Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften A Road Less Traveled: Critical Literacy and Language Learning in the Classroom, 1964–1996: 520 (Counterpoints: Studies in Criticality)

Product Description A Road Less Traveled: Critical Literacy and Language Learning in the Classroom, 1964-1996 takes us through what Robert W. Blake calls the "jaunty journey" of the English/English Language Arts classroom from its linguistic and literature foundations, to emphases on close reading techniques and structures to composing and responding to literature. A Road Less Traveled heads bumpily into the path of learning how to work with "non-native speakers" and other "basic" students toward a (re)-burst of a renewed interest in poetry and drama, reader response, a process approach to writing, and the diverse student, showing through the often winding and blurry road along the journey of our literacy travels over 30 years, that what we understood best about reading and writing has stood the test of time. Review "If you want to understand the architecture of contemporary literacy studies, surveying Robert W. Blake's impressive body of work is a wise way to begin. Over the course of a decades-long career, Dr. Blake helped build a foundation that would support the 'language arts' growing into a professionalized field of study informed by a multi-dimensional theoretical framework. Dr. Blake, a creative educator and prolific writer, helped introduce and popularize a wide-range of innovations and ideas that radically changed classrooms across the country. Through his work we can trace how our profession came to embrace ideas from many corners of the academy--linguistics, socio-linguistics, psychology, composition studies, response theory, literary studies, general curriculum and pedagogy--but always with the student at the center of his concern. I will happily replace my 'course packet' of articles surveying literacy studies over the decades with this thoughtfully curated collection from one of our truly great educators."--Rob Linné, Professor and Director of English Education at Adelphi University About the Author Robert W. Blake received his doctorate in education from the University of Rochester. Since that time he has written over 60 books and articles over his long career as an English educator. He was Professor Emeritus with the State University of New York. Brett Elizabeth Blake received her doctorate in curriculum from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Following in her father’s footsteps, she has published over 20 articles and books in her field of literacy/applied linguistics and ESL. She is currently a professor and senior research fellow in The Vincentian Center for Social Justice and Poverty at St. John’s University in New York City.