Product Review

This popular text, now in its third edition, "unpackages" the various dimensions of literacy – linguistic (the nature of language, oral-written language relationships, language variation); cognitive (constructive nature of perception, the reading process, understanding written discourse, the writing process); sociocultural (literacy as social practices, authority of written discourse); and developmental (constructing the written language system) – and at the same time accounts for the interrelationships among them. Distinguished by its examination of literacy from a multidimensional and interdisciplinary perspective, it provides a strong conceptual foundation upon which literacy curriculum and instruction in school settings can be grounded.

Dimensions of Literacy links theory and research to practice in an understandable, user-friendly manner; provides in-depth coverage of the various dimensions of literacy; and includes demonstrations, hands-on activities, authentic reading and writing events that reflect key concepts, and tables and figures that summarize the concepts.

Changes in the third edition:

• provide more clearly focused discussion on the nature of language and addresses the role of various other sign systems in reading and writing
• cover new research on eye movements and miscue analysis (EMMA) and reading fluidity (i.e., flow)
• expand the discussion of bilingualism and biliteracy through the book
• extend the discussion of new literacies/multiliteracies/multimodal literacies
• include updated references throughout the entire book.