THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2022/2023

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.

University Homepage
DRPS Homepage
DRPS Search
DRPS Contact
DRPS : Course Catalogue : Moray House School of Education and Sport : Education

Undergraduate Course: Primary Literacies 2: Developing literacies in the middle and upper stages (EDUA10168)

Course Outline
SchoolMoray House School of Education and Sport CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThe course addresses current research, theories, policies and perspectives regarding language and literacy learning and the implications for professional action in the primary school. Students will be encouraged to construct creative learning experiences that show clear and meaningful integration of language and literacy across the curriculum. Theories of genre, the writing process and critical literacy will be investigated. There is a focus throughout the course on recognising, valuing and including the literacies and languages that children bring with them from their everyday worlds into the classroom. These include a range of digital literacies or new literacies, as well as aspects of children's popular culture. Furthermore, the course will focus on approaches to supporting children with English as an additional language (EAL) in the primary classroom to access the mainstream curriculum. The course utilises ways of working with the student's own academic literacy needs and situates this within a sense of personal literacy biographies and personal search.
Course description Lectures, workshops and independent study will focus on the following themes but these will be delivered in an integrated way:

* Talking and listening
* Developing an appreciation of the writer's craft
* Reading and writing for information
* Poetry and language awareness
* Knowledge about language, language diversity and language policy
* Accounts of literacy learning; biography and personal narratives
* Analysis of literacy difficulties and appropriate intervention strategies
* New literacies; multimodal and digital texts
* Comprehension and critical literacy
* Literacy across learning
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  5
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 11, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 33, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 152 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Part 1 Summative Assessment 20%
Written reflective account of the formative presentation (1000 words) including responses to peer feedback.

Part 2 Summative Assignment 80% - During exam period )

A 2,000 word individual written assignment in which students analyse a transcript of an audio-taped recording of a group of four children engaged in a learning task working within a mainstream curriculum area.
Students will select from a range of 4 different transcripts and may have the opportunity to devise their own learning activity to use with a group of children and then transcribe what happened in practice.

Part A will present a brief explanation of the learning involved in the selected transcript and will provide justification for the selection of this particular learning episode for their discussion.

Part B shall provide an analysis of the children's linguistic, cognitive and social development as evidenced in the selected transcript and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the task for the children involved.

Students are expected to provide a theoretical justification for the analysis and to demonstrate a developing understanding of, and engagement with, key principles, theory, policy and research in language and literacy and related approaches to teaching and learning.

Part C will provide students an opportunity to build on their formative activities to suggest ways in which the teacher in the transcript might further develop their practice in order to encourage interaction and to support children's talking and listening skills.

*Students who are carrying out the activity in Gaelic can submit the transcript without translating it (ie. in Gaelic).

Students must gain an average of 40% across both components of assessment.
Feedback Part 1: Formative Assessment: individual presentation in a group.
Students should reflect on their experiences and practices of teaching and pupil learning (during their school experience in Year 3) in relation to one area of literacy: talking & listening, reading or writing. This can be as a discrete subject or literacies across the curriculum.
Feedback will be offered through structured peer and self-assessment. This will provide feedforward advice for the written reflective account.

Part 2 Opportunity during a workshop to gain peer and tutor feedback on the design of a collaborative activity to encourage interaction and to support children's talking and listening skills. This will provide feedforward advice for the summative assessment. 2000 word summative assessment. Written formative feedback from the marker.

No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Reflect critically on the development of reading, writing, listening and talking in the middle and upper stages of primary school.
  2. Apply pedagogical knowledge in relation to the theory of teaching of reading, writing, listening and talking.
  3. Identify potential opportunities for assessment and the potential to use assessment to support pupils¿ learning in literacy
  4. Examine and differentiate between cognitive, personal, social and cultural aspects of children's literacy development.
  5. Critically appraise students' own literacy skills and attitudes.
Reading List
Bearne, E. & Kennedy, R. (2012) Literacy and Community: Developing a Primary Curriculum Through Partnerships. Royston: UKLA.
Cremin, T. & Myhill, D. (2011) Writing Voices: Creating Communities of Writers. London: Routledge.
Gibbons, P. (2009) English Learners, Academic Literacy and Thinking: Learning in the Challenge Zone. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Medwell, J. A., Wray, D., Moore, G. E., & Griffiths, V. (2011) Primary English: Knowledge and Understanding (5th edition). Exeter: Learning Matters.
Pahl, K. & Rowsell, J. (2012) Literacy and Education: Understanding the New Literacy Studies in the Classroom (2nd edition). London: Sage.

Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Adopt a reflective approach to school experiences
Take personal responsibility for students' own literacy development
Use enquiry to identify opportunities for learning.
Use communication to enhance understanding of a topic and to engage effectively with peers
Additional Class Delivery Information Each workshop will have a corresponding lecture (either face-to-face or online)
KeywordsLiteracy development,Reading,Writing,Talking,Listening,Literacy practices,Literacy Assessment
Contacts
Course organiserMs Caroline Gordon
Tel:
Email: caroline.gordon9@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Lorraine Nolan
Tel: (0131 6)51 6571
Email: Lorraine.Nolan@ed.ac.uk
Navigation
Help & Information
Home
Introduction
Glossary
Search DPTs and Courses
Regulations
Regulations
Degree Programmes
Introduction
Browse DPTs
Courses
Introduction
Humanities and Social Science
Science and Engineering
Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Other Information
Combined Course Timetable
Prospectuses
Important Information