J. Downing – författare

The ideas of Soviet specialists on the psychology and teaching of reading are here made available in English.The volume gives an overview of psychology and education in the U.S.S.R., and presents translations of the work of major Soviet authors, such as Elkonin and Luria. The contributions offer many valuable proposals for teaching literacy which are quite unique outside of the Soviet Union. A concluding chapter provides a commentary, tracing the links between these specialist contributions and the general cognitive theories of Vygotsky.The result of ten years of research, this book was completed by Professor Downing shortly before he passed away in June 1987.

During the 1970s there was a rapid increase in interest in metacognition and metalinguistics. The impetus came from linguistics, psychology, and psycho­ linguistics. But with rather unusual rapidity the work from these scientific dis­ ciplines was taken over in education. This new direction in these various areas of academic study was taken simultaneously by several different investigators. Although they had varying emphases, their work sometimes appears to be over­ lapping; despite this, it has been rather difficult to find a consensus. This is reflected in the varying terminology used by these independent investigators­ "linguistic awareness," "metacognition," "metalinguistic ability," "task aware­ ness," "lexical awareness," and so on. For educators these developments presented a glittering array of new ideas that promised to throw light on children''s thinking processes in learning how to read. Many reading researchers and graduate students have perceived this as a new frontier for the development of theory and research. However, the variety of independent theoretical approaches and their accompanying terminologies has been somewhat confusing.

During the 1970s there was a rapid increase in interest in metacognition and metalinguistics. The impetus came from linguistics, psychology, and psycho­ linguistics. But with rather unusual rapidity the work from these scientific dis­ ciplines was taken over in education. This new direction in these various areas of academic study was taken simultaneously by several different investigators. Although they had varying emphases, their work sometimes appears to be over­ lapping; despite this, it has been rather difficult to find a consensus. This is reflected in the varying terminology used by these independent investigators­ "linguistic awareness," "metacognition," "metalinguistic ability," "task aware­ ness," "lexical awareness," and so on. For educators these developments presented a glittering array of new ideas that promised to throw light on children's thinking processes in learning how to read. Many reading researchers and graduate students have perceived this as a new frontier for the development of theory and research. However, the variety of independent theoretical approaches and their accompanying terminologies has been somewhat confusing.

The initial impetus for this volume was the occasion of the World Congress for Mental Health held in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1977. The theme of that congress was priorities in mental health. The keynote speaker Mrs. Rosalynn Carter, wife of the then President of the United States, focused attention on the necessity for an international perspective in understanding priorities for mental health. Without exception subsequent speakers echoed the sentiments Mrs. Carter expressed, that the first priority for mental health was that of children. For many participants the concern for children was translated not only into techniques for treatment but more importantly into broadening the approaches to prevention. One theme emerged which has begun to be addressed around the world - that of the cultural and developmental implications of sex role stereotyping for mental health. This topic proved to be the touchstone for many issues related both directly and indirectly to mental health. Among the most prominent concerns expressed were those for the effects on careers, the learning environment and relations between the sexes which stem from stereotyped attitudes concerning appropriate sex role behavior. The consensus of the par­ tiCipants was to urge the directorate of the congress to continue this topic at the next World Congress. This was a particularly appropriate content for the next World Congress, since 1979 was the International Year of the Child.