Mission Statement

The Department of Literacy Studies at Hofstra University is committed to nurturing literacy teachers and teacher educators working with readers and writers from early childhood through college, particularly students who are experiencing difficulty reading and writing. We believe that in an open democratic society we cannot argue for decency and humanity unless we create for our children a more just and caring world. To this end we are dedicated to the support and development of emancipatory pedagogies that counter official policies and mandates that narrow the possibilities for the teaching of reading and writing in local, national and global contexts. We believe school based literacy/language arts programs must reflect the sociocultural realities of children's and youth’s everyday lives. The work of key literacy scholars and researchers is central to our students’ development of theoretical frameworks upon which to base their beliefs and practices about literacy learning and teaching. Literacy Studies faculty are active, collaborative researchers who engage students as scholar-practitioners in field based inquiry studies. We encourage and mentor teachers as they work to build democratic, inclusive classrooms where everyone has an opportunity to participate in a free and open exchange of ideas with a renewed sense of worth and possibility of their own language and literacy practices.
Updated February 20, 2008