Advocacy Research in Literacy Education Seeking Higher Ground

This book reviews what the authors termadvocacy researchin literacy educationresearch that explicitly addresses issues of social justice, equity, and democracy with the distinct purpose of social transformation. It surveys what educational researchers who are working for social justice have accomplished, describes current challenges, and outlines future possibilities. The first section reviews this large and expanding body of research, which the authors have grouped into four categories: Critical Literacy(ies); Radical Counternarratives in Literacy Research; Literacy as Social Practice; and Linguistic Studies. Each chapter describes the research area, traces its history, provides example studies, and assesses the contributions of research to advocacy work now and potentially in the future. The second section provides a deeper consideration of challenges to the field of advocacy research and suggests future directions for research and scholarship; this section reflects the need to complicate and trouble the terms and relations between and among social justice, ethics, democracy, freedom, and literacy. This book represents the authors' belief that it is time for advocacy workers to strengthen and intensify their efforts to promote the most principled, effective literacy education for democratic life. It is their hope that this book will contribute to such an effort.Cherland, Meredith Rogers is the author of 'Advocacy Research in Literacy Education Seeking Higher Ground', published 2006 under ISBN 9780805850567 and ISBN 0805850562.