The Literacy Dialogues are a type of experiment. Each episode presents the characters in a dialogue about a particular text (to be written and/or read). It follows the process of meaning making, and what needs to be in place for meaning to be made. Episode one presents the two character in a discussion over a parable. The dialogues will be designed to be interactive, though this first episode is quite basic.
The dialogues aim to demonstrate a framework for reading comprehension and written composition, whilst also demonstrating that meaning making and responding are highly dynamic. A teacher should not reduce the process to a mechanical exercise. Nor should the teacher avoid establishing routines that move from lower order to higher order skills engagement. Most importantly, the teacher must be careful not to teach beyond the learner's capacity to engage meaningfully, purposefully, enthusiastically and strategically. Each dialogue explores questions such as:
- How are the characters oriented to the text?
- Is there a reason for them to attend to the text? and why?
- Do they have the language and cognitive skills to decode/encode and make meaning from/through the text?
- Do they have the background knowledge and experiences required to make meaning of the text?
- How does the meaning making process unfold?
- Do the readers/writers gain a clear sense of the state of affairs represented in the text? What might be the barriers to comprehension or expression?
- What conclusions are being drawn?
- How is this knowledge interacting with prior knowledge and immediate investigations?
- Are the readers/writers comfortable with the meanings being expressed?
- What can the readers/writers take from this experience? Knowledge? Reflection on practice? Language?
- What will be memorable? What needs to be in place for this to occur? What needs to occur to consolidate this experience?
Please explore Episode 1: Manna from Heaven.
Read Moreby J.A. Appleyard
For the first time, I have selected a book that makes no mention of Wittgenstein. So, you may ask, "why feature it on a site titled Wittgenstein on Learning?" Well, the official subtitle of the site is a Wittgensteinian View of Language, Literacy and Learning. Something that is Wittgensteinian does not need to be by or about Wittgenstein and his writing. It just needs to be in the spirit of Wittgenstein. In this case, Appleyard writes a fascinating book that posits the argument that an individual's reading behaviours, interests and needs change as one grows from childhood to adulthood.
Read MoreGenius is what makes us forget the master's talent. (Wittgenstein, Culture & Value)
The video in this journal entry is an ABC News piece that can be examined through a Wittgensteinian perspective. The topic is talent, and the article examines what contributes to the realisation of talent (or ability). In brief, the news item makes reference to the book The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle and emphasises that the important roles of hard work (practice), effective teaching, and access to the space and time for total concentration.
Isn't this common sense? How else would success be achieved? Surprisingly, this picture contradicts another prevalent world picture that is sustained in the American public and media; that is, there are those in the community who exhibit extraordinary talent which can launch these individuals into the heights of the culture through their innate ability alone. In the words of Coyle, "talent is the last magical thing. It's magic ... Tiger Woods is magic. Michael Jordan is magic. Mozart was magic."
Contributing factors such as context, culture, practice, relationships and circumstances are pushed to the periphery because they may threaten to unseat the prevailing mythology that some people are just amazingly talented. One would prefer to believe in genius, luck, and egalitarianism rather engage in deeper questions into the people, opportunities and culture that fosters skills and practices. The ideas presented in the video do not deny that innate ability plays a role in the realisation of talent; however, the ideas seek to correct a misleading view, which is one that wants to forget that other key factors play vital roles in the fostering and maintenance of talent.
Read MoreBy Alfred Nordmann
In these past two weeks, readers of the journal may have discovered that I have a certain "soft spot" for the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, even if it is a flawed masterpiece. I enjoy the fact that Wittgenstein seeks to explore how spoken and written language can express anything at all. There is a certain compelling fascination or amazement in the ability of language to convey observations and thoughts. As far as introductions go, there are quite a number of books on the Tractatus, and I cannot claim to have scoured through the catalogue of available options. I have read a few, though. I do enjoy Alfred Nordmann's introduction.
Read MoreWhy did I create a website about Wittgenstein and learning? Wouldn't it have been smarter to create a direct site about language, literacy, numeracy and learning? And refer to curriculum outcomes rather than a philosopher's axioms? Clearly, a more general site would allow for more flexibility. I must admit that Wittgenstein's philosophy can appear obscure at the best of times. That said, I don't feel it will take too much time to explain myself, and I will do so in reference to three of the major texts.
As a result, we gain insights into three dimensions of language: language as structure and form; language as diverse practices; language used to convey knowledge. In each of these perspectives, both communities and individuals must use their imaginative and cognitive capacities to use, deploy and think through language in the great hurly burly of life.
"Doesn’t understanding start with a proposition, with a whole proposition? Can you understand half a proposition?" (Wittgenstein, Philosophical Grammar)
The above applies to all three dimensions. Understanding comes from a full command of the forms, uses and knowledge inherent in our utterances.
Read MoreThe philosopher Rush Rhees (2006) begins his essay "Plato, language and the growth of understanding" with the following,
"The people who argued with Socrates and Plato may have thought language was just a collection of techniques, and that that was what understanding is: knowing the technique ... For them, the growth of understanding could only mean the growth of skill (efficiency, I suppose) or the multiplication of skills ... A skill would have the sort of unity that a calculus does ... Is understanding just competence?" (pg. 3)
By ending with a rhetorical question, Rhees is expressing some doubt in the idea that understanding is a measure of technical proficiency. I agree that learning how to spell can be considered to be a technical skill. Knowing how to parse a sentence is also a technical exercise. I put forward the arguable assertion that technical skills develop in a more linear fashion as one develops a more sophisticated mastery of the system under study. There are technicals skills that one must develop in order to gain a command of language and literacy. But can we reduce the understanding (or comprehension) of a Shakespearean sonnet to a mere technical exercise?
Read More"We have got onto slippery ice where there is no friction and so in a certain sense the conditions are ideal, but also, just because of that, we are unable to walk. We want to walk so we need friction. Back to the rough ground." (Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Part I, #107)
Theorising and modelling are key activities in learning and in teaching. They are models. To me, they represent overviews. And it is important to conceptualise models of language, of literature, of love, of the solar system, etc. These are good things to model. The models guide our thinking, our ways of seeing and our ways of interpreting. They help us draw connections between discrete elements of information or experience. However, at some stage, the theorising must cease no matter how beautiful or elegant the solutions may appear to be.
Nevertheless, I find that the solutions are short-lived if comprehensiveness and perfection are expected. Whilst the model might soothe the anxious mind for the moment, this does not enact the change in the external world that one is hoping for.
Read Moreby Susan G. Sterrett
Susan Sterrett present a highly readable, compelling narrative that parallels Wittgenstein's early philosophy in the Tractatus with the engineering developments of the early twentieth century, particularly in aeronautical research. Sterrett presents Wittgenstein as one who is compelled by the image of sentences as models (or pictures) of states of affairs. He is presented as one who is struck by the idea that propositions can construct models of reality, which can focus our attention on the most salient aspects of the world.
Read More