1. Theoretical Perspectives
Historically, focus of literacy instruction:
drill and practice
Prevailing theory:
Learning is a matter of shaping behaviour
Current instructional approaches have changed.

2. Approaches to literacy instruction
Bottom-up
Instruction in literacy should begin with sound/symbol relationships
Top-Down
Instruction in literacy should begin with whole stories and making educated guesses

3. How did we come to know … Different sources of knowledge: Experience
Authority
Deductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning
Scientific approach

4. How did we come to know … Experience: Authority
Based on what a person has done
Authority
Based on an expert in the field

5. How did we come to know … Deductive reasoning
A systematic way of knowing
Established by Greek philosophers
Knowing through use of logical arguments to arrive at a conclusion
Each statement is called a “premise”; the premises result in a conclusion

6. How did we come to know … Deductive reasoning
E.g.
Premise #1: All men are mortal
Premise #2 The King is a man
Conclusion: The King is mortal
Usefulness: provides a means for linking theory and observation
Limitation: You must begin with a true premise

7. How did we come to know … Inductive reasonsing
Francis Bacon first referred to inductive learning
Belief that investigators should establish general conclusions on the basis of facts from direct observation

8. How did we come to know … Inductive reasonsing
draws inferences from observations in order to make generalizations.
Inference can be done in four stages:
Observation: collect facts, without bias.
Analysis: classify the facts, identifying patterns o of regularity.
Inference: From the patterns, infer generalizations about the relations between the facts.
Confirmation: Testing the inference through further observation.

9. Which is which?
Every rabbit that has ever been observed has lungs. Therefore, every rabbit had lungs.
Every mammal has lungs. All rabbits are mammals. All rabbits have lungs

10. How did we come to know … Scientific approach
Came into being because of limitations of other approaches to knowing
Authority – it has always been done like this..
Experience – differ per person
More consistent gathering and analysis of data
Knits together results of obervation that allows researchers to make general statements about variables

11. How did we come to know … We raise issues everyday
E.g. what is if put Jane to sit beside Paul for two weeks? Will she talk less? Will she do more work? Will she distract Paul? Will they cooperate?
Do we systematically collect and record this information?

12. Research methodologies:
… also referred to as research design

13. Causal-comparative research
attempts to establish cause-effect relationships among the variables of the study
in causal-comparative research the independent variable is not under the experimenters control
E.g. What is the effect of gender on math achievement?

14. Experimental research
It is like causal-comparative research in that it tries to establish cause-effect relationship among the groups of subjects that make up the independent variable of the study
in the case of experimental research, the cause (the independent variable) is under the control of the experimenter.
E.g. What is the effect of positive reinforcement on attitude toward school?

15. Correlational research
attempts to determine whether and to what degree, a relationship exists between two or more quantifiable (numerical) variables
Correlation implies prediction but not causation
e.g. Is there a relationship between intelligence and self-esteem?

16. Survey
Attempts to determine specific characteristics of a group. It involves asking the same set of questions to a large number of persons
e.g. What are teachers’ feelings about the new Minister of Education?

17. Historical is involved with the study of past events
Aspects of the past is studied by perusing documents within a particular period or by interviewing persons who lived during that time period
e.g. What decisions led to the replacement of the Common Entrance Exam with GSAT?

18. Ethnographic/case study
This is the study of current events (rather than past events) and involves the collection of narrative data (non-numerical data)
Data are usually collected over a period of time in natural settings
The emphasis is on documenting or portraying the everyday experiences of individuals by observing and interviewing them
E.g. A case study of how a grade one teacher interacts with her students.

19. Action Research Differs from all the previously mentioned types
The results are not generalized to other persons situations or settings;
Purpose usually is to focus on getting information to change a particular situation that the researcher is personally involved in (e.g. a classroom teacher)
Participants are actively involved in this type of research

20. Classifying the types of research
Types of research can be classified as either
Qualitative; or
Quantitative

21. Qualitative approaches
involve narrative data
purpose - gain insights into phenomena of interest
data analysis include the coding of the data and inductive process (verbal explanations)
E.g. Historical, ethnographic

22. Quantitative approaches
involve the collection of numerical data
Numbers used to explain, predict, and/or control phenomena of interest,
data analyses are mainly through deductive processes (statistics)
the researcher reports the numerical results for one or more variables on the subjects of the study

23. Quantitative approaches (cont’d)
Correlational research
Causal-comparative research
Experimental Research

25. Why do we need to conduct research in literacy?
Build knowledge
Find solutions (provide insights)
To inform practice
To improve practice
To help in decision making
Change policies
Review current state of knowledge
Others …..

26. Activity 1
For each research question, specify what methodology you think would be the most appropriate to investigate each:
Is there a relationship between students’ level of social skills and their academic performance?
How do students with physical disabilities view themselves in art and craft?
Does a literature-based curriculum lead to higher student achievement than a phonics curriculum does?
How do magazines that target teenagers present information on safe-sex practices?
What do high school teachers in Clarendon think about an extended month of the academic school year?

27. Activity 2: Home Work In research, what are “variables”?
What are the different types of variables used in research?
What is the research process?