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Title: Reading Reconsidered: Literature and Literacy in High School by Dennie Palmer Wolf ISBN: 0-87447-538-4 Publisher: College Board Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $14.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3 (1 review)

Rating: 3
Summary: "Reading" hardly reconsidered.
Comment: Because I am doing research on "literacy" as basic reading skills at the secondary level, I was expecting something much different than that which I found in Dennie Wolf's book. I believe the title is the culprit, for the most part. There is a lot of current research which documents how the education world confused "literature-based" curricula with "literacy". It was assumed, for example, that vocabulary development from literature was a form of "reading skill" development. In fact, it may be. However, it does not address the problem of illiterate/semi-illiterate students at the high school level. It seems we have not settled on a clear enough set of labels to differentiate between literacy as a phenomenon which tells us whether a person can read or not, and a broader meaning of understanding language as used on the printed page with many nuances. It is the broader definition which Ms. Wolf deals with in her book. Using concepts from constructivist theory, she advances the theory that students must have active "conversations" with pieces of literature in order to make them their own, and to give contemporary meaning to classic pieces. She gives many clear, workable examples of strategies to use in the classroom with groups of students who have an adequate level of reading skill. Indeed, the examples of literature she uses are testimony to the fact that students she is targetting are "readers". (EVELINE, DUBLINERS, BEOWULF) It's unfortunate, however, that she seems to assume that English teachers do not already approach the study of literature in just the mode of "conversation", "being active with literature by writing journals about concepts found in pieces"; "constructing meaning from one's own experiences" which she proposes in her book. Teachers have been doing this for years. "Good" teachers have been judged according to the extent one employs such strategies, in fact. It is my opinion that her strategies probably help an already good reader become more "fully literate". And it is clear that Ms. Wolf is advancing the notion that society needs a more "literate" population. There is no data yet, however, which shows that these approaches teach students HOW TO READ, a skill one learns only once in one's lifetime. Therefore, while interesting reading, I believe this book and study add to the current confusion between "literary literacy" and "literacy as a basic skill". It's a great "handbook" for those teachers teaching a relatively homogenous group of good readers in an English class. There are some nice tips, backed up with research. It is disappointing, however, for those of us who teach large classes of varying levels of skills, most between the 1st and 3rd grade reading level in high school, in search of retraining as to how to directly teach students the skill of "reading". We have to reconsider defining "reading" so that the many meanings reflect more precisely the activity we refer to. Ms. Wolf's book, at first glance, only adds to the confusion.

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