Re-framing Literacy Imaginative and attractive, cutting edge in its conception, this text explicates a model for the integration of language arts and literacy education based on the notion of framing. Framing as a unifying principle derives from the frames used in the visual and performing arts, and is also a concept that has been used in sociology. The act of framing – not frames in themselves – provides a creative and critical approach to English as a subject. Re-framing Literacy • Offers an authoritative, clear guide to a complex fi eld • Breaks new ground in the language arts/literacy fi eld, integrating arts- based and sociologically based conceptions of the subject • Is internationally relevant – the concept of framing does not align itself to a particular culture or language but is generally applicable to thinking about communication arts in a number of languages and cultures. The theory of rhetoric described in this book and which provides its overarch- ing theory for framing is dialogic, political and liberating. Pedagogically, the text works inductively, from examples up toward theory: starting with visuals and moving back and forth between text and image; exploring multimodality; and engaging in the transformations of text and image that are at the heart of learning in English and the language arts. Structured like a teaching course, designed to excite and involve readers and lead them towards high-level and useful theory in the fi eld, Re-framing Literacy is widely appropriate for pre-service and in-service courses globally in English and languages arts education. Richard Andrews is Professor in English at the Institute of Education, University of London. Language, Culture, and Teaching Sonia Nieto, Series Editor Andrews Re-framing Literacy: Teaching and Learning in English and the Language Arts Chapman & Hobbel (Eds.) Social Justice Pedagogy Across the Curriculum: The Practice of Freedom Dantas & Manyak (Eds.) Home-School Connections in a Multicultural Society: Learning from and with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families Janks Literacy and Power Nieto Language, Culture, and Teaching: Critical Perspectives for a New Century, Second Edition Botelho & Rudman Critical Multicultural Analysis of Children’s Literature: Mirrors, Windows, and Doors Spears-Bunton & Powell (Eds.) Toward a Literacy of Promise: Joining the African- American Struggle Bruna & Gomez (Eds.) The Work of Language in Multicultural Classrooms: Talking Science, Writing Science Morrell Critical Literacy and Urban Youth: Pedagogies of Access, Dissent, and Liberation Edelsky With Literacy and Justice for All: Rethinking the Social in Language and Education, Third Edition Harmon/Wilson Beyond Grammar: Language, Power, and the Classroom Berlin Contextualizing College ESL Classroom Praxis: A Participatory Approach to Effective Instruction Vasquez Negotiating Critical Literacies with Young Children Goldstein Teaching and Learning in a Multicultural School: Choices, Risks, and Dilemmas Collins Community Writing: Researching Social Issues Through Composition Visit www.routledge.com/education for additional information on titles in the Language, Culture, and Teaching series. Re-framing Literacy Teaching and Learning in English and the Language Arts Richard Andrews First published 2011 by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. © 2011 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Andrews, Richard, 1953 Apr. 1– Re-framing literacy : teaching and learning in english and the language arts / Richard Andrews. p. cm. – (Language, culture, and teaching) Includes bibliographical references. 1. Literacy. 2. Language awareness in children. 3. Language arts (Early childhood) I. Title. LC149.A64 2010 371.33'44678–dc22 2010020904 ISBN 0-203-85312-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 13: 978-0-415-99552-8 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-99553-5 (pbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-203-85312-2 (ebk) For David, Zoë and Grace and in recognition of the work of Howard Hodgkin Contents Foreword ix Preface xi Acknowledgements xvi PART I The Big Picture 1 1 What’s in a Frame? 3 2 Framing in the Visual Arts 25 3 Framing in the Performance Arts 57 4 Visual and Verbal Frames 72 5 Frames of Reference: Framing in Relation to a Theory of Multimodality 91 PART II The Case of Language 107 6 Pre-school Writing and Drawing: Before Framing 109 7 Re-framing Language Arts/English as a School Subject 135 8 Zooming In: Framing in Practice 155 PART III Re-framing the Picture 173 9 Breaking the Frame: New Horizons for English 175 10 Panning Out: Beyond Rhetoric and Framing 193 Notes 209 Bibliography 213 Index 223 Foreword Sonia Nieto So much in education today is dry, unfeeling and predictable. This is particularly true of the language arts, a fi eld suffering from an excess of rubrics and templates and “best practices” but short on innovation and hope. Richard Andrews’s Re-framing Literacy provides a welcome antidote to this context. Both exciting and energizing, the ideas in this book give teachers and scholars other ways of viewing literacy and the language arts by re-framing them. While many schools and classrooms are consumed with test scores and with quick schemes to raise them, Andrews focuses instead on creativity, interpretation, critical thought, and the fl uid nature of language and, indeed, of teaching and learning. The books in the Language, Culture, and Teaching Series ask you to rethink your assumptions about the language arts and to recognize that teaching and learning are always immersed in a particular context, and that all students come to school with specifi c sociocultural realities. Re-framing Literacy power- fully refl ects these ideas. Based on the idea of the frame not only as “enclosing” content but also as “disclosing” it, for Andrews, re-framing is not so much a theory as it is an action. In this way, frames help us transgress the limits of static forms. Rather than a static theory, his “re-framing” is dynamic, on the move. It is also inevitably concerned with power and politics, because in Andrews’s words, “English as a school subject is fraught with political baggage” (p. 165). The idea that the language arts are concerned with power is challenging for some teachers to accept, but the author describes many ways in which this is true. Andrews’s ideas are also provocative, as in his suggestion that the very term “English” is no longer appropriate for what needs to happen in classrooms. A unique feature of this book is the juxtaposition of the language arts and the arts in general. The arts have unfortunately been drained out of much of education, but Andrews has placed them squarely with the language arts, considering not only texts of various kinds, but also the visual and performing arts, and even sports. In this book, the verbal arts are considered a true art, and writing itself is re-framed as a multimodal art. By shining a spotlight on the arts in education, Andrews links them naturally and elegantly. The intercon- nections among the arts are explored, not only in words but also in the many x Foreword images interspersed throughout the text. This is another valuable contribution of the book. Through the extended metaphor of framing throughout the text, the author encourages teachers to think critically and act creatively. At the same time, re-framing assumes that teachers may work in contexts that do not support refl ection, joy, and creativity. Given these times where standardization and accountability reign supreme in many school systems around the world, teach- ers need support and encouragement to think differently and with courage about their work. This book will provide some of that support. Through his ideas of “re-framing”, Andrews invites you to envision a differ- ent kind of language arts, one imbued with artistic possibility and energy, not simply rote and ritual, as is so often the case today. With far-reaching and intriguing examples in everything from soccer to technology, and from Shakespeare’s plays to Van Gogh’s letters, he suggests implications for pedagogy and curriculum. The great value of this book is that it can help all language and literacy teachers bridge the gap between the grim reality that exists in many schools and the hopeful and visionary schools in which they would like to work. It is my hope that, after you have read it, you too will come to think of the language arts more expansively and imaginatively than you had before. Preface During the 1970s and 80s, English as a school subject began to form into different camps. The unsatisfactory nature of the situation in the 1990s brought about a desire to fi nd a unifying theory for the subject: one which would provide the basis for a solution to the split between fi ction and non-fi ction, ‘personal growth’ and a skills-based curriculum, heritage and the international dimension of literature. It is in order to strengthen the theoretical foundation for English as a school subject, particularly at a time when electronic communication and multimo- dality offer new opportunities and challenges to the nature of the subject, that this book was conceived.