New: Newsletter, issue 6, December 2011

Exhibition catalogue "Lesen lernen … mehrsprachig"

International Bibliography of Studies on Primers and Readers (IBSP)

Founded in 2009, the Reading Primers SIG (RP-SIG) is a Special Interest Group of the International Society for Historical and Systematic Research on Schoolbooks. RP-SIG is an international network of individuals with an interest in a specific kind of textbook: the reading primer (aabits, aapinen, bukvar’, cartilha, elementarz, Fibel, méthode de lecture, silabario ...). The network encourages research and facilitates the exchange of information about developments in the field. It addresses the perspectives of various academic disciplines: educational research, general and social history, cultural studies, including studies in visual culture, sociology, political science, missiology, linguistics and book history. It provides a forum for researchers, teachers, collectors, specialists in publishing houses, libraries and museums, for initiators of exhibitions, textbook authors and other interested parties.

Why do we focus on reading primers?

In many countries, the primer has been and still is an important, if not the main tool for supporting learning processes in the period of early reading instruction. Also, the primer quite often not only teaches to read a script in a simply technical sense; it is in many cases designed to educate learners to ‘read the world’ – in the specific way of predominant cultural stereotypes. The primer thus offers answers to basic questions like: Who are ‘we’? What is normal? What is important? What (and who) is good and bad? What is beautiful? In this sense, the primer often serves as a container of ‘prevailing’ cultural (e.g. religious, social, political, esthetical, educational) values and practices.

Both short texts and illustrations support the efforts of educators to pass such values and recommended practices on to emergent readers. Lastly, under conditions of the existence of minority (vernacular, immigrant) languages, primers can also mediate language policy efforts. In sum, the reading primer is a fascinating document of mass instruction and of the socialisation of learners who have generally only started their school career.

What is the purpose of the SIG?

The purpose of the SIG is to provide a truly international forum and to build a network for the exchange of ideas and information on reading primers. RP-SIG invites individuals from a variety of backgrounds who share an analytical interest in the subject to participate in the network’s activities.
In particular, RP-SIG facilitates
- historical, pedagogical, anthropological and cross- cultural analyses of primers,
- contributions to specific areas of research, to methodological questions of the study of primers and to a theory of the primer in a historical and international perspective,
- communication between researchers, librarians, collectors, organisers of exhibitions, publishers, authors and ‘primary users’ of primers,
- the dissemination of information on new articles and books, on reprints of primers and full text online versions of primers, on exhibitions and other events and, last but not least, on people engaged in the world of reading primers.

How does the SIG work?

RP-SIG functions within the structure of its parent, the International Society for Historical and Systematic Research on Schoolbooks (‘Schoolbook-Society’). A Provisional Executive Board governs the activities of RP-SIG during its initial stage (September 2009 to October 2011). Members of the Board are Dr Vitaly Bezrogov (Moscow) and Dr Wendelin Sroka (Bonn).

RP-SIG publishes ‘Reading Primers International’ (RPI), a newsletter, which is edited at least twice a year. RPI is sent by e-mail to all members of the SIG and published on the Schoolbook-Society website.

RPI, issue 5, May 2011

RPI, issue 4, December 2010

RPI, issue 3, September 2010

RPI, issue 2, May 2010

RPI, issue 1, December 2009

Another activity of the network is the preparation and updating of the international bibliography "Studies on Reading Primers and Elementary Readers”. The bibliography is prepared in co-operation with the MANES Research Centre, and a first version has been published in May 2011 (see above).

Membership

Currently, the network has members in Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, and Spain. Membership is open to all individuals who vis-à-vis the Executive Board of RP-SIG demonstrate a serious analytical interest in reading primers and the will to share their expertise with other members of the network. For the time being, no fees are charged. All members receive an electronic version of the SIG’s newsletter. Members also participate in SIG-designed activities to advance the study and dissemination of information on reading primers.

RP-SIG offers three types of membership:
a) Institutional membership is offered to organisations prepared to participate in at least one activity of the network.
b) Regular membership is open to all individuals who are members in good standing of the International Society for Historical and Systematic Research on Schoolbooks. In addition to all other RP-SIG member benefits, regular members are eligible to vote and stand for office.
c) Associated membership is open to individuals who are not members of the International Society for Historical and Systematic Research on Schoolbooks. Associated members take advantage of the general RP-SIG member benefits but they are not entitled to stand for office or vote.

Interested individuals are asked to fill in the Membership Form and send it to the designated address. RP-SIG membership can be confirmed by the Provisional Executive Board only upon receipt of the Membership Form diligently completed.

Reading Primers SIG
c/o Wendelin Sroka
Suebenstr. 3
53175 Bonn
Germany

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