Education Commons^™

Exploring The Changing Nature Of Teachers’ Pedagogic Identities During The Delivery Of Online Literacy Teaching, Deb L. Brosseuk, Lynn Downes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper explores the interconnectedness between Australian teachers’ literacy practices and their pedagogic identity during the global pandemic. In doing so, the paper presents pedagogic identity as a dynamic, ever-evolving construct involving teachers and their teaching environment. Findings are reported from a case study of early years and primary teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data. From teachers’ self-reported teaching experiences, we identify three orientations to pedagogic identity: The Driver; The Collaborator; and The Apprentice. Drawing on analytic work, the paper finds that the online delivery of literacy teaching brought opportunities for teachers to shift between pedagogic identities, …

Preservice Teachers As Document Detectives, Lorna Quinnell, Radha Iyer, Bronwyn Ewing

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Literacy today relies on a readers’ ability to analyse text critically. This case study investigated preservice teachers’ critical analysis of media text containing visuals and representations. In particular, the analysis focused on mathematical factors that impact on readers’ interpretation of diverse visuals.

Data was gathered from the 23 preservice teachers, enrolled in the Graduate Diploma program at one Australian university. They participated in a series of mathematics learning sessions focused on the critical analysis of a selection of media items.

The paper argues that the ability to critically analyse graphs and visuals relies on mathematical knowledge and that the ability …

Beating The Bamboozle: Literacy Pedagogy Design And The Technicality Of Sfl, Erika Matruglio

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper explores the issue of metalanguage and writing instruction in the senior secondary curriculum. It reports on the use of a design based research collaboration between a very experienced teacher of Ancient History and a research team with the aim of improving literacy outcomes for a group of disadvantaged students. The case highlights some of the challenges implicated in this close work between educational linguistic theorists as language specialists and classroom practitioners as subject specialists. In particular, it raises the issue of how to provide already experienced teachers with a metalanguage to express their implicit knowledge about text more …

Can Secondary Teaching Graduates Support Literacy In The Classroom? Evidence From Undergraduate Assignments, Brian R. Moon, Barbara R. Harris, Anne-Maree Hays

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Education policy in Australia and comparable countries requires that all secondary content teachers actively teach the literacy of their learning area and support the literacy development of students in their classes. In this paper we present evidence on the capacity of graduating teachers to meet that obligation. We review assessment data from 393 Initial Teacher Education students who completed a core unit in secondary curriculum literacy prior to graduation. We report that while the majority met the unit requirements, approximately 30% graduated as teachers with marginal or inadequate capacity to teach the literacy of their subject or support student learning …

More Than Standardisation: Teacher’S Professional Literacy Learning In Australia?, Veronica Gardiner, Wendy Cumming-Potvin, Christine Kay Glass

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Current policies guiding literacy and teacher professional learning in Australia, tend to foreground the importance of standardised practice and assessment in classrooms and schools. However, enactments of print-oriented literacy and professional learning in alignment with this emphasis stand in contradiction with contemporary approaches, which implicate consideration of diversity and contextual relevance. This paper positions teacher problematisation and negotiation of this contradiction as key for broadening literacy learning horizons. Incorporating multiliteracies, Cultural Historical Activity Theory and sociocritical perspectives on policy and professional learning, the authors propose a multidimensional framework for exploring and supporting dynamic and conflictually sensitive teacher learning processes. Such …

Exploring Pre-Service Teachers’ Knowledge Of And Ability To Use Text Messaging, Gretchen Geng, Leigh Disney

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study aimed to assess the pre-service teachers’ knowledge of and ability to use text messaging, and assist their use of this technology in the classroom teaching context. Data were gathered by means of a questionnaire and text message exercises. Fifty-three pre-service teachers participated in the study. It was found that although different tasks required different contributions of word numbers to complete the text messages, the percentages of text abbreviations were the same in all text messages. It was also found that participants who used more text abbreviations in their text messages had more correct scores in translating text abbreviations …

Investigating The Literacy, Numeracy And Ict Demands Of Primary Teacher Education, Helen De Silva Joyce, Susan Feez, Eveline Chan, Stephen Tobias

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The pre-service programs delivered in Australian teacher education institutions are expected to graduate students who meet externally determined standards, including standards in literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology. These programs are also expected to educate future teachers in professional knowledge and practice, as well as prepare them to engage in professional learning continuously throughout their careers. This paper reports on the first phase of a project that investigated the literacy, numeracy and ICT demands of assessment tasks across the four years of the Bachelor of Education (Primary) program at a regional university.

The Literacy Lexicon, Susan Statkus

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Geoff Bull & Michele Anstey (eds) (2002). The Literacy Lexicon Second Edition, Prentice Hall.

Who Is Teaching Our Children To Spell? The Literacy Crisis In Teacher Education., Owen F. Watts

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Anyone engaged in marking student essays at tertiary level today cannot fail but to be aware of the increasing inability of students to express themselves in grammatically correct and cogent argument. The problem is even more serious when is prevalent among those students who are studying to become teachers. Lists of "school-boy howlers" derived from the students' essays are no longer funny, rather they are symptomatic of a crisis in literacy that is facing the educational systems of the nation. Testing of students within the Faculty of Education at Curtin University has shown that passes in Year 12 English examinations …