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Dewey's Inquiry Leraning
Dewey's theory stressed the importance of the classroom environment as a supporting factor in learning. Collaboration and a problem-based approach to learning were emphasized. -
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Constructivist, Psycholinguist, and Social Learning Theories
This timeline will chronologically place significant constructivist, psycholinguist, and social learning theories as relevant to literacy instruction today. -
Schema Theory
This theory attempted to explain how people organize all of their existing knowledge into flexible structures known as schemas. These schemas may be adjusted depending on information learned. -
Psycholinguistic Theory
This theory asserts that reading is primarily a language process and that readers rely upon language cuing systems to assist in the reading of text. This theory also states that reading is a predictive act where the reader makes predictions to facilitate the reading process. -
Metacognitive Theory
This theory brought about the awareness that students need to be aware of their thinking and utilization of reading strategies in order to be able to apply them in an indepedent manner. -
Sociolinguistic Theory
This social theory places emphasis on the role of language in reading acquisition. It asserts that a home environment plays a pivotal role in the a student's success. -
Social Constructivism
Vygotsky's social theory stressed that children must learn in a social environment in order to learn new information. He founded the concept of the zone of proximal development to place emphasis on an appropriate instructional level. -
Transactional Reader Response Theory
This theory took the Schema Theory and expanded upon it by citing that each reader's experiences with a text are unique as each person's schema is unique. -
Socio-Cultural Theory
This theory finds that a child's learning is affected by social, cultural and historical factors and that learning cannot be separated from the home experiences. -
Social Learning Theory
Bandura's theory lied upon the assumption that people learn from watching others. This theory's name was later changed to Social Cognitive Theory to emphasize the great amount of cognition involved in learning through observation. -
Whole Language Theory
This theory emphasizes the incorporation of real literature and writing in the context of meaningful literary experiences to develop and facilitate students' interest and learning. -
Third Space Theory
Third Space Theory is very similar to the Socio-Cultural Theory in that different "spaces" represent different components of an individual's life. In order for learning to occur, it is recommended that educators build upon the home and cultural connections. -
Engagement Theory
This theory places emphasizes on a students' engagement in the reading process. Engagement was found to be a large component in student success as relative to motivation and increased learning. -
Critical Literacy Theory
Critical Literacy Theory addresses the political realm of social injustices that exist with regard to literacy learning and education. Under this theory, these injustices are examined in an effort to improve the quality of education.