337Book reviews / International Journal of Educational Development 24 (2004) 329–340

might be described as personal recollections andreflections relating to diverse issues, some takingthe form of letters and stories.

Martyn Hammersley,Open University, Faculty of Education and

Language Studies, Level 3, Office 9, WaltonHall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK

doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2003.11.009

Early intervention: The essential readings.Essential readings in developmental psychologyEdited by Maurice A Feldman, 2004, Blackwell,ISBN 1-4051-1168-2 (pb), 1-4051-1169-0 (hb),351 pages, £19.99 (pb), £60.00 (hb)

This book is a collection of readings that provideboth the theoretical and empirical background thatis key to the study of, or practice in, the EarlyIntervention (EI) field. The book is organised insix sections. The first is a comprehensive overviewof Early Intervention practices and results, and thelast indicates future directions. The interveningchapters describe recent EI programmes and theresults that were produced from different EImethods across various childhood problems.

The readings mainly focus on the cognitivedevelopment of either children with establisheddisabilities or those who are at biological and/orenvironmental risk. The editor successfully linksthem into a coherent whole through two measures.First, he provides a brief summary for each partand chapter, and secondly he proposes that readersadopt an inquiry approach to their reading by relat-ing Guralink’s model for Early Intervention,presented in the overview, to each of the empiricalstudies and reviews in the intervening chapters byasking the following questions:

1. How did the early intervention programme elim-inate or compensate for risk factors?

2. How far did the programme modify parentingpractices or provide stimulating experiences tothe child, independent of the parent?

3. What was the timing, the duration and the inten-sity of the programme?

The breadth of the collection and its balanced styleprovides access for those who are not specialistsin early intervention through its reader-friendlyformat, while experienced clinicians are offeredpossibilities of new perspectives both from the pro-grammes reviewed and the critical analysis of cur-rent research projects.

This book covers work that crosses many disci-plines and therefore has the potential to meet theneeds of different readers as a textbook sup-plement, as the primary readings for a stand-aloneEI course or as the theoretical support to careworkers in the field. Although its focus is on chil-dren-at-risk in low-income, low-status families inthe United States, it can be argued that the bookhas particular relevance to those living and work-ing in the developing world, in terms of povertyreduction strategies aimed at the pro-poor. First,the key message that parental participation is vitalfor the success of any EI means that the baseelement can be met in many parts of thedeveloping world where the concept of family isstill strong with traditional responsibilities for dif-ferent members. Secondly, multi-lateral, bi-lateral,NGO, CBO and other aid agencies could use thisbook as a database both for more implementationresearch in the field of EI, so as to locate themethods that would promote and sustain culturallysensitive and inclusive practices within a local con-text, and also for the identification of effective dis-semination strategies to move the knowledgegained from such research into practice. Thirdly,several of the early interventions are applicableglobally. Information relating to the effects ofsmoking, alcohol or drug abuse and over-strongmedication during pregnancy, healthy life-styles,and sexual and parenting practices could be incor-porated into school curricula or adult literacy pro-grammes that focus on education for life. In coun-tries where HIV AIDS, although prevalent, is notwidely discussed, as is the case in sub-SaharanAfrica, information from these research findings inthe field of EI could provide an entry point,through action research, to more open debate.Finally, the recommendation in the last chapter thatEI programmes should not only focus on the cogni-tive development, but also on communicative andsocial competence of children-at-risk finds strong

338 Book reviews / International Journal of Educational Development 24 (2004) 329–340

resonance in every strategy adopted for povertyreduction in the developing world.

Lindsay Howard,DFID Malawi

doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2004.01.002

Language, literacy and education: a readerEdited by Sharon Goodman, Theresa Lillis, JanetMaybin, Neil Mercer, Trentham Books, Stoke onTrent, England in association with The Open Uni-versity, 2003, ISBN: 1 5856 288 0, 313 pages (withillustrations), No cost given

As a collection of readings intended to supportthe Open University course, Language and Liter-acy in a Changing World, this book is an excellentintroduction for anyone wanting to explore what asocial perspective on language and literacy mightentail. Theresa Lillis’ introduction to the book use-fully maps out the traditions influencing literacyand language research. She identifies these as: aca-demic disciplines (socio-linguistics, appliedlinguistics, anthropology, sociocultural theory,sociology, philosophy), paradigmatic shifts (forexample, from “ the study of literacy as individualcognitive activity to literacy as a profoundly socialpractice” , p. xvi), geo-historical contexts (“ toemphasise that theoretical and analytical frame-works are developed in response to local interestsand traditions” , p xvii) and ideological positions(liberal/Humanist, Critical/Neo-Marxist, Post-structuralist). The twenty-nine writers in this book“engage in these conversations” (ibid.) in differentways, reflecting their ideological stance in relationto literacy and research.

The book is divided into four parts: Talk and theprocesses of teaching and learning, Literacy andlearning, Discourse and identity, Multimodal com-munication. As well as the UK, the chapters aredrawn from a variety of geographical contexts,including Brazil, Australia, India, South Africa,USA and Mexico. Not confined to researching onlywhat happens in classrooms, the chapters look atprisons, indigenous communities and even a com-

puterised language corpus. Although the majorityof these writers (e.g. Street, Olson, Moss, Wilson)are known for their previous contributions to liter-acy research, those coming from other areas ofeducational research such as classroom assessment(Torrance and Pryor, Chapter 2) illustrate howadopting this social perspective on language andliteracy can contribute to understanding moreabout classroom interaction in general. The bookoffers much to those engaged in teaching literacy,indicating the implications of ethnographic andother in-depth research for improving classroompractice. For example, Brian Street outlines a“checklist of the principles on which the appli-cation of the New Literacy Studies to education ingeneral and to literacy in particular would bebased” (p. 84).

Eve Gregory and Ann Williams’ research intoBangladeshi British children’s literacy practices athome (Chapter 8) similarly suggests the impor-tance of teachers understanding the ways in whichfamilies engage in literacy events together. Theiraccount (using Conversation Analysis) of howolder siblings interacted with younger childrenwhen hearing them read at home gives an unusualinsight into peer learning practices. I was struck byhow relevant this account from London’s East Endmight be for those working in the many schoolsaround the world where an older child acts asmonitor in supervising and ‘ teaching’ the youngerchildren when their teacher is absent.

The fourth section of the book is perhaps themost diverse and the most challenging for thosewho coming new to this social approach to literacyand language. The concept of the “Third Space”as a space “ in which alternative and competing dis-courses and positionings transform conflict and dif-ference into rich zones of collaboration and learn-ing” (p. 171) is first introduced as a tool foranalysing literacy and language practices in aSpanish immersion classroom (Gutierrez, Baqued-ano-Lopez and Tejeda, Chapter 12). Anita Wil-son’s chapter expands on this concept as a frame-work for exploring how prisoners create a“culturally-specific environment – a ‘ third space’[between the Prison and Outside] – in which to liveout their everyday lives” (p. 293). I came to thisaccount of how prisoners re-position themselves in