The academic journal Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literary and Language Arts is published by the Dorothy J. McGinnis Reading Center and Clinic in the College of Education at Western Michigan University. This program is run through Western Michigan University’s Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies, within the College of Education. The journal is a quarterly publication, and is currently edited by Dr. Allison L. Baer.
Typical of academic journals, Reading Horizons depends on subscriptions to sustain its operation. Therefore, access to the journal requires either a personal subscription at twenty dollars per year, or access to an institution with a subscription. The journal will also sell back issues and microfilm, depending upon availability. Full-text, electronic versions of Reading Horizons articles do not seem to be available through major and comprehensive database systems, including Ebsco Host, Jstor, or Pro Quest. However, the journal does maintain a relatively complete and user-friendly website[1]. The site contains relevant information for anyone interested in reading or submitting to the journal, including its mission statement, editorial board and policies, and instructions for prospective contributors. Further, the site is cross-referenced with the Special Education and Literacy Studies website, including links to information about its various academic programs, research projects, and community outreach efforts. Especially because of its lack of accessibility through electronic databases, one particularly helpful component of the website is the availability of sample Reading Horizons articles from recent issues. Although only two sample articles are currently online in pdf format, in the most recent issue of the quarterly Baer advertises this newly added feature as part of a larger upgrade of the site, which likely means that additional samples will be posted soon. Nothing about the Reading Horizons website makes its presence on the web particularly unique or groundbreaking, nor are there any truly interactive features such as message boards. Nonetheless, its site is easy to navigate and contains plenty of relevant links, including direct email to the journal’s editor.
One piece of information reproduced on the website—the journal’s history and mission statement—is notable because it points to the intended readership of Reading Horizons. According to this brief summary, the publication began as a local newsletter, but has grown into an international journal. The statement describes Reading Horizons as:
[A] forum for ideas from many schools of thought dedicated to building upon the knowledge base of literacy through research, theoretical essays, opinion pieces, policy studies, and synthesis of best practices. Reading Horizons seeks to bring together school professionals, literacy researchers, teacher educators, parents, and community leaders as they work collaboratively to widen the horizons of literacy and language arts.
If Reading Horizons genuinely wishes to “bring together” such large and broadly defined groups, they most likely are not anticipating doing so through their circulation. Certainly the insularity of academic journals prevents the vast majority of parents from participating in the “forum,” as well as many—if not most—community leaders and school professionals, even those who are interested in engagement. Given the limited availability of Reading Horizons and its relatively consistent use of jargon, the actual readership (as opposed to its professed readership) is almost certainly comprised nearly exclusively of literacy researchers and teacher educators, most likely working in academia.
This generalization about the Reading Horizons audience is reinforced by the content and focus of most of its published articles. The content of the three most recent issues—thirteen articles—can be divided fairly firmly, albeit with some inevitable overlapping, into three classifications. The first category could be called “teacher educator research,” and totals six articles. Examples include Margaret A. Moore-Hart’s “Supporting Teachers in their Integration of Technology with Literacy,” and Deanna Day’s “From Skeptic to Believer: One Teacher’s Journey Implementing Literature Circles.” The focus of this category of article concerns practice, and attends to classroom policies and teaching methods with respect to literacy. Examples tend to involve field research and are heavy on interviews and statistical data organized into charts or graphs. Although the results would be beneficial to teachers, the authorial perspective and apparent intended audience is the teacher educator—research intended to have a trickle-down effect, rather than directly addressing teachers. The second type of article in Reading Horizons could be called “literacy research theory,” and includes Jacqueline Lynch et al, “Parents and Preschool Children Interacting with Storybooks: Children’s Early Literacy Achievement,” and Mona W. Matthews and John E. Kesner’s “It’s Time to Foreground the Relational Aspects of Literacy Learning.” This category concentrates on theories of literacy, including language acquisition, literacy development, and literacy’s relationships to psychology and neuroscience. Although the authors of these articles, to vary degrees, address the implications of their research in the classroom, the focus is questions of how we read and write. The final category is by far the most distinct. The final pieces in the three most recent issues of Reading Horizons are all catalogues of recommended children’s literature, compiled by Barbara A. Ward and Terrell A. Young. The themes of the collections, which contain reading for children grades kindergarten through high school, tend to be “progressive,” such as “green” literature or recommended biographies and nonfiction that emphasize African-American and women figures. These recommendations at the end of each issue seem aimed at teachers and librarians, although—when compared to the preceding articles—seem a bit incongruous with the journal as a whole. The inclusion of these recommendations legitimates the journal’s claim that its audience includes parents and teachers, but seems a slightly halfhearted effort to truly embrace these readers.
Despite some differences, a relatively consistent theme runs across these three generalized categories of articles found in Reading Horizons. The journal’s so-called “center of gravity” is effective literacy training in the classroom. Whether the contribution is a methodological evaluation of teaching practices, or an analysis and refinement of literacy theory, each article to some degree returns to the question, “How best do students learn to read and write?” This fundamental concern is exemplified in the motto of Reading Horizons, appearing on its website and in each issue: “There is no more crucial or basic skill in all of education than reading.” Reading Horizons maintains a coherency and consistency by adhering to that statement through the publication of research that focuses on how best to understand literacy and improve the instruction of that most crucial skill.
[1] The website’s URL is: http://www.wmich.edu/coe/spls/clinic/readhorizons-board.htm.
This generalization about the Reading Horizons audience is reinforced by the content and focus of most of its published articles. The content of the three most recent issues—thirteen articles—can be divided fairly firmly, albeit with some inevitable overlapping, into three classifications. The first category could be called “teacher educator research,” and totals six articles. Examples include Margaret A. Moore-Hart’s “Supporting Teachers in their Integration of Technology with Literacy,” and Deanna Day’s “From Skeptic to Believer: One Teacher’s Journey Implementing Literature Circles.” The focus of this category of article concerns practice, and attends to classroom policies and teaching methods with respect to literacy. Examples tend to involve field research and are heavy on interviews and statistical data organized into charts or graphs. Although the results would be beneficial to teachers, the authorial perspective and apparent intended audience is the teacher educator—research intended to have a trickle-down effect, rather than directly addressing teachers. The second type of article in Reading Horizons could be called “literacy research theory,” and includes Jacqueline Lynch et al, “Parents and Preschool Children Interacting with Storybooks: Children’s Early Literacy Achievement,” and Mona W. Matthews and John E. Kesner’s “It’s Time to Foreground the Relational Aspects of Literacy Learning.” This category concentrates on theories of literacy, including language acquisition, literacy development, and literacy’s relationships to psychology and neuroscience. Although the authors of these articles, to vary degrees, address the implications of their research in the classroom, the focus is questions of how we read and write. The final category is by far the most distinct. The final pieces in the three most recent issues of Reading Horizons are all catalogues of recommended children’s literature, compiled by Barbara A. Ward and Terrell A. Young. The themes of the collections, which contain reading for children grades kindergarten through high school, tend to be “progressive,” such as “green” literature or recommended biographies and nonfiction that emphasize African-American and women figures. These recommendations at the end of each issue seem aimed at teachers and librarians, although—when compared to the preceding articles—seem a bit incongruous with the journal as a whole. The inclusion of these recommendations legitimates the journal’s claim that its audience includes parents and teachers, but seems a slightly halfhearted effort to truly embrace these readers.
Despite some differences, a relatively consistent theme runs across these three generalized categories of articles found in Reading Horizons. The journal’s so-called “center of gravity” is effective literacy training in the classroom. Whether the contribution is a methodological evaluation of teaching practices, or an analysis and refinement of literacy theory, each article to some degree returns to the question, “How best do students learn to read and write?” This fundamental concern is exemplified in the motto of Reading Horizons, appearing on its website and in each issue: “There is no more crucial or basic skill in all of education than reading.” Reading Horizons maintains a coherency and consistency by adhering to that statement through the publication of research that focuses on how best to understand literacy and improve the instruction of that most crucial skill.
[1] The website’s URL is: http://www.wmich.edu/coe/spls/clinic/readhorizons-board.htm.
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