ABSTRACT
The previous two chapters have critically examined the notion of dyslexia, which, as we have seen, focuses upon individual cognitive difficulties that can be associated with information processing. This chapter will move beyond a cognitive perspective to explore wider disciplinary and interdisciplinary views and conceptualisations of literacy. In this chapter we will draw upon understandings of literacy derived from social psychology, social linguistics and sociological perspectives to explore the social and cultural factors that might contribute to particular groups of students experiencing difficulties in literacy. As we have seen, understanding literacy and the barriers to literacy acquisition is a complex project and one fraught with tensions and conflicts between differing viewpoints and their related teaching practices. These tensions and conflicts exist within socio-cultural views of literacy as well as between socio-cultural conceptualisations of literacy and the concepts, models and approaches examined in the previous three chapters.
