The study of literacy no longer focuses solely on psychological processes. In the past, literacy has been reconceptualized as a social practice, or rather as social practices which make up daily life. Private Practices examines the broad fictional reading of middle class pre-teen girls in ethnographic detail, and describes the place of literacy, both at home and at school, in the construction of gender.

This book reviews what the authors term "advocacy research" in literacy education-- research that explicitly addresses issues of social justice, equity, and democracy with the distinct purpose of social transformation. It surveys what educationa

This book reviews what the authors term advocacy research in literacy education-research that explicitly addresses issues of social justice, equity, and democracy with the distinct purpose of social transformation. It surveys what educational researchers who are working for social justice have accomplished, describes current challenges, and outlines future possibilities.

The first section maps the terrain of advocacy research in literacy education. The authors group this large and expanding body of research into four categories: Critical Literacy(ies); Radical Counternarratives in...