Reading and Writing as Social, Cultural Practices: Implications for Literacy Education

This article describes a view of reading and writing as social, cultural practices in order to develop curricular language for this perspective. In particular, the article begins by describing the social, cultural contexts that influence and are influenced by peoples' practices with reading and writing. Next, three descriptions illustrate teaching practices related to this alternative view of reading and writing. A concluding section presents four themes derived from a cross-case analysis of the teaching practices, related instructional principles, and key experiences for designing reading/literacy curriculum that reflects this view of reading and writing.