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Annotated Bibliography

Au, K.H., & Valencia, S.W. (1998). The complexities of portfolio assessment. In N. Burbules
and D. Hansen (Eds.), The predicaments of teaching (pp. 123-144). Boulder, CO: Westview
Press.

Identifies the potential benefits, as well as the drawbacks, in using portfolio assessment, based on experiences in two settings: the Kamehameha Elementary Education Program (KEEP) in Hawaii and the Bellevue Public Schools in Washington.  Although challenging to implement, portfolios are found to be powerful tools in students' learning and teachers' professional development. 

Au, K.H. (1994). Portfolio assessment: Experiences at the Kamehameha Elementary Education Program. In S. Valencia, E. Hiebert, & P. Afflerbach (Eds.), Authentic reading assessment:  Practices and possibilities (pp. 103-126). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Discusses the first two years of work with portfolio assessment at the Kamehameha Elementary Education Program (KEEP). Makes the point that literacy achievement results do not necessarily change because the form of assessment has changed. Real changes in literacy instruction, particularly in aspects of higher-level thinking such as reading comprehension and the writing process, are a prerequisite for improved achievement.

Au, K.H. (1997). Schooling, literacy, and cultural diversity in research and personal experience.
In A. Neumann & P.L. Peterson (Eds.), Learning from our lives: Women, research, and
autobiography in education (pp. 71-90). New York: Teachers College Press.

Describes the family and professional experiences that contributed to the author’s research interests. Looks in particular at the lives of the author's grandmothers.  Traces the author’s career and intellectual development beginning with her years as a classroom teacher.

Au, K.H.  (2002).  Balanced literacy instruction:  Addressing issues of equity.  In C.M. Roller (Ed.), Comprehensive reading instruction across the grade levels (pp. 70-87).  Newark, DE:  International Reading Association.

Discusses five dimensions of balance:  authenticity, response to literature, teachers' roles, skill contextualization, and curricular control.  Points out how imbalances in these areas have become common in many schools enrolling large numbers of students of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.  Makes specific suggestions about how balance can be restored in each of these dimensions.  

Au, K.H., Carroll, J.H., & Scheu, J.A. (2001). Balanced literacy instruction: A teacher's resource book (2nd ed.).  Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.

A practical resource for pre- and inservice teachers.   Contains short articles on key theories and instructional strategies in balanced literacy instruction.  Articles are brief enough to be read and discussed during professional development workshops.  Includes major sections on the readers' workshop, writers' workshop, and assessment.  Troubleshooting articles provide guidance on challenging or controversial issues.     

Au, K.H., & Raphael, T.E. (1998). Curriculum and teaching in literature-based programs. In T.E. Raphael & K.H. Au (Eds.), Literature-based instruction: Reshaping the curriculum (pp. 123-148). Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.

Addresses the changing and complex role of the teacher in literature-based programs.  Outlines the content of the literature-based curriculum:   Ownership, comprehension/composition, literary aspects, and language conventions.   Presents examples of literature-based programs in first- and fifth-grade classrooms. 

Au, K.H. (1997). Literacy for all students: Ten steps toward making a difference.
Distinguished Educator Series, The Reading Teacher, 51 (3), 186-194.

Written as a letter to a beginning teacher.  Presents the author's reflections on effective literacy instruction for students of diverse backgrounds, centering on the role of the process approach to writing in building students' ownership of literacy.

Au, K.H., & Carroll, J.H. (1997). Improving literacy achievement through a constructivist
approach: The KEEP Demonstration Classrom Project. Elementary School Journal, 97 (3), 203-
221.

Describes the final research project at KEEP, including the approach to literacy instruction (writers’ workshop and readers’ workshop), the method of assessment (portfolios tied to grade level benchmarks) and the model for working with inservice teachers. The study showed that full implementation of a constructivist approach led to positive results in writing achievement in classrooms with Hawaiian students.

Au, K.H., & Scheu, J.A. (1996). Journey toward holistic instruction. The Reading Teacher, 49
(6), 468-477.

Discusses the process of working with teachers in implementing a constructivist approach to literacy. The process of change is Illustrated through the experiences and understandings of a third-grade teacher.

Au, K.H., & Asam, C.L. (1996). Improving the achievement of low-income students of diverse
backgrounds. In M.F. Graves, P. van den Broek, & B.M. Taylor (Eds.), The first R: A right of
all children (pp. 199-223). New York: Teachers College Press.

Traces five years of work with a constructivist curriculum.  Describes the challenges faced in the first three years, when no improvements in students' literacy achievement were seen.  Explores how the switch to a strategy of "going with the goers" and a focus on full implementation of the curriculum led to dramatic improvements in literacy achievement as measured by portfolio assessment tied to grade level benchmarks. 

Au, K.H.  (2002).  Multicultural factors and the effective instruction of students of diverse backgrounds.  In A. Farstrup & S.J. Samuels (Eds.), What research says about reading instruction (pp. 392-413).  Newark, DE:  International Reading Assocation.  

Summarizes research related to five questions frequently asked by teachers.  (1)  How can I motivate my students?  (2) What should I do about struggling readers?  (3) How can I help second language learners?  (4) How can I teach reading in a culturally responsive manner?  (5) How can I assess my students' progress in reading?  

Au, K.H.  (2002).  Balanced literacy instruction:  Addressing issues of equity.  In C.M. Roller (Ed.), Comprehensive reading instruction across the grade levels (pp. 70-87).  Newark, DE:  International Reading Association.

Discusses five dimensions of balance:  authenticity, response to literature, teachers' roles, skill contextualization, and curricular control.  Points out how imbalances in these areas have become common in many schools enrolling large numbers of students of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.  Makes specific suggestions about how balance can be restored in each of these dimensions.  

Au, K.H.  (2001).  Culturally responsive instruction as a dimension of new literacies.  Reading Online, New Literacies, http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies.  

Gives an updated view of the place culturally responsive instruction, including talk story, in the light of new literacies.  

Au, K.H.  (2000).  A multicultural perspective on policies for improving literacy achievement:  Equity and excellence.  In R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, & P.D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, Vol. III (pp. 835-851).  New York:  Erlbaum.  

Provides an overview of research on improving the literacy achievement of students of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, with an emphasis on implications for policy.  

Au, K.H. (1998). Constructivist approaches, phonics, and the literacy learning of students of
diverse backgrounds. In T. Shanahan & F. Rodriguez-Brown (Eds.), Forty-seventh yearbook of
the National Reading Conference (pp. 1-19). Chicago: National Reading Conference.

Presents generalizations about the effective literacy instruction of students of diverse backgrounds based on the author’s research and observations in classrooms. Argues for the importance of placing skill instruction within meaningful contexts.  Presents a continuum of strategies in literature-based instruction: shared reading, guided reading, guided discussion, and literature discussion.   Recognizes the value of explicit instruction in phonics and other word identification skills but cautions against an overemphasis on lower-level skills in the instruction of students of diverse backgrounds.  

Au, K.H. (1998). Social constructivism and the school literacy learning of students of diverse
cultural backgrounds. Journal of Literacy Research, 30 (2), 297-319.

Outlines a conceptual framework, based on social constructivism, for improving the literacy learning of students of diverse backgrounds. Urges a deeper consideration of issues of culture, primary language, and social class within the constructivist perspective. Suggests that literacy learning will be improved as educators address the goal of instruction, the role of the home language, instructional materials, classroom management and interaction with students, relationships with the community, instructional methods, and assessment.

Au, K.H. (1997). Ownership, literacy achievement, and students of diverse cultural backgrounds. In J.T. Guthrie & A. Wigfield (Eds.), Reading engagement: Motivating readers through integrated instruction (pp. 168-182). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Proposes ownership or valuing of literacy as the starting point for improving the literacy achievement of students of diverse backgrounds. Relates the notion of ownership to the work of anthropologists Ogbu and D’Amato. Concludes that ownership is a necessary, although not sufficient, condition for literacy learning.

Au, K.H. (1995). Multicultural perspectives on literacy research. JRB: A Journal of Literacy,
27 (1), 85-100.

Reviews research in four categories: critical, cultural difference, bilingual, and literary analyses.  Proposes that multicultural research on literacy cannot be seen as a single, unified body of work.  Illustrates how this work reflects different ideological orientations, disciplines, methodologies, and interestes.  Concludes multicultural research has special value in revealing literacy in all its complexity and in calling attention to the social inequalities being perpetuated because of differences in social class, ethnicity, and primary language.       

Au, K.H., & Kawakami, A.J. (1994). Cultural congruence in instruction. In E.R. Hollins, J.E.
King, & W. C. Hayman (Eds.), Teaching diverse populations: Formulating a knowledge base
(pp. 5-23). Albany: State University of New York Press.

Reviews research on cultural congruence in instruction.   Summarizes the findings of studies in the following areas:  (1) dialect speakers, (2) participation structures, (3) narrative and questioning styles, (4) students who speak English as a second language (ESL students), and peer groups.  Recommended reading for teachers working in settings with students of diverse backgrounds. 

Au, K.H. (1993). Literacy instruction in multicultural settings. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.

Textbook appropriate for use in undergraduate or graduate courses.  Addresses key concepts in the literacy instruction of students of diverse backgrounds, with an emphasis on issues of language and culture.   Illustrates research findings through a presentation of key studies.  Provides teachers with practical implications for classroom instruction growing from the research.      

Au, K.H.  (2002).  Elementary programs:  Guiding change in a time of standards.  In S.B. Wepner, D.S. Strickland, & J.T. Feeley (Eds.), The administration and supervision of reading programs (3rd edition) (pp. 42-58).  New York:  Teachers College Press.

Outlines the steps schools can follow to create a system for improving students' literacy achievement through standards-based change.  

The three articles below provide accounts of talk story-like participation structures in reading lessons taught to Hawaiian children.   These talk story-like reading lessons served as one of the first documented examples of culturally responsive instruction.  The first article provides the most detailed description of the phenomenon.  The second article makes the link between talk story-like participation structures and proximal indices of reading achievement, suggesting that cultural responsiveness can contribute to improved academic learning by students of diverse backgrounds.  The third article presents the original analysis of a talk story-like reading lesson.

Au, K.H., & Mason, J.M. (1983). Cultural congruence in classroom participation structures: Achieving a balance of rights. Discourse Processes, 6 (2), 145-167.

Au, K.H., & Mason, J.M. (1981). Social organizational factors in learning of read: The balance of rights hypothesis. Reading Research Quarterly, 17 (1), 115-152.

Au, K.H. (1980). Participation structures in a reading lesson with Hawaiian children: Analysis of a culturally appropriate instructional event. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 11 (2), 91-115.

The following articles relate to work with the Ka Lama teacher education initiative, a program developed to increase the number of Native Hawaiian teachers in schools in their own communities.

Au, K.H.  (2002).  Communities of practice:  Engagement, imagination, and alignment in research on teacher education.                  Journal of Teacher Education, 53(3), 222-227.

Argues for the importance of designing teacher education programs specifically to serve diverse communities, and against a  generic view of teacher education.     

Au, K.H.  (2000).  Literacy education in the process of community development.  In T. Shanahan & F.V. Rodriguez-Brown (Eds.), Forty-ninth yearbook of the National Reading Conference (pp. 61-77).  Chicago, IL:  National Reading Conference. 

Presents the conceptual framework for research and practice in the Ka Lama teacher education initiative and includes historical background on Hawaiian teachers in the public schools of Hawaii. 

Au, K.H., & Maaka, M.J.  (2001).  Teacher education, diversity, and literacy.  In C.M. Roller (Ed.), Learning to teach:  Setting the research agenda (pp. 136-148).  Newark, DE:  International Reading Association. 

Describes the Ka Lama teacher education initiative, which includes creating a pipeline for bringing community residents into the teaching profession.  Discusses the content of the preservice teacher education curriculum.