful-as-we-had-hoped) practice to reconsider Untangle a number of "misunderstandings" that have likely contributed to the use of the common practice Propose a more science-aligned shift to the current practice Provide solid scientific research to support the revised practice Offer a collection of high-leverage, easy-to-implement instructional routines to support the shift to more brain-friendly instruction The authors offer a refreshing approach that is respectful, accessible, and practical - grounded in an earnest commitment to building a bridge between research and classroom practice. As with the first Shifting the Balance, they aim to keep students at the forefront of reading instruction.