John Wesley White, Ph.D.

John Wesley White, Ph.D.

I am a professor of literacy, secondary English methods, and the foundations of education at the University of North Florida. My research interests focus on language uses (discourse processes) and their connections to power, to metacognition, to social justice, and to access to and success in formal academic settings such as schools. I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in the areas of middle school and high school English, reading, and the Foundations of Education (Introduction to Education, Multicultural Education, History and Philosophy of Education). I also work with graduate students on independent study projects and research in the areas described below.

Conceptual Foundation:  Critical literacy and the New Literacy Studies (NLS) posit that we all use language and literacies in different ways and that these different “ways with words” should not be hierarchically categorized. Rather, we should both examine and  value a multitude of literacies and learn/teach to use appropriate forms of literacy for specific settings and purposes. Furthermore, sociolinguistics (Vygotsky) shows that language is not just the means of communicating ideas through the written or spoken word; it is the very structure of human thinking. How we use language affects what we know and how we know it; it affects the communities into which we are allowed entry and the degree to which we are allowed to participate in such communities; it affects our identity and thus how we come to see ourselves and our respective places in the world. Language is the very structure of cognition and thus identity. Thus how we use language and how we teach about language usage are very important.

Personal: I am a native of North Carolina but spent the 15 years prior to coming to UNF in the west, primarily in Denver and Boulder, Colorado. I am married to Virginia and we have two dogs, Deacon (a Golden Retriever) and Lula Mae (a Plott Hound). When not working, my hobbies include carpentry/home improvement, traveling, dogs, reading, and airplanes.

I graduated from Wake Forest University (BA), University of North Carolina at Greensboro (BA), Southern Methodist University (MA), University of Colorado (Ph.D. and Postdoctoral Fellowship).

j.white@unf.edu

904-620-1244