Engagement and Literacy: Reading between the Lines

In this commentary, several core principles underlying the editorial and articles comprising the Special Issue on improving literacy engagement are identified and discussed. Those principles pertain to the multidimensional nature of literacy engagement, the explicit or implicit definitions offered for the construct, the positive contributions that engagement makes to improve reading and writing, the positive characteristics of engaged readers and writers and the consequences that academic or economic disadvantages have on engagement and literacy development. There are also lingering questions that are posed about literacy engagement and about engaged readers and writers. Those questions inquire as to whether one definition of literacy engagement suffices, if the forms of literacy engagement are truly separable in practice and measurable in research, whether totally disengaged students actually exist and what precise nature of the relation between literacy engagement and literacy competence is.