26 Community-based literacy learning

Community-based literacy learning

Edward H. Behrman

Abstract Recognition of the relationship between literacy and

community has influenced a number of recent
Because reading and writing are social as well as curricular reforms that promote reading and writing
personal activities, many recent curricular reforms development (to name just a few, Behrman, 2001;
that promote literacy development have focused on
Boyd, 2000; Brock, 2000; Flower, 1996; Goatley, 2000;
the relationship between the learner and the com-
Griffin, 1995; Manyak, 2000; Mariage, Englert, &
munity. These reforms have been based on situated
cognition theory, which holds that learning is inter- Garmon, 2000; Pedraza & Ayala, 1996; Schauble,
meshed with the social and physical contexts of Beane, Coates, Martin, & Sterling, 1996). In each, the
activity and that learning occurs through active interaction of the literacy learner with the community
participation in a community of practice. Yet there is is a central underpinning of the curriculum. These
no distinct orientation to the concept of community reforms have been based on principles of situated
across the various educational programs. In fact, at cognition theory, which stresses the influence of social
least three different orientations to community appear and physical contexts upon thinking and learning
in the literature on literacy reform: experiential (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Cobb & Bowers,
community, classroom community, and anticipatory com- 1999; Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989; Greeno, 1997;
munity. Both experiential and anticipatory community
Greeno, Collins, & Resnick, 1996; Kirshner & Whitson,
orientations situate literacy in non-school settings that
1998; Putnam & Borko, 2000).
involve learners in ‘‘real-life’’ communities. The class-
room community orientation attempts to reproduce
the roles of mentor and apprentice found in non- Yet despite the growing recognition of the role of
school communities; however, its claim to legitimacy community in literacy learning, there is no distinct
of activity is based more on the learner’s manner of orientation to the concept of community across
participation than in the activity itself. various literacy programs that claim to be community-
based. Exactly what then, do literacy researchers and
practitioners mean when they call a literacy program
community-based? Is there a common thread that
Introduction connects all community-based literacy programs? Or
has the term ‘‘community’’ been applied so differen-
Reading and writing are social as well as personal tially that it fails to provide either a theoretical or
activities. Literate action requires the transposition of pedagogical basis for curricular decisions? This paper
thought into symbolic form that can be conveyed to explores the operational definition of community-
others or to self. Therefore, literacy is particularly based literacy learning, first by discussing literacy as
affected by our involvement in a community. Even situated activity and then by proposing three separate
when a reader or writer is alone, there is an exchange orientations to the concept of community as it relates
of ideas between reader and writer. The community to the literacy curriculum. It therefore presents an
in which the reader or writer participates may shape analytical framework to assist curriculum developers
both the content and form of the literate action. and researchers in designing, implementing, and
evaluating community-based literacy programs.
In a broad sense, a community may be viewed as a
social network of two or more members who share
a common activity (fly fishing, playing tennis, or Situated cognition and literacy
reading a literacy journal). Through a process of
gradual immersion into shared activity, inexperienced Recent years have seen the emergence of theories of
members learn the traditions, standards, and accepted cognition emphasizing the role of social and cultural
practices of the community (Lave and Wenger, 1991). factors, perhaps in response to the cognitive position
Although most communities we normally think of – that stresses cognition as an internalized, individual
communities of family, friends, neighbours, co-workers phenomenon (Reynolds, Sinatra & Jetton, 1996).
– afford members direct interpersonal contact, tech- Whereas a cognitive position views reading and
nology often permits members of a community to writing as fundamentally decontextualizable psycho-
interact without face-to-face contact. Thus, com- logical processes, though possibly acted upon by
munities can range from local and close-knit to global social and cultural variables, a social or sociocultural
and distant. position views reading and writing as fundamentally

# UKRA 2002. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Rd, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
READING literacy and language April 2002 27

social processes or social ‘‘events’’ (Bloome, 2001). 1997). Therefore, from a situative perspective, read-
However, a criticism of social and sociocultural ing and writing activities may be viewed as literacy
theories has been that they pay too little attention to situations. A literacy situation is created every time a
the role of the individual and the interaction between reading or writing activity occurs.
individual and social construction of knowledge
(Damon, 1991). In contrast, situated cognition theory The dimensions of a literacy situation constitute a
has attempted to define cognition in terms of both complex and interrelated web of individual and
internal and external processes (Kirshner & Whitson, contextual features. The reader or writer brings to
1998). Although situated cognition does not offer a the situation knowledge, skills, strategies, interests,
unified theory of learning, several tenets have beliefs, and motivational dispositions that have been
emerged: learned in other situations. The interaction of these
individual characteristics with the social and physical
. Thinking is ‘‘adjusted to meet the demands of the resources of the community, the task, and the
situation’’ (Rogoff, 1984, 7). conceptual domain will determine the extent to which
. Learning and activity are intermeshed. Physical previous learning may be applied in the new situation
and social contexts of an activity are integral to the (see Figure 1). Consider, for instance, the case of
activity, and the activity is integral to the learning reading a city map to follow directions. The reader
(Putnam & Borko, 2000). may already have some familiarity with map reading,
. Learning is both an individual and a social process be fairly confident about this ability, and be highly
(Alexander, 2000). The learner constructs mental motivated to succeed. Put into a new situation,
models that incorporate objects from the environ- though, the reader is dependent upon the physical
mental situation (Greeno, 1991). An ideal learning resources of the community. Does the reader have
system would promote individual conceptual access to a detailed street map of a precise location or
development as learners participate in social a more general map with only major thoroughfares?
settings across different contexts (Anderson, The literacy situation is also affected by social con-
Greeno, Reder, & Simon, 2000). text. Is there a more knowledgeable member of the
. Learning is also influenced by the physical setting community who can assist if the map reader becomes
and its available tools or resources (Brown, Collins, lost?
& Duguid, 1989; Cobb & Bowers, 1999; Greeno,
1997; Greeno, Collins, & Resnick, 1996; Putnam & Further, the task goal may itself depend upon the
Borko, 2000). social relationships between the reader and other
. Knowledge is distributed across members of a members of the community. Must the reader find
community (Gee, 2000). directions to a particular address (perhaps to attend a
. Learning occurs through active participation in a party) or simply to a neighbourhood (perhaps to have
community of practice (Lave, 1996; Lave & Wen- a solitary walk around)? The conceptual domain of
ger, 1991). The novice becomes enculturated in the the literacy situation is also socially determined
accepted knowledge and practices of the commu- within the community: how the domain is defined,
nity (Lave & Wenger, 1991). what meanings are attached, what elements are
. Learning is socially mediated. More advanced considered important, what modes of inquiry are
members of the community serve as mentors or given legitimacy.
masters (Gee, 2000).
. The community is also transformed by its interac- Learning is usually conceived to occur within a par-
tions with the novice. Individual knowledge ticular community (e.g., school, home, athletic team).
influences the common knowledge of a group, I recently learned to paint within the social context of
and common knowledge of a group influences an art class of adult novices under the tutelage of an
individual knowledge (Bloome & Egan-Robertson, experienced painter, within the physical setting of my
1993). instructor’s home, and using the resources from our
. Educational practices based on situative principles required materials list and whatever texts I could find
should place learning activities in authentic and at the local bookstore. Yet all of us are simultaneously
meaningful contexts that represent the ‘‘ordinary members of multiple communities. I am influenced by
practices of a culture’’ (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, involvement in professional communities (literacy
1989). educators, university professors), occupational com-
munities (my university, my department), regional
Thus, situated cognition theory holds that learning communities (where I grew up, where I now live), a
is always a contextualized activity occurring within a gender community (male), an economic community
community that has both social and physical features. (salaried, middle income), my family communities,
Context so defines a learning situation that we cannot as well as my ethnic and religious communities. So
assume generality of learning across contexts. Pat- although the students in the art class shared a
terns of activity in the new situation will influence the community of practice for two hours per week, no
extent to which knowledge and skills from one situ- two students truly shared a replicated experience. In
ation will be carried over to another situation (Greeno, this sense, individual differences that learners bring to

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28 Community-based literacy learning

Individual Community
Knowledge Social features
Skills Physical features
Strategies
Interest
Beliefs
Motivation

"
LITERACY 3
SITUATION 3
"

Domain Task
Broad (e.g., history) Goal (e.g., analyze Lincoln’s
Narrow (e.g., American position on slavery)
History) Genre (e.g., political speeches)
Topic (e.g., Lincoln)

Figure 1. Dimensions of A Literacy Situation

the current community of learning interact with the activities afford learners important opportunities for
learning activity itself, so that the activity is uniquely both print and non-print literacy development.
defined for each learner.
The classroom community orientation considers the
student’s present involvement as a member of a
Three orientations to community school community and focuses on issues of position,
privilege, and authority within the classroom. A
At least three different orientations to community ap- teacher or advanced peer serves as the mentor. The
pear in the literature on innovative literacy programs: classroom is seen as a collaborative learning environ-
experiential community, classroom community, and ment in which students interact collaboratively with
anticipatory community (see Table 1). The experiential each other and with the mentor. Using the cognitive
community orientation considers the student’s back- apprenticeship model (Collins, Brown, & Newman,
ground or home community and attempts to find 1989), the mentor first explains and models skills and
ways of exploiting the background experience. Every- strategies, then coaches the students as they engage
day activities that occur in the home or in the local in group activities that simulate ‘‘real-world’’ appli-
neighbourhood are seen as important learning oppor- cations, and eventually ‘‘fades’’ to encourage the
tunities in their own right, as well as bridges between students to work more independently. A goal of the
home literacy and school literacy. Parents, relatives, instruction is to give students agency in planning,
friends, and other adults who interact with students decision-making, and problem-solving. For example,
outside of school (scout masters, athletic coaches, Flower (1996, 28) describes a writing project in which
church leaders) are considered knowledgeable others university students act as peer tutors to high school
who can mediate learning. Students may be placed in students, who are writing a newsletter to other teens
learning projects that are based on their own devel- about drugs. Instruction is planned ‘‘to create a social
opmental interests. For example, in the YouthALIVE! scaffold for rhetorical thinking, to engage students as
Project (Schauble, Beane, Coates, Martin, & Sterling, writers and planning partners in a process that
1996), museum programs are developed by teens models literate action’’.
around themes of interest to them, such as ‘‘Waste
Not, Want Not’’ and ‘‘What’s Law Got to Do with The anticipatory community orientation considers the
Me?’’ In one museum, teens write and edit a page in student’s future involvement in a workplace (or ad-
the city newspaper and submit stories to other media. vanced academic) community and attempts to pre-
They also plan and install new museum exhibits, pare the student for the transition. The classroom is
design videos, and develop training programs. Such seen as a weak or incomplete substitute for authentic

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READING literacy and language April 2002 29

Table 1. Three Orientations to Community

Orientation Experiential Classroom Anticipatory

Learning Site Home School Workplace
Neighbourhood
Mentor/Master Parents Teachers Practitioners
Adults Peers
Instructional Model Everyday Cognitive Traditional
Activity Apprenticeship Apprenticeship,
Internship

activity outside of school, so school-based instruction early session, the teacher remarks, ‘‘We will be asking
must be supplemented by legitimate participation in all of you for your ideas because . . . the park is for you
non-school settings. Traditional craft, mechanical, and and the community . . . and you really know what you
professional apprenticeships, medical internships, like and don’t like about parks and playgrounds’’.
and student teaching are well-established examples After the children suggest monkey bars, slides,
of this orientation. Expert practitioners within the swings, and sports fields, the teacher replies, ‘‘It is
domain (master craftsmen, experienced physicians, or a real contribution that you’ll be doing because you
veteran teachers) serve as mentors. Often an extended know how the community needs space for different
period of observation precedes active participation by things’’. Many forms of symbolic representation the
the novice, followed by assignment to less demand- students must become familiar with are new to them.
ing tasks, and then gradual increase in responsibility. For instance, students must read catalogs of play-
The learner’s interests are usually subservient to the ground equipment to ascertain space requirements
needs of the activity. For instance, when requesting for each piece of equipment, then determine if the
a student teacher to write a lesson plan, a mentor equipment fits into available space. Also, they must
teacher is unlikely to ask the student teacher, ‘‘What learn how to read a blueprint, which requires under-
do you feel like teaching today?’’ but might suggest standing of scales and proportions. In explaining how
presenting three new poems that demonstrate the to read the blueprint, the teacher gives the example
rhyme schemes introduced in yesterday’s lesson. of building a house and stresses the importance of
Because the mentor’s expertise is acknowledged and precise measurements. In another session the teacher
respected, issues of agency are usually not prominent shows students how to use a ruler to calculate dis-
in this orientation. Furthermore, it is not unusual for tance, using proportional representation. Although
this orientation to coordinate a field learning experi- some activities to introduce new concepts are ‘‘school-
ence with a classroom learning experience. In student like,’’ the learning activities always grow out of tasks
teaching, for example, the student teacher may be required to complete a meaningful and motivating
enrolled in a methods class at the same time as the ‘‘real-life’’ project in which the students’ participation
field work. After a period of field observation, the has an important influence.
literacy activity (e.g., writing a lesson plan) could be
practiced in the classroom before being applied in a The Early Literacy Project (ELP) represents a curricu-
field setting. lum based on a classroom community orientation
(Mariage, Englert & Garmon, 2000). ELP is a reading
and writing intervention for special education students.
Community-based literacy curricula Its instructional premise is that literacy instruction
should ‘‘be embedded in meaningful, contextualized,
The Young Scientists Club represents a curriculum and purposive activities’’ and ‘‘foster a discourse
based on an experiential community orientation community where literacy performance is mutually
(Pedraza & Ayala, 1996). The curriculum follows ‘‘a shared, constructed, and made public’’ (Ibid, 302).
perspective that views the background experiences of Literacy activities include basic skills instruction such
the students as a resource to build on and not an as phonemic segmentation and phonographemic
obstacle to be overcome’’ (Ibid, 76). The Young correspondence, choral reading, partner reading,
Scientists meet after school in the basement of a story response/discussion, journal writing, and pro-
church, which adjoins vacant land that the city deeded cess writing. In one literacy activity called Morning
to a local civic organization as part of a neighbour- Message, students dictate personal experience stories
hood beautification project. The Young Scientists are to the teacher, who acts as recorder and coach,
involved in the development of the land into a park, so prompting and modelling composition strategies.
their literacy activities are directed toward decision- Other students ask the author questions in order to
making for a tangible and immediate purpose. In an expand, modify, or improve the story. Three scenarios

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of Morning Message are presented that illustrate For example, a literacy activity in CPL Biology may
diminishing levels of teacher support. In the first, the require a student group to investigate the benefits of a
author is unable to articulate an exciting experience. new treatment for heartworms in dogs. Working with
The teacher uses leading questions to stimulate the an experienced veterinarian, students must carefully
author (‘‘What did you do this weekend?’’ ‘‘Did you read the brochures describing the new treatment to
watch something special on T.V.?’’). When the author understand how the treatment works and how it
is unable to create a sentence, the teacher invites differs from other treatments; locate and analyze
the author to get help from another student. Here the multiple sources of information; discriminate between
learner receives extensive modelling from both the evaluative studies conducted or funded by the
teacher and a peer. In the second scenario, before developer of the treatment and studies conducted by
the teacher begins to record the author’s story, the independent sources; weigh the potential benefits
teacher asks, ‘‘What do I need?’’ to which students against disadvantages of the treatment; and make an
respond, ‘‘Indent,’’ ‘‘Capitals,’’ ‘‘Topic sentence.’’ Here informed decision whether the veterinarian should
the teacher’s role has shifted to that of facilitator. In recommend the new treatment.
the third scenario, the teacher simply repeats each
student’s idea until the class can reach resolution. CPL differs from the cognitive apprenticeship model
When the author dictates, ‘‘Angie’s birthday is on in several significant ways. Importantly, although
April 24th on Saturday,’’ the teacher repeats her much learning is school-based, learning extends
sentence aloud, to which a second student replies, beyond the physical setting of the classroom. Students
‘‘That doesn’t sound right.’’ The teacher repeats, ‘‘That receive an orientation to workplace communities and
doesn’t sound right.’’ The teacher then offers two are introduced to the community of practice at the
versions of the sentence that have been suggested by work site. Projects are drawn from actual problems
students. Here the teacher deliberately transfers occurring in the workplace, with students expected to
responsibility for meaning-making and monitoring use texts, tools, and equipment available at the work
to the students. The researchers remark that ‘‘students site. Thus, access to a wide range of resources
are thinking and assuming leadership roles from (including print, audio-visual, and electronic texts)
which they command or govern the writing process’’ becomes a regular part of the learning activity. The
(Ibid, 308), an event that marks the students’ social configuration of the learning activity (indi-
emergence as active members of the learning com- vidual, partners, small group, large group) is deter-
munity. mined by the needs of the project. To accomplish the
coordination of school-based and field-based learn-
Community Partners in Literacy (CPL) represents a ing, traditional time patterns in and out of school are
curriculum based on an anticipatory community restructured to promote authentic reading and writ-
orientation (Behrman, 2001). CPL, currently under ing situations; that is, the assignment of ‘‘biology’’ or
development at National University in Los Angeles, is ‘‘economics’’ to one-hour time blocks three (or five)
intended to enhance content literacy of high school times per week is abandoned in favor of a more
students by combining school-based instructional adaptive and flexible schedule. While the teacher has
activities with site visits to community business responsibility to manage the activities, the workplace
partners. For each learning module, students first mentor is recognized as the knowledgeable other.
meet in a classroom setting to discuss what they know
about a particular industry and to prepare for their
site visit. Next, students visit a community business, Discussion
where they interact with professionals using literacy
skills on the job. Then, students return to the class- Situated cognition theory emphasizes the importance
room setting to engage in an academic project based of learning from contextualized activity. Literacy
on literacy skills that are used in that business. instruction based on situative principles therefore
Classroom activities utilize cooperative learning, with views students and learning within the social and
students organized into learning groups to complete physical dimensions of a learning community. A
short-term or intermediate-term projects. However, classification of community-based literacy learning is
the demands of the task determine the social presented here as a possible framework for analyzing
arrangement (that is, if the students work on their innovative curricula based on situated cognition
own, with a partner, or in a group). Representatives theory. The Young Scientists Club, the Early Literacy
from community businesses serve as mentors to the Project, and Community Partners in Literacy repre-
cooperative learning groups. Site visits are anticipated sent reasonably ‘‘pure’’ examples of the three cur-
to domain-related industries in CPL Biology (human riculum orientations. It is possible, of course, that a
medicine, veterinary medicine, oceanography, water community-based literacy program may exhibit hybrid
treatment, and biotechnology); CPL Economics (bank- characteristics; overall, though, it is likely that one
ing/lending, financial management, accounting, in- orientation will appear most dominant.
surance, and real estate); and CPL Government
(legislative, public administration, law, criminal jus- Both experiential and anticipatory community orien-
tice, and public service). tations situate learning in ecological settings that

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READING literacy and language April 2002 31

involve learners in ‘‘real-life’’ communities. Students a legitimate out-of-school community. While the
volunteering in a museum, planning a neighbourhood student may be restricted to the resources provided
park or watershed, and observing real estate agents by the teacher, or present in the school library, out-of-
or veterinarians in their daily activities are examples school settings offer the full range of resources
of what Lave and Wenger (1991) call ‘‘legitimate available in the community. For example, most
peripheral participation’’ in a community of practice. content-area classes rely upon a single text as the
In the experiential community orientation, it is the source of information (Alvermann & Moore, 1991).
learners’ backgrounds that command central atten- Continued reviews of community-based literacy
tion: goals and activities are important to the learning, therefore, should analyze how purposeful/
community-at-large, but important to the learners as meaningful the activity is to the learner, whether the
well. Learners are thus valued because their interests activity arises in response to a naturally-occurring
can shape the outcome of a community-respected problem or need, the authenticity of resources, and
activity. In the anticipatory community orientation, it whether learners are exposed to experts whose
is the learners’ future lives that command central knowledge, skills, and strategies may be appro-
attention: goals and activities are more or less priated.
prescribed because learners do not yet have sufficient
experience. Learners are valued because they can Fundamentally, differences among the three curricu-
eventually move from novice to expert, and thereby lum orientations may reflect a tension between
perpetuate the practice. definitions of community that emphasize theories of
practice (‘‘learning as doing’’) versus those that
The classroom community orientation attempts to emphasize theories of identity (‘‘learning as becoming’’)
create learning settings ‘‘that capture some of the (Wenger, 1998). ‘‘Doing’’ refers to the activity itself as
practices of the culture’’ (Moore, Lin, Schwartz, well as the social/historical influences that provide
Petrosino, Hickey, Campbell, & the Cognition and structure and meaning to the activity. ‘‘Becoming’’
Technology Group, 1996, 216). Students are seen refers to the relationship between the individual and
as learning apprentices who may appropriate the the community, including social categories of status.
mentor’s skills and strategies. It is the students’ Identity is determined by how we see ourselves, how
current status as active and collaborative learners others see us, and how we participate. The classroom
that commands central attention. Goals and activities community orientation, with its attention to providing
may be negotiated between learner and mentor. The status and position, leans toward the Identity pole of
learner is valued less for any present or future the Practice-Identity continuum (see Figure 2). The
contribution, but more by virtue of participation. anticipatory community orientation, with its attention
Thus, legitimacy of activity is based more on the to reproducing culturally normed activity, leans
learner’s manner of participation than in the activity toward the Practice pole. The experiential community
itself. orientation, linking students’ backgrounds to out-
comes that are socially esteemed, falls more to the
However, it is less certain whether the classroom center of the continuum.
community orientation always provides for an
authentic social context. Legitimacy of activity in Ultimately, the value of any community-based literacy
social settings would require that negotiated goals curriculum will depend on its success in having learners
and activities nonetheless have meaning for the gain knowledge, skills, strategies, and routines that
community as well as the individual. For example, can be applied to other situations. A critical issue
the Morning Message has no apparent purpose other facing situative theorists, and curriculum developers
than as a school composition assignment required by basing programs on situative theory, is how initial
the teacher. Nor are students observing a master learning achieved in one situation can transfer to
writer in the regular practice of writing. Authenticity another situation. Educational psychologists continue
of the classroom community orientation may be to study whether transfer to new situations occurs
further challenged by limited physical resources, because of recurring elements in cognitive, social,
which often fail to replicate the options available in physical, or activity structures (Greeno, Moore, &

Theories of Practice Theories of Identity

Learning as Doing Learning as Becoming

3 "
Anticipatory Experiential Classroom
Orientation Orientation Orientation

Figure 2. Practice-Identity Continuum

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32 Community-based literacy learning

Smith, 1993). If one takes a fully interactive perspec- GEE, J. P. (2000). Discourse and sociocultural studies in reading. In
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Handbook of reading research (Vol. III, pp. 195–207). Mahwah, NJ:
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curriculum planners, whether following an experien- Students’ early literacy transformations. Reading and Writing
tial, classroom, or anticipatory community orienta- Quarterly, 16, 337–360.
GREENO, J. G. (1991). Number sense as situated knowing in a
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conceptual domain. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education,
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GRIFFIN, M. M. (1995). You can’t get there from here: situated
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