| 
 Postgraduate Course: Literacy, Learners and Learning (EDUA11383)
Course Outline
| School | Moray House School of Education and Sport | College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |  
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) | Availability | Not available to visiting students |  
| SCQF Credits | 20 | ECTS Credits | 10 |  
 
| Summary | This practice-orientated course focuses on the exploration and enactment of a professional disposition to the adoption of critically informed practices in literacy learning and development. Working co-operatively in a group, with tutor and site- based  support, participants will engage in inquiry-based learning to begin to develop the necessary content and pedagogical knowledge, understandings and skills  to enable them to promote language and literacy development. 
 |  
| Course description | Literacy is pivotal in all areas of learning. Our ability to use language lies at the centre of the development and expression of our emotions, our thinking, our learning and our sense of personal identity. All teachers, across nursery, primary and secondary sectors, have responsibility for promoting language and literacy development. Enacting an adaptive, critically informed, inquiring disposition to practice is integral to transformative teaching and learning. Designed to promote the forging of meaningful connections across practice, theory, research and discerning engagement with policy, this course focuses on 3 fundamental aspects: -	critical consideration of  different models of literacy development and of implications for practice
 -	beginning  the career-long  professional learning journey of developing  the necessary content knowledge; pedagogical content knowledge  and  pedagogical skills to progress language  and literacy
 -	practice-based inquiry into  learners and learning-in-action
 
 Outline of content
 -	literacy and literacies  for 21st century
 -	critical consideration of  different  perspectives on literacy development  and implications for practice e.g.  psycho-linguistic;
 cognitive-psychological; socio-cultural; socio-political
 -	contemporary research  on literacy development and consideration of implications for practice
 -	school-based  inquiry into learners and learning in action
 Developing content  and pedagogical content knowledge for professional practice e.g.
 -	language and reading comprehension; decoding; reading to learn
 -	understanding  and supporting reading difficulties
 -	talking, thinking  and listening
 -	viewing and visual literacy
 -	writing  for different social purposes
 
 Student Experience
 Seminars: 20 hours
 Structured inquiry-focused group activities: 90 hours
 Self-directed study including reading, preparing for seminars and flipped learning, student-directed group work and working on
 individual assessed tasks: 90 hours
 
 
 |  
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |  | Co-requisites |  |  
| Prohibited Combinations |  | Other requirements | None |  
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |  
Learning Outcomes 
| On completion of this course, the student will be able to: 
        Demonstrate a critical understanding of key theories, principles and practices in literacy developmentApply knowledge, skills and understanding to justify and use professional practices in literacy developmentCommunicate, using appropriate methods,  critical analysis of a current issue in literacy educationPractise in ways which draw on critical reflection on own and others' roles and responsibilitiesAnalyse their learning on this course in relation to relevant core concepts of social justice, sustainability, global perspectives, digital and statistical literacies and professional inquiry skills. |  
Reading List 
| INDICATIVE TEXTS: Comber, B. (2015) Literacy, Place, and Pedagogies of Possibility. New York : Routledge
 Hall, K. (2003) Listening to Stephen Read: Multiple perspectives on literacy . Buckingham: Open University Press
 Janks, H. (2014) Doing Critical Literacy.  Oxon:Routledge
 Mercer, N. and Littlejohn , K. (2007) Dialogue and the development of children's thinking a sociocultural approach. New York : Routledge
 Oakhill, J., Cain, K. and Elbro, C. (2015)  Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension.  Oxon:Routledge
 Stuart, M and Stainthorp, R. (2016) Reading Development & Teaching. London:Sage
 Wray, D and Lewis, M.  (1999) Extending Literacy
 
 
 
 
 
 
 |  
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills | - be able to identify, define and analyse problems and identify or create processes to solve them
 - be ready to ask key questions and exercise rational enquiry
 - search for, evaluate and use information to develop their knowledge and
 understanding
 - be independent learners who take responsibility for their own learning, and
 are committed to continuous reflection, self-evaluation and self-improvement
 -  be able to use collaboration and debate effectively to test, modify and
 strengthen their own views
 -  have the confidence to make decisions based on their understandings and
 their personal and intellectual autonomy
 -  be able to flexibly transfer their knowledge, learning, skills and abilities from
 one context to another
 -  make effective use of oral, written and visual means to critique, negotiate,
 create and communicate understanding
 -  seek and value open feedback to inform genuine self-awareness
 
 |  
| Keywords | literacy learning and teaching,practice based inquiry |  
Contacts 
| Course organiser | Dr Yvonne Foley Tel:
 Email:
 | Course secretary | Mrs Melania Chaverri Coto Tel:
 Email:
 |  |  |