nancy nelson books

Nancy Nelson & Robert C. Calfee, Editors

Published by University of Chicago Press, 1998

This volume shows that the separation of the teaching of reading and writing has been a dominant feature of educational practice at the elementary and secondary levels since colonial times. The editors identify current movements in education that have fostered connections between reading and writing as well as those that tend to push them apart.

Nancy Nelson Spivey, The Constructivist Metaphor: Reading, Writing, and the Making of Meaning

Published 1997 by Academic Press

Republished 2023 by Brill (Leiden, the Netherlands)

 https://brill.com/display/title/23291?rskey=YreQSV&result=1

 “The Constructivist Metaphor presents a major reconsideration of constructivist theory through an applied examination of the ways in which people create meaning for texts. Spivey first delineates major constructivist positions from the early 20th century, including Frederic Bartlett's description of the discourse processes of individuals, small groups, and large communities. Then she concentrates on reading and writing processes as they were variously perceived throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These cultural and cognitive avenues of investigation provide an essential starting point for her presentation of the late 20th century approaches to the generative, organizational, and selective nature of human communication. The work illustrates an integrative conception of discourse, placing cognitive activity in relation to the text while assuming a social orientation encompassing both composition and comprehension. It describes constructivist concepts in terms of their similarities and differences. It applies theoretical positions to case studies in reading and writing and presents conclusions useful to scholars working on issues of comprehension and communication.”