Sarah Tham

There is much to be gained from narratives and stories. This author's perspective on transitioning from K-12 classrooms to higher education classrooms is one of many stories out there. The author acknowledges the experiences of others making the transition. The author wants to inform, educate, quicken, and inspire others in the unexpected journey into academia. There is much hope that the author's story will provide a collective body of knowledge, reflections, and experiences to aid others in similar trajectories. This story is of a Christian woman of Chinese descent in academia. It offers a human side of academia, extrapolating the struggles and joy of making that transition.

The author considers the impact of stressors on the development of functional literacy in the context of human interaction with the environment. The article describes social causes that affect
students· psycho-emotional states, such as poverty, lack of educational opportunities, war, social or cultural expectations, 
and experiences (frustration, conflict. threat). Particular attention is paid to teachers supporting their students and helping them cope
with multiple stressors.

We used metastudy and metasynthesis techniques to conduct a discursive review of 101 recent publications on the topic of adult functional literacy (FL). Our purpose was to understand the ideologies shaping current definitions and conceptualizations of FL, as well as how and why FL is researched and assessed as it is. Using discursive review techniques, we analyzed instances of legitimation, dissimulation, reification, and “ofcourseness” to explore the ideological underpinnings of the field. Close analysis of three passages related to theory, research, and assessment illustrates ideological patterns in what “counts” as FL. These patterns are grounded in ideological divisions between cognitive and sociocultural perspectives on FL—the effects of which we traced through our findings on what “counts” as FL, the logics of inquiry that undergird the field, and the ways in which these ideologies shape adult literacy assessment. Our discussion considers the larger implications of these ideol...

The purpose of our study was to discover who researches functional literacy.
This study was situated within a larger systematic literature review. We
searched seven electronic databases and identified 90 sources to answer
our larger question regarding how functional literacy is defined and
conceptualized as well as the specific question pertinent to this paper. An
analytic template guided our data collection. The analysis was completed
by using a spreadsheet to examine two levels of institutional affiliation: 1)
the larger institution such as a university or government unit, and 2) the
department, program, or division within the institution. Findings showed
the 209 authors of these 90 sources represent a diverse set of fields. Further,
it appears that multidisciplinary research is being conducted. We discuss
implications of these findings and call for more interdisciplinary research.

We analyzed 90 recent publications related to adult functional literacy (FL) in order to: (a) understand what is known about the construct of FL and the ways in which it is conceptualized and applied, and (b) analyze inconsistencies and gaps in this work. We analyzed each source using an analytic template, organizing data in a spreadsheet for pattern analysis, and conducting a thematic analysis of sources' key ideas. Our analysis identified common themes across the literature, including profiles of cognitive FL skills, the roles of context and text in FL, and the ways in which FL assessment is both conceptualized and critiqued. Our analysis also identified implicit assumptions and glaring omissions in this body of work: the prevalence of deficit assumptions about low-literate adults, the conflation of English learners and low literacy, and the omissions of writing and community considerations from discussions of FL. Future directions for FL scholarship include developing theoretical models based on research with adults instead of children, increasing scholarly attention to adult writing, including learner's voices and perspectives in research, and reviewing literature related to English learners and FL instruction.

We used metastudy and metasynthesis techniques to conduct a discursive review of 101 recent publications on the topic of adult functional literacy (FL). Our purpose was to understand the ideologies shaping current definitions and conceptualizations of FL, as well as how and why FL is researched and assessed as it is. Using discursive review techniques, we analyzed instances of legitimation, dissimulation, reification, and "ofcourseness" to explore the ideological underpinnings of the field. Close analysis of three passages related to theory, research, and assessment illustrates ideological patterns in what "counts" as FL. These patterns are grounded in ideological divisions between cognitive and sociocultural perspectives on FL-the effects of which we traced through our findings on what "counts" as FL, the logics of inquiry that undergird the field, and the ways in which these ideologies shape adult literacy assessment. Our discussion considers the larger implications of these ideologies: What is legitimated or reified, and what is ignored, dismissed, or subsumed, by these ways of conceptualizing FL? We offer future directions and raise important questions that arise from these conclusions.

This study was a result of noticing that classroom teachers, especially in the elementary level often use minimally trained tutors to help striving readers improve on their literacy skills. While desirable, schools are not able to provide striving students with trained teachers for one-to-one literacy instruction. The question than arose as to what could minimally trained tutors do to help those students? Self-reflection, which is widely accepted as an element of quality teaching might be a possible solution.  Case studies of three minimally trained tutors in the America Reads Program in elementary schools were conducted.  This study explores the journeys that each America Reads tutor made when introduced to the Korthagen ALACT model of self-reflection as an intervention.  This study looked at what tutors reflected on, when and how reflection was done, and the lessons each participant learned from their self-reflection. Findings indicate that the tutors’ experiences vary depending on the classroom, their tutoring responsibilities and their personal reflections, and that tutors who self-reflected became more aware about their actions and made better tutoring decisions. Findings have implications on how minimally trained tutors can be better supported in this program and in other similar programs.

There is much to be gained from narratives and stories. This author’s perspective on transitioning from K-12 classrooms to higher education classrooms is one of many stories out there. The author acknowledges
the experiences of others making the transition. The author wants to inform, educate, quicken, and inspire others in the unexpected journey into academia. There is much hope that the author’s story will provide a collective body of knowledge, reflections, and experiences to aid others in similar trajectories. This story is of a Christian woman of Chinese descent in academia. It offers a human side of academia, extrapolating the struggles and joy of making that transition.