| Acknowledgements | 5 |
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| Contents | 6 |
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| Contributors | 8 |
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| About the Authors | 10 |
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| List of Figures | 17 |
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| List of Tables | 19 |
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| 1 Theoretical Frameworks and Ways of Seeing: Operating at the Intersection---Literacy, Numeracy and Learning Difficulties | 21 |
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| The plan of the book | 24 |
| Reading this book | 31 |
| What are demands for literacy and numeracy learning in the 21st century? | 32 |
| References | 33 |
| 2 Learning Difficulties, Literacy and Numeracy: Conversations Across the Fields | 36 |
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| Introduction | 36 |
| Defining learning difficulties, literacy and numeracy | 37 |
| Learning difficulties---changing perspectives | 39 |
| Literacy today---competing views | 42 |
| Skills-based versus whole-language approaches | 43 |
| Print-based approach versus multiliteracies | 44 |
| Numeracy today---varying perspectives | 46 |
| Towards a complementarity of views in numeracy | 49 |
| Effective provision for students with learning difficulties: what the major studies tell us | 51 |
| What works | 52 |
| Conclusion | 58 |
| Essential next questions | 59 |
| How much and to what extent should direct, explicit instruction of phonics (including phonemic awareness) be prioritised over other skills and strategies, and when should it be part of the reading instruction? | 59 |
| How best to orchestrate a combination of approaches for effective literacy and numeracy learning? | 59 |
| What are the optimum processes for both inservice and pre-service education? | 60 |
| References | 60 |
| 3 Researching the Opportunities for Learning for Students with Learning Difficulties in Classrooms: An Ethnographic Perspective | 68 |
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| Constructing a telling case | 69 |
| Selecting Sergio as a tracer unit | 71 |
| Theoretical assumptions governing the telling case | 72 |
| Roots and routes of the conceptual system | 72 |
| Phase 1: 1960--1980s in the United States context | 74 |
| Phase 2: 1980s--1990s: multiple-perspective research and expanding ethnographic studies in classrooms | 76 |
| Phase 3: curriculum, discourse and the social construction of knowledge | 77 |
| Decision point 1: from whose point(s) of view will the telling case be constructed | 79 |
| The archive as text: bounding the telling case | 79 |
| Constructing an anchor for the telling case: the Island History Project essay | 82 |
| Reading the world(s) of the classroom: multiple actors, multiple readers and multiple points of viewing | 83 |
| Constructing the physical world | 84 |
| The class as a developing text: What Sergio contributed towards and had available to read | 86 |
| Sergio as a tracer unit: uncovering the first chain of events of the school day | 86 |
| Testing the prediction: mapping the flow of conduct of the first day of the Watermelon Project | 92 |
| Forward mapping: the Island History Project | 94 |
| Complementary perspectives as material resources: some final comments | 99 |
| Essential next questions | 100 |
| How can researchers build programs of research that use complementary methods to examine the impact of decisions and actions within and across times, actors and events that support and constrain opportunities for learning and inclusive practices for teachers and students? | 100 |
| How and where can the everyday work and accomplishments of students in classrooms that make visible differing levels of competence enter into the assessment process for students and how can these accomplishments be related to the opportunities for learning afforded them in classrooms? | 101 |
| How might new theoretical and technological resources be used by both teacher and students to help students, teachers, administrators and policy makers see the developing competencies? | 101 |
| References | 102 |
| 4 The New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension: New Opportunities and Challenges for Students with Learning Difficulties | 110 |
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| Theoretical perspective | 112 |
| New literacies: a dual-level theory | 112 |
| The new literacies of online reading comprehension | 113 |
| Why do struggling readers sometimes perform well during online reading | 115 |
| These students are often good at locating information | 115 |
| The Internet requires the reading of shorter text units, a benefit to struggling readers | 115 |
| The Internet permits readers to construct their own texts, a benefit to struggling readers | 115 |
| The Internet provides supportive multimedia features for struggling readers | 116 |
| Struggling offline readers often develop their online reading skills at home | 116 |
| Electronic organisational tools often provide important supports for struggling readers | 116 |
| Case studies of struggling readers | 116 |
| Michael | 117 |
| Leslie | 119 |
| Jessica | 121 |
| Larry | 122 |
| Reconsidering online reading instruction for struggling readers | 124 |
| Essential next questions | 125 |
| References | 125 |
| 5 Literacy, Technology and the Internet: What Are the Challenges and Opportunities for Learners with Reading Difficulties, and How Do We Support Them in Meeting Those Challenges and Grasping Those Opportunities? | 130 |
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| Introduction---theres just no rabbits on the Internet | 130 |
| What are the skills that readers need to acquire for the 21st century, and how should they be taught? | 131 |
| What types of software can support the teaching of literacy and the development of literacy | 133 |
| Supporting beginning reading---Internet optional | 133 |
| Supporting knowledge creation: the Internet as knowledge source | 137 |
| Supporting text production: mi
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