ABSTRACT
It is obvious that when the author first responded to Smith’s list and then those generated by him and the other experts, he had some strong views about learning and language. The enclosed–enclosing system comprising the events and activities that occur in classrooms is embedded within a system of formal theoretical knowledge. The formal theoretical knowledge that effective teachers made explicit during the debriefing and sharing sessions we had seemed to be made up from three overlapping domains, namely “Learning and How It Works,” “Language and How It Works”, and “The Role of Language in Learning.” The range of contexts, practices, and teaching strategies employs will need to be underpinned by formal theoretical knowledge about learning, and about the role that language plays in learning. The formal theoretical knowledge will need to be accompanied by a conscious awareness of her values pertaining to the nature of literacy and the purposes and functions it should serve in our culture.
