Teacher Learning for European Literacy Education (TeL4ELE): genre-based pedagogy in five European countries

Abstract

AbstractThis article gives two perspectives on an action-research literacy project based on the pedagogy of Reading to Learn (R2L). The project, organized in a cascade structure, introduced the functional linguistics-based pedagogy for reading and writing across the curriculum to national teams of key educators, who then took it to practising teachers, who used it with their pupils. The impact of the project on the three groups of 'learners' involved was then evaluated through questionnaires for educators and teachers and reading and writing tests. Knowledge of the texts of their subjects, and of the R2L interaction cycle, changed participants' practice, resulting in student inclusion and improved written production. The paper first presents a broad view of the project and results in its European context, and, second, a more detailed picture of one of the countries involved, Spain, including examples of implementation by participating teachers, their responses to the pedagogy, and student up-take in samples of their texts. The paper closes with reflections and future directions the project is taking in Spain, opening to new contexts for the R2L pedagogy.