[NLA] Evidence-Based Practice in Adult Literacy Education

Tue Apr 9 12:26:50 EDT 2002

Colleagues, George and Andrea:

Besides references in ERIC documents, there is a text
written by Emerald Dechant:  "Understanding and Teaching
Reading, An Interactive Model," (1991) Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Publishers, Hillsdale, NJ.  Much of this text
is about reading comprehension and its development,
but then she moves into various strategies and deals
with some physically based reading problems.  Her
bibliography reads like a who's who of reading theory over
the years.

Also, "Content Area Reading:  Literacy and Learning
Across the Curriculum" (1999) T. and J. Vacca, Longman;
ISBN 0-321-00363-2.  

Also there is the www.Rethinkingschools.org  webpage 
which will has many articles in their easily available
archives and many references to many different school
situations and problems that are relevant to adult education.

Again, don't forget ERIC.  But I agree with George and 
suggest that the people who are calling for scientific research 
are not being very scientific (open, searching, collaborative,
democratic) about their call.   

I also suggest that the two newer research paradigms that 
have been emerging over the past 40 years are evidence of 
a recovery  process in science where all of the human 
sciences (including education) have been under the 
methodological foot of those who would rightly embrace
scientific method, but who would wrongly regard conscious 
human data in the same way as we regard non-conscious 
data and thereby have tried for years to use science to 
slavishly disregard of the difference in the data.  

An appropriate regard for the data, in this case human, 
calls for transpositions of scientific method to account for 
conscious orders--human beings studying human beings. 
The two new research paradigms speak to the recovery
of this central insight--a difference in the data requiring
transpositions in the uses of scientific method.

I also suggest that most of our policy makers have been
educated under the old-method-as-the-only-method, and so
we end up with natural-science wannabees where, if we
uncovered their own "results model," it would be similar
to the factory model as the "perfection" of human beings--
human beings as perfect system similar to classical 
science models that respond to mere numeration when
approached with statistical questions.  

The new paradigms of research are a recovery of what Peter
Kondrat speaks so eloquently about in his note here a couple
of days ago--teaching and learning on the developmental-
creative model with openness and student-teacher 
engagement as its centerpiece.  They are a recovery because
they allow for giving an account of human consciousness,
history, and interests and are based on a model of 
development rather than classical and/or statistical science, 
though they include a regard for both.

Regards,

Catherine King

----- Original Message ----- 
From: George E. Demetrion <sophocles5 at juno.com>
To: <nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 10:10 AM
Subject: [NLA] Donna Mercers

> Catherine had mentioned Donna M. Merten's book, "Research Methods in
> Education and Psychology:  Integrating Diversity with Quantitative and
> Qualitative Approaches" (1998), Sage Publications:  Thousand Oaks.
> 
> In light of the USDoE and OREI emphasis on "right"  methodology, Merten's
> book might serve as a primer for the field and provide a counterbalance
> to the current federal government's research focus.  The table of
> contents is instructive in laying out the range of research methodologies
> that characterize educational research, each of which contain their own
> paradigmatic assumptions and sources of what is viewed as legitimate
> evidence.  A critical dialogue among the various research traditions
> linkeds to broader issues to which they are desined and equipped to
> address is a singular matter of no small importance these days. One would
> hope for a profound and balanced eclecticism where methodology is placed
> in its proper role in helpiing to shed light on the *content* of
> scholarship.
> 
> A critical discussion of methodology is important particularly when
> certain methodologies are privileged over others.  There may be valid
> reasons for such privileging (or not), but the broader matter still
> remains what are the critical questions and issues that govern and should
> govern  the still emerging field of adult literacy scholarship whgerein
> methodology is viewed as a tool in gaining greater clarity..
> 
> A final point, though stated previously, bears repeating:  it would be a
> great neglect to ignore the past 30 years of adult literacy scholarship.
> Rather, for the continuity of research that is touted in the USDoE
> strategic plan, it would do well to study this work to gain better
> understanding of the issues facing the present and foreseeable future. 
> Also, for the broader field of educational research it would do well for
> the federal government to study the work of the past century and not to
> consign such scholarship to a place of marginality or irrelevance,
> defining such work as faddism or ideology in juxtaposition to the "surer"
> foundation of the hard sciences.  Therein lies the pathway to
> intellectual arrogance and ideological hegemony in the name of
> "value-free" research.
> 
> Rather, we need to look more discerningly at the various models of
> educational research for which "Research Methods in Education and
> Psychology:  Integrating Diversity with Quantitative and Qualitative
> Approaches" provides a convenient framework to engage in such study.
> 
> Thank you, Catherine, for bringing this book to our attention.
> 
> George Demetrion
> sophocles5 at juno.com
> ___________________________________________________________________
> 
> ABOUT THE BOOK
> 
> >From The Publisher
> 
> Focused on providing as full a picture as possible of what is considered
> to be "good" research, Research Methods in Education and Psychology
> explains quantitative and qualitative methods and incorporates the
> viewpoints of various research paradigms into the descriptions of these
> methods. It not only covers two of the standard paradigms (postpositivist
> and interpretive/constructivist) but discusses a relative newcomerthe
> emancipatory paradigm - that is inclusive of the perspectives of
> feminists, ethnic/racial minorities, and persons with disabilities. In
> each chapter, Donna M. Mertens carefully explains a step of the research
> process from the literature review to types of research method to
> analysis and reporting of quantitative or qualitative approaches. As an
> added plus, she includes a sample study and abstract in each chapter to
> illustrate the concepts discussed in that chapter.  For longitudinal case
> study analysis of student learning, perhaps chapters 6-8 would prove most
> instructive, though all methodologies would need to be considered for
> their potential contribution in shedding light on critical issues.
> 
> 
> FROM THE BOOK
> 
> Table of Contents 
> 
> Preface
> Acknowledgments
> 1 An Introduction to Research  1
> 2 Literature Review and Research Problems  33
> 3 Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Research  59
> 4 Causal Comparative and Correlational Research  85
> 5 Survey Research  105
> 6 Single-Case Research  145
> 7 Qualitative Methods  159
> 8 History and Narrative Study of Lives  193
> 9 Evaluation217
> 10 Sampling: Definition, Selection, and Ethics  253
> 11 Data Collection285
> 12 Data Analysis, Interpretation, and Reporting  329
> AppWriting the Research Proposal  371
> References  377
> Author Index  399
> Subject Index  406
> About the Autho  422
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________________________________________
> GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
> Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
> Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
> _______________________________________________
> NLA mailing list: NLA at lists.literacytent.org
> http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla
> LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
> http://literacytent.org
> 

_______________________________________________
NLA mailing list: NLA at lists.literacytent.org
http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla
LiteracyTent: web hosting, news, community and goodies for literacy
http://literacytent.org