Description: Gunther Kress provides fundamental challenges to common assumptions about language and literacy, thought and action. He places these challenges within the context of speculation about the abilities and dispositions essential for children.
Review Quotes:
'A call for a fundamental change in education. Provocatively, he defines school as a place where teachers insist the world can only be known through the abstractions of written language. His book shows the fascinating ways in which children express and exchange meaning on their progress to literacy.' - New Scientist
'Before Writing has radical implications both for linguistic theory and for educational practice. It calls into question the accepted focus on written language as a privileged system of representation.' - Journal of Sociolinguistics