Implications of the Science of Learning and Development for the Field of Literacy

Abstract

In this chapter, I consider how research in the field of literacy illuminates convergences of understandings about how people learn culled from the fields of biology, psychology, and neuroscience. I further consider how research in the field of literacy could be enhanced by drawing more deeply on state-of-the-art findings about how human learning unfolds. To support this discussion, I examine emerging understandings about literacy learning and development in the areas of reading and multiliteracies and across transnational contexts. I conclude by suggesting an equity-oriented agenda for literacy research and practice that leverages and advances existing knowledge about how people learn.