Volume 7, Number 2 (September 2008): Focus: Recognising diversity and difference: Challenges for English/literacy

Co-editors: Korina Jocson (College of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amerst) and Jean Conteh (School of Education, University of Leeds)

Rationale:

Today's literacy classrooms are more demanding than ever.  Teaching in the 21st Century not only requires a host of innovative approaches to address linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity, but must also prepare students for a globalised world shaped by rapidly changing media technologies.  What does it take to be effective in English Language Arts/literacy or related fields?  For some educators, it is not enough to focus on conventional communicative skills.  It is not enough for students in their classrooms to read and interpret literature, or compose using various writing genres.  It is not enough to understand and apply rhetorical devices in speech and in writing.  It is also not enough to be able to differentiate between literary periods without inquiry into knowledge production and metanarratives. More than this is required.

• the meaning(s) and representation(s) of diversity in the classroom  
• the nature and role(s) of difference in multicultural classrooms
• the relationship(s), tension(s) or conflict(s) between students and teachers
• the challenges of addressing literacy demands and taking into account students' sociocultural backgrounds
• the possibilities and limitations of innovating the English Language Arts/literacy curriculum  
• the importance of multiliteracies and multimodalities
• the different types (or lack) of access to resources and tools  
• the interplay between existing and emerging literacies as it relates to literacy development
• the ways in which students and/or teachers craft identities locally and globally
• the complexities of students' literacy practices in and out of school and what educators can learn from them.

The Editorial Board expresses its gratitude to the the guest editors of this issue and also to the following (some are members of the Review Board) who have helped with the review process: Jamal Cooks (San Francisco State University), Gail Cawkwell (University of Waikato), Pamela Hodson (Kingston University), Valerie Kinloch (Ohio State University), Terry Locke (University of Waikato), Leena Helavaara Robertson (University of Middlesex.

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