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Reading as participating: a study of embodied experiences of reading and writing by Ninette Pace Balzan This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor in Education conferred by the School of Education, University of Sheffield, under the supervision of Dr Kate Pahl September 2014 i Dedication To my husband without whose support this journey would have not been possible, and to the eight persons whose lives touched mine as we travelled together. i Acknowledgements I thank Dr Kate Pahl, without whose guidance and patience, as I questioned various fields and methods, I would not have completed this study. I also thank my colleague, Nadia Vassallo, who listened patiently as I tried to articulate as-yet vague ideas. I wish to thank the Malta Dyslexia Association for allowing me to recruit participants from among their members. I also wish to thank all those participants and non-participants who read, or listened, to my work and provided valuable feedback. It would have been difficult for me to undertake this study without the valuable support of my family and friends, and their understanding of my constrained availability for them. I acknowledge that without the support of many, some of whom I have mentioned above and others who have given me their support in any way, this study would not have been. Thank you. ii Abstract The focus of this collaborative research is on seeking what enables or constrains participation in reading and writing as a social practice. Eight individuals with a label of dyslexia discuss and reflect, over a period of a year, on past and present experiences around reading and writing, and develop a personal narrative. The study uses a phenomenological approach, and ethnographic and narrative methods within a New Literacy Studies framework, situating experiences, and perceptions of them, within social and cultural contexts. The participants discuss, and reflect on, past and present experiences to design and develop their narrative. In the process, the relationship between experiences and perceptions and its effect on identity and agency, is explored. As participants each construct a narrative, with themselves as the protagonist, they ‘sediment’ their literate identities into the text, to be further reflected on. Initially, this collaborative study sets out to find what support, intervention, and community concessions persons labelled with dyslexia require, but this changes when the participants, through discussion and reflection on emotions, discourses and artifacts within the narrative, uncover covert sociocultural factors which hinder their reading and writing. The study moves away from a tacit acceptance of personal deficit or difference, leading to a label of dyslexia. It finds that the shift in the perception of literacy, from a definable and measurable goal to be reached, to one of participation in a social practice, enabled or hindered by embodied experiences, redefines the label of dyslexia, as reflecting restricted participation, and therefore social exclusion. Keywords: Literacy Experience Embodiment Participation Perception Emotion Discourses Mediating artifacts Identity Agency i Table of Contents Dedication .......................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... ii Abstract .............................................................................................................. i Table of tables .................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 1 Introductions ................................................................................. 10 Introduction .................................................................................................. 10 Focus of the study ....................................................................................... 10 Questions ................................................................................................. 10 Perception of literacy for this study .............................................................. 12 Outline of dissertation by chapter ................................................................ 13 Rationale for this study ................................................................................ 14 Meeting the participants ............................................................................... 15 Andrew ..................................................................................................... 15 Jenny ........................................................................................................ 15 Martha ...................................................................................................... 16 Brooke ...................................................................................................... 16 Karla ......................................................................................................... 16 Wayne ...................................................................................................... 17 Damien ..................................................................................................... 17 Alan .......................................................................................................... 17 My Background ............................................................................................ 18 Stories ...................................................................................................... 18 Research .................................................................................................. 19 Work ......................................................................................................... 19 Home ........................................................................................................ 19 Researcher bias .......................................................................................... 20 1 Malta – the local and the global ................................................................... 22 History ...................................................................................................... 22 Language and Education.......................................................................... 22 Socio-cultural aspects .............................................................................. 22 Policy on literacy ...................................................................................... 23 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 2 Literacy and Participation ............................................................. 25 Introduction .................................................................................................. 25 The main argument...................................................................................... 25 Contrasting views of literacy ........................................................................ 25 In Malta – literacy definable and measurable .............................................. 26 Political and economic implications of this view ........................................... 26 Literacy as ‘ideological’ ................................................................................ 27 Literacy and power ...................................................................................... 28 Perceptions, attitudes and emotions ............................................................ 29 Communication ............................................................................................ 30 Communities of practice .............................................................................. 32 Restricted practices ..................................................................................... 33 Assessment practices .................................................................................. 34 Inclusion and exclusion ................................................................................ 35 Third-space for literacy practice ................................................................... 36 Multimodality ................................................................................................ 37 Funds of knowledge..................................................................................... 38 Mediating experiences ................................................................................. 38 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 40 Chapter 3 Perception and participation ......................................................... 41 Introduction .................................................................................................. 41 Phenomenology ........................................................................................... 42 Embodiment ................................................................................................ 43 2 Development of a philosophy of neurophenomenology ............................... 43 Emotion ....................................................................................................... 44 The senses’ role in perception – multisensorial and multi-modal ................. 46 Systems of meaning ...................................................................................

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