UKLA is delighted to announce that the winner of the UKLA Academic Book Award 2019 is:
Eve Bearne & David Reedy, Teaching Primary English: subject knowledge and classroom practice, Routledge 2018.
As well as providing an exemplary guide for teaching primary English, this outstanding handbook is linked to an excellent supporting website.Teaching Primary English delivers on so many levels – it is comprehensive, well informed and easy to use; it is both practical and well theorised; it is multi-layered and full of good ideas, illustrated by well chosen actual classroom examples. The breadth is as extraordinary as the depth, which is not surprising given that it was written by two educationalists drawing on a lifetime’s experience of, commitment to, and leadership in best practice for literacy. This publication was described by one of the judges as likely to become a ‘bible’ of sorts for those involved in primary education and beyond. It fulfils all of the criteria for the UKLA award, making a distinctive contribution to literacy education and encouraging teachers to be reflective, innovative and creative. It is an accessibly written, inspiring, lasting resource with a clear editorial voice and it is deeply relevant to classroom practice. Teaching Primary English will undoubtedly become the go-to book for teachers, trainees and lecturers alike and we hope the publishers will ensure it is regularly up-dated to keep it current.
UKLA would also like to announce the highly commended, runner-up,
Young People Reading: Empirical Research across International Contexts
Eds. Evelyn Arizpe & Gabrielle Cliff Hodges, Routledge 2018.
This volume offers an invaluable global perspective on adolescent readers, drawing primarily on work by young scholars, revisiting their doctoral research studies. The world map accompanying each chapter, identifying the nationality of the contributor, emphasised the multicultural nature of the enterprise and was much appreciated. Cliff Hodges and Arizpe, who supervised many of the contributors to this volume, in turn reviewed their own doctoral work, both of which were highly valued by the judges. This book will be of particular interest to higher degree students doing empirical work at doctoral and masters’ level, but it has important lessons for all scholars of reading and children’s literature. The content focuses on young adult reading choices outside as well as inside the school curriculum, and provides a timely consideration of what happens to reading for young people at a time of crisis. This well written, well theorised, most original volume is a battle-cry for the value of qualitative, empirical, single case study research.
UKLA would like to congratulate the following authors and publishers for their books which were shortlisted for this award and had many merits. It was a very good year for academic publications on literacy in many varied guises.
New Media in the Classroom: Rethinking Primary Literacy
Cathy Burnett & Guy Merchant Sage 2018
Children’s Literature in a Multiliterate World
Eds Nicola Daly & Libby Limbrick, Trentham Books 2018
Portraits of Everyday Literacy for Social Justice: Reframing the debates for families and communities
Susan Jones, Palgrave Macmillan 2018
Chair of Panel: Morag Styles, Organiser: Lynda Graham
Jane Bednall, Helen Bradford, Sarah Brownsword, Fiona Evans, Lynda Graham, Penny Manford, Roger McDonald, Elizabeth Robertson, Rebecca Simpson-Hargreaves, Sara Stanley
