Stergios Botzakis | University of Tennessee Knoxville (original) (raw)

Papers by Stergios Botzakis

Routledge eBooks, Aug 25, 2022

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Oct 4, 2014

Reading Research Quarterly, Jan 3, 2006

The topic of these international reports—reading and writing connections—was generated through an... more The topic of these international reports—reading and writing connections—was generated through an informal polling conducted by our international research correspondents (IRCs). We asked that all IRCs send informed individuals in their region a common questionnaire. This questionnaire consisted of 10 items related to the topic of reading and writing connections. The first question centered on the relationship between reading and writing practices and research. The next 8 items were rated using a 4-point Likert scale (never, ...

Language arts, Mar 1, 2014

In 1861, the US Naval Observatory put out one of the first calls for applied research from a US g... more In 1861, the US Naval Observatory put out one of the first calls for applied research from a US government agency. Their problem was concrete and the need clear: they needed to build a compass that would still work even aboard new ships made of iron. The solution came in the form of a liquid compass (Ritchie Navigation, 2012). This revolutionary invention was an elegant solution to a mechanical challenge. Today, US government agencies funding education are also seeking elegant solutions to "crises" under the assumption that the problems are simple and mechanical (Williams, 2007). Current reforms are characterized by implementation of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010; this will be referred to as CCSS throughout). In literacy education, this standardized, formulaic approach to solving complex and highly diverse social problems has been based on an extremely limited range of scientific research. Its resulting foundations on extremely narrow views of reading, writing, speaking/listening, and language make it essential that professional English teachers go beyond the Standards in order to ensure that all students are supported to succeed.Standards are not in and of themselves bad, but they should be mitigated by concerns of context and delivery. Standards are inflexible, which means they can become outdated or obsolete (perhaps via technological change) and so should allow for some leeway regarding interpretation as well as teaching approaches. Even though the Common Core State Standards authors warn that the Standards do not function as a curriculum, and even though it specifically states that its Standards cannot account for all that students should know in English language arts, the Standards proceed from a basic assumption that literacy and language arts development means teaching children a one-size- fits- all set of skills and behaviors-what Street (1984/1995) called an autonomous model of literacy. This assumption has set the stage for numerous implementation problems and practices that standardize curriculum and teaching; even the CCSS warn that standardization must be avoided and that teachers "establish individualized benchmarks" for their students (¶ 2).Teaching requires attention to both ideological and autonomous aspects of literacy. And although no single lesson or unit can or should try to cover every component of the CCSS, our point is that we can meet the CCSS and students' needs in ways that satisfy both, as well as our obligations as teachers (Burns & Botzakis, 2012). One of the major drawbacks of only using an autonomous model is that literacy instruction becomes simplistic and overly focused on covering each Standard and not student learning. It also frequently leads to treating each Standard as if it were separate from all the others. The CCSS becomes the basis for academic checklists-objectives to address superficially in a mad dash toward standardized tests that have little to do with how people actually read, write, and think in real life (including college and careers).Instead of being concerned primarily about student learning, educators working with autonomous models and standards become more concerned about "dips in test scores" (Collier, 2012, p. 22) that may result from variations in how different skills are taught in different classrooms. Schools teach to tests because the stakes are so high, and the impulse is to make sure all students learn the same things at the same times at the same rates. Failure or resistance can and does lead to teachers losing their jobs, schools losing funding, communities losing property value, and more (Hiebert & Mesmer, 2013).A number of complications arise for teachers when they rely on isolated content standards. First, such reliance removes attention to important issues of diversity regarding how teaching and learning must be designed for optimal success with all students. …

Language arts, 2014

In 1861, the US Naval Observatory put out one of the first calls for applied research from a US g... more In 1861, the US Naval Observatory put out one of the first calls for applied research from a US government agency. Their problem was concrete and the need clear: they needed to build a compass that would still work even aboard new ships made of iron. The solution came in the form of a liquid compass (Ritchie Navigation, 2012). This revolutionary invention was an elegant solution to a mechanical challenge. Today, US government agencies funding education are also seeking elegant solutions to "crises" under the assumption that the problems are simple and mechanical (Williams, 2007). Current reforms are characterized by implementation of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010; this will be referred to as CCSS throughout). In literacy education, this standardized, formulaic approach to solving complex and highly diverse social problems has been based on an extremely limited range o...

Review of Research in Education, 2016

In this review of literacy education research in North America over the past century, the authors... more In this review of literacy education research in North America over the past century, the authors examined the historical succession of theoretical frameworks on students’ active participation in their own literacy learning, and in particular the metatheoretical assumptions that justify those frameworks. The authors used motivation and engagement as focal topics by which to trace this history because of their conceptual proximity to active literacy participation. They mapped the uses of motivation and engagement in the major literacy journals and handbooks over the past century, constructed a grounded typology of theoretical assumptions about literate agency and its development to code those uses, and reviewed similar histories of theoretical frameworks in educational, psychological, philosophical, and literary scholarship to draft a narrative history of the emergence of engaged literacies.

Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 2017

Our understanding of reading—including reading multimodal texts—is always constrained or opened u... more Our understanding of reading—including reading multimodal texts—is always constrained or opened up by what we consider to be a text, what aspects of a reader’s embodied activity we focus on, and how we draw a boundary around a reading event. This article brings together five literacy researchers who respond to a human-scale graphic novel, comprised of over 300 large-scale paintings, recently exhibited in an art gallery and also published in print form. The researchers' responses reflect a variety of theoretical orientations, including postcolonial theory, critical theory, affect theories, new materialisms, social semiotics, and reading development theories. The author of the novel also reflects on his own creative processes and goals. These various responses, and the multiple modalities of the work itself, are intentionally juxtaposed in order to create productive tensions, contrasts, and open spaces for reconsidering how multimodal texts are read and experienced. Dimensions of ...

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2017

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2017

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2007

The bell rings. Some late arrivals scram-ble for the door, but at least one con-tinues his slow a... more The bell rings. Some late arrivals scram-ble for the door, but at least one con-tinues his slow amble down the high school corridor. In a scurry of squeaks, the teacher finishes writing the title of To Kill a Mockingbird on the white board. Pointing to a pile of paperbacks on her desk, ...

... me along the way. To my brothers and sisters, Gina, Diana, Tony, Melanie, and Polly: for all ... more ... me along the way. To my brothers and sisters, Gina, Diana, Tony, Melanie, and Polly: for all of your love and support through the years. ... Amy K.. Amy S., Christine, Melly, Steve, and Tara, I am a better reader, writer, and scholar because of y'all. ...

Everybody warned me about Larry. He was trouble; he was stubborn; he was a pain. The first time w... more Everybody warned me about Larry. He was trouble; he was stubborn; he was a pain. The first time we met, everything went fine; the second time we met, he curled up into a ball and zipped his jacket over his head, refusing to speak to me or anyone else. As a teacher working for a private, nationally franchised tutoring company, I had seen lots of children like him. He was a reluctant reader working on the pre-primer level. He looked like a typical first grader, little and skinny, and I imagined he was being frustrated seeing all of his classmates engaged in reading while he floundered, not knowing his alphabet, let alone the sounds those symbols represented. I was right about his frustration, but Larry was in fifth grade, not first. He was tested and labeled a student in need of special education services; he was getting the majority of his education in a mainstream classroom with occasional assistance from a teacher’s aide. Unfortunately, she was often called out of class to be eithe...

In this review of literacy education research in North America over the past century, the authors... more In this review of literacy education research in North America over the past century, the authors examined the historical succession of theoretical frameworks on students' active participation in their own literacy learning, and in particular the metatheoretical assumptions that justify those frameworks. The authors used motivation and engagement as focal topics by which to trace this history because of their conceptual proximity to active literacy participation. They mapped the uses of motivation and engagement in the major literacy journals and handbooks over the past century, constructed a grounded typology of theoretical assumptions about literate agency and its development to code those uses, and reviewed similar histories of theoretical frameworks in educational, psychological, philosophical, and literary scholarship to draft a narrative history of the emergence of engaged literacies.

Reading Research Quarterly, 2004

In her report, Hua Shu covered several cognitive aspects of learning to read in China. She descri... more In her report, Hua Shu covered several cognitive aspects of learning to read in China. She described Chinese script as morphosyllabic, because each character represents both a syllable and a morpheme. To extract the exact meaning, the reader must distinguish ...

Handbook of Reading Disability Research, 2013

Page 142. 12 Aliteracy, Agency, and Identity STERGIOS BOTZAKIS The University of Tennessee LEIGH ... more Page 142. 12 Aliteracy, Agency, and Identity STERGIOS BOTZAKIS The University of Tennessee LEIGH A. HALL The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Defining the term struggling reader has been likened to “try-ing to ...

Routledge eBooks, Aug 25, 2022

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Oct 4, 2014

Reading Research Quarterly, Jan 3, 2006

The topic of these international reports—reading and writing connections—was generated through an... more The topic of these international reports—reading and writing connections—was generated through an informal polling conducted by our international research correspondents (IRCs). We asked that all IRCs send informed individuals in their region a common questionnaire. This questionnaire consisted of 10 items related to the topic of reading and writing connections. The first question centered on the relationship between reading and writing practices and research. The next 8 items were rated using a 4-point Likert scale (never, ...

Language arts, Mar 1, 2014

In 1861, the US Naval Observatory put out one of the first calls for applied research from a US g... more In 1861, the US Naval Observatory put out one of the first calls for applied research from a US government agency. Their problem was concrete and the need clear: they needed to build a compass that would still work even aboard new ships made of iron. The solution came in the form of a liquid compass (Ritchie Navigation, 2012). This revolutionary invention was an elegant solution to a mechanical challenge. Today, US government agencies funding education are also seeking elegant solutions to "crises" under the assumption that the problems are simple and mechanical (Williams, 2007). Current reforms are characterized by implementation of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010; this will be referred to as CCSS throughout). In literacy education, this standardized, formulaic approach to solving complex and highly diverse social problems has been based on an extremely limited range of scientific research. Its resulting foundations on extremely narrow views of reading, writing, speaking/listening, and language make it essential that professional English teachers go beyond the Standards in order to ensure that all students are supported to succeed.Standards are not in and of themselves bad, but they should be mitigated by concerns of context and delivery. Standards are inflexible, which means they can become outdated or obsolete (perhaps via technological change) and so should allow for some leeway regarding interpretation as well as teaching approaches. Even though the Common Core State Standards authors warn that the Standards do not function as a curriculum, and even though it specifically states that its Standards cannot account for all that students should know in English language arts, the Standards proceed from a basic assumption that literacy and language arts development means teaching children a one-size- fits- all set of skills and behaviors-what Street (1984/1995) called an autonomous model of literacy. This assumption has set the stage for numerous implementation problems and practices that standardize curriculum and teaching; even the CCSS warn that standardization must be avoided and that teachers "establish individualized benchmarks" for their students (¶ 2).Teaching requires attention to both ideological and autonomous aspects of literacy. And although no single lesson or unit can or should try to cover every component of the CCSS, our point is that we can meet the CCSS and students' needs in ways that satisfy both, as well as our obligations as teachers (Burns & Botzakis, 2012). One of the major drawbacks of only using an autonomous model is that literacy instruction becomes simplistic and overly focused on covering each Standard and not student learning. It also frequently leads to treating each Standard as if it were separate from all the others. The CCSS becomes the basis for academic checklists-objectives to address superficially in a mad dash toward standardized tests that have little to do with how people actually read, write, and think in real life (including college and careers).Instead of being concerned primarily about student learning, educators working with autonomous models and standards become more concerned about "dips in test scores" (Collier, 2012, p. 22) that may result from variations in how different skills are taught in different classrooms. Schools teach to tests because the stakes are so high, and the impulse is to make sure all students learn the same things at the same times at the same rates. Failure or resistance can and does lead to teachers losing their jobs, schools losing funding, communities losing property value, and more (Hiebert & Mesmer, 2013).A number of complications arise for teachers when they rely on isolated content standards. First, such reliance removes attention to important issues of diversity regarding how teaching and learning must be designed for optimal success with all students. …

Language arts, 2014

In 1861, the US Naval Observatory put out one of the first calls for applied research from a US g... more In 1861, the US Naval Observatory put out one of the first calls for applied research from a US government agency. Their problem was concrete and the need clear: they needed to build a compass that would still work even aboard new ships made of iron. The solution came in the form of a liquid compass (Ritchie Navigation, 2012). This revolutionary invention was an elegant solution to a mechanical challenge. Today, US government agencies funding education are also seeking elegant solutions to "crises" under the assumption that the problems are simple and mechanical (Williams, 2007). Current reforms are characterized by implementation of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010; this will be referred to as CCSS throughout). In literacy education, this standardized, formulaic approach to solving complex and highly diverse social problems has been based on an extremely limited range o...

Review of Research in Education, 2016

In this review of literacy education research in North America over the past century, the authors... more In this review of literacy education research in North America over the past century, the authors examined the historical succession of theoretical frameworks on students’ active participation in their own literacy learning, and in particular the metatheoretical assumptions that justify those frameworks. The authors used motivation and engagement as focal topics by which to trace this history because of their conceptual proximity to active literacy participation. They mapped the uses of motivation and engagement in the major literacy journals and handbooks over the past century, constructed a grounded typology of theoretical assumptions about literate agency and its development to code those uses, and reviewed similar histories of theoretical frameworks in educational, psychological, philosophical, and literary scholarship to draft a narrative history of the emergence of engaged literacies.

Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 2017

Our understanding of reading—including reading multimodal texts—is always constrained or opened u... more Our understanding of reading—including reading multimodal texts—is always constrained or opened up by what we consider to be a text, what aspects of a reader’s embodied activity we focus on, and how we draw a boundary around a reading event. This article brings together five literacy researchers who respond to a human-scale graphic novel, comprised of over 300 large-scale paintings, recently exhibited in an art gallery and also published in print form. The researchers' responses reflect a variety of theoretical orientations, including postcolonial theory, critical theory, affect theories, new materialisms, social semiotics, and reading development theories. The author of the novel also reflects on his own creative processes and goals. These various responses, and the multiple modalities of the work itself, are intentionally juxtaposed in order to create productive tensions, contrasts, and open spaces for reconsidering how multimodal texts are read and experienced. Dimensions of ...

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2017

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2017

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2007

The bell rings. Some late arrivals scram-ble for the door, but at least one con-tinues his slow a... more The bell rings. Some late arrivals scram-ble for the door, but at least one con-tinues his slow amble down the high school corridor. In a scurry of squeaks, the teacher finishes writing the title of To Kill a Mockingbird on the white board. Pointing to a pile of paperbacks on her desk, ...

... me along the way. To my brothers and sisters, Gina, Diana, Tony, Melanie, and Polly: for all ... more ... me along the way. To my brothers and sisters, Gina, Diana, Tony, Melanie, and Polly: for all of your love and support through the years. ... Amy K.. Amy S., Christine, Melly, Steve, and Tara, I am a better reader, writer, and scholar because of y'all. ...

Everybody warned me about Larry. He was trouble; he was stubborn; he was a pain. The first time w... more Everybody warned me about Larry. He was trouble; he was stubborn; he was a pain. The first time we met, everything went fine; the second time we met, he curled up into a ball and zipped his jacket over his head, refusing to speak to me or anyone else. As a teacher working for a private, nationally franchised tutoring company, I had seen lots of children like him. He was a reluctant reader working on the pre-primer level. He looked like a typical first grader, little and skinny, and I imagined he was being frustrated seeing all of his classmates engaged in reading while he floundered, not knowing his alphabet, let alone the sounds those symbols represented. I was right about his frustration, but Larry was in fifth grade, not first. He was tested and labeled a student in need of special education services; he was getting the majority of his education in a mainstream classroom with occasional assistance from a teacher’s aide. Unfortunately, she was often called out of class to be eithe...

In this review of literacy education research in North America over the past century, the authors... more In this review of literacy education research in North America over the past century, the authors examined the historical succession of theoretical frameworks on students' active participation in their own literacy learning, and in particular the metatheoretical assumptions that justify those frameworks. The authors used motivation and engagement as focal topics by which to trace this history because of their conceptual proximity to active literacy participation. They mapped the uses of motivation and engagement in the major literacy journals and handbooks over the past century, constructed a grounded typology of theoretical assumptions about literate agency and its development to code those uses, and reviewed similar histories of theoretical frameworks in educational, psychological, philosophical, and literary scholarship to draft a narrative history of the emergence of engaged literacies.

Reading Research Quarterly, 2004

In her report, Hua Shu covered several cognitive aspects of learning to read in China. She descri... more In her report, Hua Shu covered several cognitive aspects of learning to read in China. She described Chinese script as morphosyllabic, because each character represents both a syllable and a morpheme. To extract the exact meaning, the reader must distinguish ...

Handbook of Reading Disability Research, 2013

Page 142. 12 Aliteracy, Agency, and Identity STERGIOS BOTZAKIS The University of Tennessee LEIGH ... more Page 142. 12 Aliteracy, Agency, and Identity STERGIOS BOTZAKIS The University of Tennessee LEIGH A. HALL The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Defining the term struggling reader has been likened to “try-ing to ...