{"id":900,"date":"2021-06-23T10:00:13","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humanas.blog.scielo.org\/en\/?p=900"},"modified":"2023-07-20T11:17:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T14:17:30","slug":"researching-practices-in-literacies-across-languages-and-social-domains-international-perspectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humanas.blog.scielo.org\/en\/2021\/06\/23\/researching-practices-in-literacies-across-languages-and-social-domains-international-perspectives\/","title":{"rendered":"Researching practices in literacies across languages and social domains: International Perspectives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paula Tatianne Carr\u00e9ra Szundy, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Maria L\u00facia Castanheira, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Judith Green, Universidade da Calif\u00f3rnia, Santa Barbara, Calif\u00f3rnia, United States of America.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The article \u201cResearching practices in literacies across languages and social domains: International Perspectives<\/a>\u201d, published by Papers in Applied Linguistics,<\/em> is the introductory paper of a thematic issue that brings together studies on literacy processes and practices developed in and through various languages (e.g., Chinese, English, Portuguese, Spanish, among others) and social actions undertaken by particular configuration of actors in different social spaces (e.g., rural communities, higher education classes, teacher education processes, academic writing collaborations, and K-12 classrooms etc.). The article draws considerations on studies whose research perspectives add new insights into ways of studying the multi-faceted, dynamic, complex, and discursive nature of literacy processes, practices and texts in particular social, cultural, linguistic, and political spaces. Given its focus on the complex and consequential nature of language-literacy relationships in particular social settings, it provides a rich and conceptually grounded space for (re)thinking what constitutes literacy studies in the scope of Applied Linguistics.<\/p>\n

The idea for the special issue reviewed in the article resulted from the participation of the authors in the Research Network (ReN) \u201c<\/strong>Literacies Across Languages and Social Domains\u201d,<\/em> which integrates the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA).\u00a0 Based on the meaningful dialogues that applied linguists across the world have been establishing with concepts in the field of literacy studies, the ReN aims at bringing together international scholars to develop a comprehensive view concerning the ways of studying literacy practices and processes in the scope of Applied Linguistics. As the article specifies, scholars who are part of this ReN draw on and explore different perspectives on language and literacy relationships in multiple social spaces and\/or institutions, including New Literacy Studies, multiliteracies, digital literacies, academic literacies, interactional ethnography, among others.<\/p>\n

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Imagem: Nathalia Segato.<\/p><\/div>\n

This multiplicity of perspectives results from fruitful dialogues that have been established within and across fields of study: Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Discourse Analysis, Literature, Education, Cultural Studies, Sociocultural Theory, Conversation Analysis, Race and Gender studies, Anthropology, among others. By blurring the borders between disciplines\/areas and opposing universal, functional and instrumental approaches to language studies, this introductory article for the thematic issue established fruitful dialogues with a transgressive view of Applied Linguistics (MOITA LOPES, 2006, PENNYCOOK, 2006, SZUNDY; FABR\u00cdCIO, 2019), which rejects interpretations that essentialize language, identity and contexts. Such a transgressive view of Applied Linguistics is closely connected to the ideological model of literacies proposed by Street (1984, 2009, 2014). From both perspectives, there is no escape from ideology and, therefore, no possibility of assuming neutral perspectives towards situated language uses. Literacy practices, as Street reminds us, are always imbued of\/by power relations, making it fundamental to comprehend how participants (de\/re)construct meanings during and about literacy practices in which they engage from a socio-cultural perspective.<\/p>\n

The 13 articles, written in English or Spanish, and review of the book Las pedagog\u00edas de la comunidad a trav\u00e9s de investigaciones locales en el contexto urbano de Bogot\u00e1<\/em> (Olarte; Galindo, 2019), which are briefly introduced in the paper, both share an ideological perspective toward literacy and rely on multiple epistemological lenses to raise issues about meaning constructions and circulation processes of literacy practices in different social domains. These domains include educational, scientific, health, rural and digital spaces in Brazil, Taiwan, the United States, Mexico, and England.<\/p>\n

A primary focus of the studies reviewed in this introductory article is on literacy practices and processes in different educational settings, which include: literacy encounters with a first grader (HARRIS, 2020);\u00a0 the dialogic processes between a fourth grade teacher and the researcher (GUPTA, 2020); the production of transmedia pedagogical materials to teach Spanish (TILIO; LOBO, 2020);\u00a0 gender and racial identities in a Literature class (POWER-CARTER, 2020);\u00a0 (multi)literacy practices in which the teacher and students engage in while decolonizing English Language Teaching (MULICO, 2020); the production of visual narratives about rural communities using short digital videos (MACHADO ET AL, 2020); literacy practices and processes through which social actors (de\/re)construct knowledge in academic settings (CHIAN, 2020; SZUNDY, 2020, DIAS, 2020; OLMOS-L\u00d3PEZ; TUSTING, 2020).<\/p>\n

Three other papers described take the readers to a journey into literacy practices in other social contexts: a community citizen-science program in Mexico (MENDEZ; KALMAN, 2020); interactions between health professionals and patients in the processes of interpreting fetal ultrassound images in Brazil (Ostermann, Frezza; Perobelli, 2020); literacy practices in which fan fiction readers and writers engage on-line (MARTINS, 2020).<\/p>\n

The dialogues with heterogeneous research practices in literacies across languages and social domains presented by the studies reviewed in this introductory article can enhance understandings of, and shed light on, the emerging set of epistemological approaches to literacy practices that have been developing at the intersection of literacy studies and Applied Linguistics.<\/p>\n