Literacy Research, Theory, and Practice

Catalog description

This graduate seminar is a capstone course in the Reading, Writing, and Literacy master's program, designed to help students develop understandings about key theoretical underpinnings of literacy research. As a foundational course, the seminar will explore how literacy has been conceptualized over time and across disciplines, examining how literacy has functioned as a touchstone issue in policy and practice as people debate what 'counts' as literacy. While we explore these debates, we focus particularly on contemporary literacy theories that understand literacy to be multiple, ideological, and socially situated - practices grounded in specific contexts that are fundamentally linked to broader social, cultural, and political power structures. Inquiry sits at the heart of the course, with students developing an online learning portfolio centered around their individual research, course readings, and prior experiences. Students will reflect on their RWL program of study, write about conceptual territories at the heart of the program, and curate materials from the semester and their program of study to demonstrate their learning and development over time. Students will work with coaches as well as engage in a workshop learning environment, culminating in an online learning portfolio and presentation to RWL faculty.