Literacy, Language and Learning:The Nature and Consequences of Reading and Writing

by David R. Olson, Nancy Torrance, Angela Hildyard

Literacy is an important concern of contemporary societies. This book offers a comprehensive survey of recent efforts to understand the nature of written language and its role in cognition and in social and intellectual life. The authors represent a wide range of disciplines - cognitive psychology, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, education, history and philosophy - and address a wide range of questions. Is literacy a decisive factor in historical and cultural change? Does it alter the mental and social lives of individuals? If so how and via what mechanisms? Does learning to read and write change children's speech, thought or orientation to language? What are children and adults learning when they acquire literate skills? Are there differences - linguistic, psychological and functional - between speaking and writing? And are there differences between oral and written languages?

448 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 1985

Reviews

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This text collection is well written and well organized. From the creation of the printing press to modern times and how children acquire language and literacy, the editors organize authors to have a logical progression.
This collection addresses the social implications of literacy, the cognitive consequences from a social psychological perspective, the differences in reading and writing, and how that translates to speaking, the oral and written discourse, culture-specific properties of "story", a psychogenetic perspective on literacy development, early narrative development, how composition effects printed language, how language impacts acquisition of speech, phonology in reading, the differential effects of schooling on children and the linguistic "code" differences between children in social classes to name but a few topics.
It's comprehensive and informative, and a good resource to have on hand.