Literacy Teaching and Learning MOOC’s Updates

Section 4: Didactic Literacy Pedagogy

Media embedded February 5, 2016
Media embedded February 5, 2016
Media embedded February 5, 2016

Didactic literacy pedagogy was the founding approach to reading and writing from the introduction of mass, compulsory, institutionalised education in the nineteenth century. It is still an approach that is widely advocated publicly and applied in schools today. A didactic approach to literacy requires learning the rules of the ways in which sounds and letters correspond. It involves learning the formal rules of what is presented as the one, correct way to write. It is about comprehension of what authors are really supposed to mean. It is about learning to respect the high cultural texts of the literary canon. Its syllabi tell you what is to be learned. Its textbooks follow the syllabi. Teachers are expected to follow the textbooks. And, if they are to score well, students have to give the right answers when it comes to the test.

Fig 4: Classroom Setup for Didactic Pedagogy

For historical examples of didactic pedagogy, see Section 4 at literacies.com. Consider also the educational apps that nowadays use didactic pedagogy—when are they valuable? When are they problematic?

Comment: What are limitations and strengths of didactic pedagogy?

Make an Update: Find an example of didactic pedagogy—either an historical example or a contemporary example such as a learning app. Briefly describe your selected example, then analyze its pedagogical strengths and limitations.

  • Elaine Asico
  • Abolaji Azeez
  • April Ann Pesino
  • April Ann Pesino
  • Monika Samaroo Latchman
  • Tamika Ault
  • Shaira Marie Del Rosario
  • Vickola Solomon Mejia
  • Evelyse Eerola
  • Amanda Mize