Investigating the relationship between literacy teaching, research and policy. An expected outcome is contribution to the development of a national literacy research agenda that includes priority areas; conceptual frameworks for characterising literacy; research approaches that help illuminate key issues and practices in literacy teaching and policy; and means for dissemination amongst researchers, teachers and policy makers. Another outcome is establishment of an Australia-based journal that pu ....Investigating the relationship between literacy teaching, research and policy. An expected outcome is contribution to the development of a national literacy research agenda that includes priority areas; conceptual frameworks for characterising literacy; research approaches that help illuminate key issues and practices in literacy teaching and policy; and means for dissemination amongst researchers, teachers and policy makers. Another outcome is establishment of an Australia-based journal that publishes substantial literacy studies, which is not currently done in Australia. With a view to internationalisation of the journal, and encouragment of submissions that explore nexus of research, policy and practice, this journal would fulfil a significant function in assisting interaction among the three fields. Read moreRead less
The National English Curriculum: Understanding the development, interpretation and implementation of disciplinary knowledge. The National English Curriculum, the focus of this project, represents a renewed national effort to improve every students' educational achievements to the betterment of their social and economic participation in society. Explicating how knowledge about the subject English is institutionalised and implemented, and the role of social structures amongst those involved in the ....The National English Curriculum: Understanding the development, interpretation and implementation of disciplinary knowledge. The National English Curriculum, the focus of this project, represents a renewed national effort to improve every students' educational achievements to the betterment of their social and economic participation in society. Explicating how knowledge about the subject English is institutionalised and implemented, and the role of social structures amongst those involved in the curriculum in shaping this process, will be key outcomes. Examples of classroom implementation will document the intellectual challenges teachers present to students and give voice to teachers in terms of how policy works for them, the challenges they face, and the support they require.Read moreRead less
New literacy demands in the middle years: learning from design experiments. National benefit and impact accrues most particularly in terms of (i) capacity building across the teaching profession, including increased preparedness of teachers to effectively teach curriculum literacies and adopt pedagogically sound practices with digital technologies; and (ii) the sound use of evidence to inform decision-making and curriculum design in Australian schools, including to inform professional developmen ....New literacy demands in the middle years: learning from design experiments. National benefit and impact accrues most particularly in terms of (i) capacity building across the teaching profession, including increased preparedness of teachers to effectively teach curriculum literacies and adopt pedagogically sound practices with digital technologies; and (ii) the sound use of evidence to inform decision-making and curriculum design in Australian schools, including to inform professional development programs for classroom teachers, drive understanding of the complex nature of contemporary teachers' work; to sustain and retain innovative, change-ready teachers; and engage directly with the key predictions of the OECD's Futures of School scenarios in local, national and international arenas.Read moreRead less
Image/text relations in narrative and information texts for children in print and electronic media: Multimodal text description for multiliteracies education. This project will produce a new theory of the ways images and language interact to make meanings in electronic and traditional texts. The theory will be adapted to provide a new grammar of image/text relations that is accessible to students and teachers. It will enable the literacy teaching and learning required for today's multimodal te ....Image/text relations in narrative and information texts for children in print and electronic media: Multimodal text description for multiliteracies education. This project will produce a new theory of the ways images and language interact to make meanings in electronic and traditional texts. The theory will be adapted to provide a new grammar of image/text relations that is accessible to students and teachers. It will enable the literacy teaching and learning required for today's multimodal texts to be based on an explicit systematic account of how different aspects of language and images are structured to make meanings. A grammar of image/text relations will facilitate consistency in literacy syllabus documents, more efficient teacher education in the literacies of multimodal texts, and more effective teaching of the literacies children need for the multimedia environment they live in. Read moreRead less
Sensory orchestration for multimodal literacy learning in primary education. This project aims to advance new learning and pedagogical models of sensory orchestration for the enhanced multimodal and digital literacy learning of primary students. Multimodal literacy is increasingly important in the Australian curriculum and international research, yet research and education largely prioritise visual texts. This project will generate pedagogical and learning models to optimise students’ broadened ....Sensory orchestration for multimodal literacy learning in primary education. This project aims to advance new learning and pedagogical models of sensory orchestration for the enhanced multimodal and digital literacy learning of primary students. Multimodal literacy is increasingly important in the Australian curriculum and international research, yet research and education largely prioritise visual texts. This project will generate pedagogical and learning models to optimise students’ broadened use of the senses in multimodal and digital literacy learning. It will develop new sensory literacy programs with primary schools, community organisations, and art museums.
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Developing the multimodal language of emotions of low SES primary students. This project plans to broaden the range of resources for students to communicate emotions through speech, writing and images. Such communication is important for social and economic success, particularly for disadvantaged students, and it is now part of the Australian curriculum. However, research shows that teachers are not equipped to teach these new curriculum requirements. The project unites a consortium of schools, ....Developing the multimodal language of emotions of low SES primary students. This project plans to broaden the range of resources for students to communicate emotions through speech, writing and images. Such communication is important for social and economic success, particularly for disadvantaged students, and it is now part of the Australian curriculum. However, research shows that teachers are not equipped to teach these new curriculum requirements. The project unites a consortium of schools, visual media experts and policy makers to address this problem. The outcomes are expected to include innovative approaches to strengthen students' language skills for emotional expression and wellbeing, and e-learning resources for both teachers and students.Read moreRead less
Does phonological awareness help children learn to read? An almost universally-accepted view in the field of reading acquisition is that phonological awareness, or the ability to perceive and manipulate speech sounds, causes a child to be good at learning to read. We argue that, despite the voluminous literature on this issue, it has not been conclusively established that such a causal link exists. To do so requires a project, proposed here, in which completely pre-literate children are selec ....Does phonological awareness help children learn to read? An almost universally-accepted view in the field of reading acquisition is that phonological awareness, or the ability to perceive and manipulate speech sounds, causes a child to be good at learning to read. We argue that, despite the voluminous literature on this issue, it has not been conclusively established that such a causal link exists. To do so requires a project, proposed here, in which completely pre-literate children are selected, their phonological awareness measured, and its relationship with subsequent literacy acquisition followed. Settling this issue will have significant consequences for both theory and practice in reading acquisition and dyslexia.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100047
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,218.00
Summary
Developing the Multimodal Literacy Learning of Indigenous Australian Primary Students through Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Education Action Plan 2010-2014 aims to close the gap in education outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Mainstream educational practices are based on beliefs about knowing and being, which marginalise the literacy learning of Indigenous Australian students. This project will develop a model for multimodal literacy ....Developing the Multimodal Literacy Learning of Indigenous Australian Primary Students through Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Education Action Plan 2010-2014 aims to close the gap in education outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Mainstream educational practices are based on beliefs about knowing and being, which marginalise the literacy learning of Indigenous Australian students. This project will develop a model for multimodal literacy learning based on Indigenous community practices with primary students in Years four and five. The researcher will work with Indigenous elders and the principal and teachers at an independent Indigenous school, and further develop this approach within the broader context of Aboriginal schools.Read moreRead less
Transforming the technologies and modalities of learning: The case of the New Life Sciences in secondary schooling. This project aims to provide theoretical and analytic frameworks for understanding changing intellectual, technological and communicational parameters of contemporary education, but it also aims to make these frameworks accessible enough to become part of the conceptual repertoire of professional practitioners and flexible enough to allow practitioners to maintain currency in evolv ....Transforming the technologies and modalities of learning: The case of the New Life Sciences in secondary schooling. This project aims to provide theoretical and analytic frameworks for understanding changing intellectual, technological and communicational parameters of contemporary education, but it also aims to make these frameworks accessible enough to become part of the conceptual repertoire of professional practitioners and flexible enough to allow practitioners to maintain currency in evolving fields of knowledge in the NLS. As the NLS, and education in this field are both expanding export industries, this study will offer Australian practitioners and authorities evidence and ideas for the growth of the NLS in schools, thereby supporting the maintenance of Australia's prominence in the region as a high-quality, current education provider.Read moreRead less
Parents as Partners: Getting children off to a healthy start in literacy. Our nation is best served by children getting off to a healthy start in literacy. However, almost one in six children fails to do so. This group has reduced academic and vocational options, increased social, emotional and mental health problems, higher youth unemployment, and is significantly over-represented among offenders. The nation bears the costs of these problems through reduced productivity and expenditure on unemp ....Parents as Partners: Getting children off to a healthy start in literacy. Our nation is best served by children getting off to a healthy start in literacy. However, almost one in six children fails to do so. This group has reduced academic and vocational options, increased social, emotional and mental health problems, higher youth unemployment, and is significantly over-represented among offenders. The nation bears the costs of these problems through reduced productivity and expenditure on unemployment benefits, social programs, mental health services, and incarceration. This project targets both these sources of loss to the nation by utilising a hitherto untapped community resource: Training parents of preschoolers to develop critical pre-literacy skills in their children at home before they begin to fail. Read moreRead less