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NEW FACULTY
Laura Sterponi
Assistant Professor Laura Sterponi is interested in what actually happens when a teacher asks a class to read independently and silently. In doing her research she has observed pupils in an elementary school classroom find a hidden corner where the teachers could not interrupt their reading together and their sharing of information about the books. Other students lay under desks, exchanging whispered comments about what they were reading.“Reading is commonly considered as a cognitive process occurring within the mind of single individuals. Reading, however, is also a social practice,” Sterponi says, “which is equally interesting from a research perspective. It’s often a collective activity that strengthens bonds between people.”
Although Sterponi’s area of interest is reading, she came to it after earning two Ph.D.s in different countries and fields. In her native Italy she completed a dissertation in psychology with a specialization in children’s apprenticeship in moral reasoning. Later she came to the U.S. as a visiting student at UCLA.
“The experience was so rewarding and exciting,” she said, “that I ended up doing a second doctorate, this one in applied linguistics.” Both her degrees are lenses through which she views and analyzes events in the classroom.
“The historical perspective is also crucial in understanding reading,” said Sterponi. “Reading as practice is historically contingent and culturally organized. Traditionally, and still nowadays in some cultures, reading has not been a solitary practice, partly because of the scarcity of books and literacy, but partly because reading was primarily considered a social practice. Reading was performed aloud—in public spaces as well as in more intimate private gatherings —and nurtured the bonds of community and friendship.”
Sterponi is also fascinated by the way that readers can sometimes embody a text. “When I was growing up in Rome I lived in a large apartment complex with an internal courtyard,” she recalled. “Dozens of children would gather after school in the courtyard to share books and sometimes act them out.”
She has also written about other types of embodiment of a text. “In early rabbinic Judaism,” she commented, “embodiment constituted the primary manifestation of sacred texts, the medium of textual transmission as well as the display of textual apprehension. The texts of rabbinic teachings were transmitted orally, vocally delivered in face-to-face encounters between the rabbi and his congregation members. At the same time the rabbi’s life would incarnate the text.”
Sterponi is equally fluent in Italian and English and has published journal articles in both languages. She also speaks French and some Spanish.
She began teaching a course at Berkeley before she even arrived from Italy, using e-mail and the Internet to hold discussions and give feedback to students. Now that she’s here in Tolman Hall, she’s looking forward to her work teaching graduate classes in the Language and Literacy, Society and Culture area of study.
“I feel that Berkeley is a place where I can both nurture and enrich my interdisciplinary approach,” said Sterponi. “The Graduate School of Education is a place where different perspectives on literacy and instruction converge, where viewpoints are exchanged. It’s a unique and incredibly rich environment where my research interests can further develop and be sustained through interaction with students and colleagues.”
return to BEL Spring 2005 contents return to GSE publications
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