Education Commons^™

Literacy Learning: What Works For Young Indigenous Students??, Nola Purdie, Kate Reid, Sarah Buckley

Dr Sarah Buckley

The Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Study for Indigenous Students (ILLANS) tracked the growth in literacy and numeracy skills of a group of Indigenous students from 27 schools across Australia from the beginning of primary school until the end of Year 6. At the time the study was conceived, longitudinal studies on the school achievement of Indigenous students were comparatively rare. A desire to develop a broader picture of primary school experiences motivated data collection that included a range of other data from a variety of informants in addition to academic achievement data. ILLANS commenced in 2000, with the first phase …

Ageing And Women Disabilities In Sub-Sahara, Dr Williams Emeka Obiozor, Uzoamaka Lucynda Koledoye Mrs.

Dr Williams Emeka Obiozor

In a typical African community, women age gracefully, as they bear children, care, train, provide natural support; as well as receive support from their children when they grow older. The presence of infirmities and disabilities affect aging and hinder effective livelihood, human performance and general well-being of sub-Saharan African women. Critical knowledge gaps exist for responding to the general needs of the disabled women which is a concern to the authors. This position paper addressed the issues concerning aging and women disabilities in Sub-Saharan Africa, the challenges, and roles of adult educators could play as support systems and in ensuring …

Supporting Educators With The Inclusion Of Technology Within Literacy Classrooms: A Framework For "Action", Lisa K. Kervin, Jessica Mantei

Jessica Mantei

Educators are challenged to consider ways that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can be included within classroom contexts. Such challenges often require the adoption of whole school, team or individual focus as technology is examined in connection with the needs of the learners within the school and the pedagogical understandings and beliefs of the educators. Each researcher has initiated, facilitated and reflected upon school-based projects focused on ways that technology can be incorporated within classroom literacy experiences. In this paper, we describe a “framework for action” that has emerged from our analysis of these. Examples from a range of projects …

Using Technology In Pedagogically Responsive Ways To Support Literacy Learners, Lisa Kervin, Jessica Mantei, Jan Herrington

Jessica Mantei

No abstract provided.

"Authentic" Learning Experiences: What Does This Mean And Where Is The Literacy Learning?, Jessica Mantei, Lisa Kervin

Jessica Mantei

Teachers are challenged to adopt practices that facilitate the development of “necessary” skills and strategies for learners. For many, however, what is required in policy and curricula is increasingly obscured and even confusing as teachers are bombarded with jargon prescribing seemingly similar (yet apparently different) approaches such as “rich tasks”, “big questions” and “fertile questions” that are to be “relevant”, “authentic” and “engaging” for the learner. Barton and Hamilton (2000) argue that literacy learning should take the learner beyond the transmission of technical skills in the classroom to an understanding of its role within a community’s cultural practices. These literacy …

Raising Our Voices And Sharing Our Vision: How We Support Literacy Learners Within Our Stage Context, Maria Turner, Robyn Menghi, Leah Galea, Jessica Mantei, Lisa Kervin

Jessica Mantei

No abstract provided.

Looking For Clarity Amongst The Challenges Faced By Teachers As They Consider The Role Of Ict In Classroom Literacy Learning Experiences, Jessica Mantei, Lisa K. Kervin

Jessica Mantei

Primary school teachers today operate within a climate of great change with the rapid infusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into schools with the expectation that these be included within classroom experiences. Many schools purchased computer hardware and software and have provided professional development for teachers with the expectation that the technology will be put to use. Studies show, however, that many teachers continue to feel ill-equipped to use technology to support learning in spite of these in-service opportunities. Further studies identify the classroom teacher as the major factor in determining whether ICT are an important component of daily …

Incorporating Technology Within Classroom Literacy Experiences, Lisa Kervin, Jessica Mantei

Jessica Mantei

Educators are challenged to consider ways that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can be included within classroom contexts. Such challenges often require the adoption of whole school, team and individual focus as technology is examined in connection with the needs of the learners within the school and the pedagogical understandings and beliefs of the educators. In this paper we describe an elementary school-based project that focuses on ways that computer-based technology and associated peripherals can be incorporated within classroom literacy experiences. As we examine the planning, implementation and our reflections upon this process some key findings emerged. The need for …

Visions For Literacy Learning: The Quest For Meaningful Use Of Computer-Based Technology In Reading And Writing Experiences, Lisa Kervin, Jessica Mantei

Jessica Mantei

No abstract provided.

A Slow Burn: The Impact Of Ials In Australia, Juliette Mendelovits

Juliette Mendelovits

Australia Australia has put its hand up to participate in all the international literacy surveys on offer: IALS in the second wave (1996), the ALL Survey in the second wave (2006), and PIAAC in 2011-12 – in the field right now. Nevertheless, until very recently Australia’s general response to the surveys can best be described as inert: more in the vein of our habitual “she’ll be right” than the “clever country” that our prime minister of the 1980s urged us to become. For most of the period since the IALS results were published in 1997, Australia paid little attention to …

Challenges For Australian Education : Results From Pisa 2009 : The Pisa 2009 Assessment Of Students' Reading, Mathematical And Scientific Literacy, Sue Thomson, Lisa De Bortoli, Marina Nicholas, Kylie Hillman, Sarah Buckley

Kylie Hillman

Focusing on reading literacy as the major domain for the PISA 2009 assessment, this national report examines Australian students' achievement in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy. Results are reported for the states, by gender, for Indigenous students, by location, language background and by socioeconomic background.

Literacy And Numeracy Learning: Lessons From The Longitudinal Literacy And Numeracy Study For Indigenous Students, Nola Purdie, Kate Reid, Tracey Frigo, Alison Stone, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Dr Kate Reid

In 2000, ACER commenced the Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Surveys for Indigenous Students (ILLANS), which set out to track the development of English literacy and numeracy skills in a group of Indigenous students from school entry through the early years of schooling and beyond, to establish a data-rich picture of educational opportunities for Indigenous students. Phase 1 of ILLANS collected data from Indigenous students at 13 schools across Australia that had been nominated by education systems as examples of good practice in education for Indigenous students. The first three years of the study were reported in the monograph Supporting English …

'Books Are Fun, Books Are Great', Annie Moses

Annie M. Moses

Television has been shown to influence young children's development of attitudes and skills. Evidence also suggests that children's television programs contain both positive and negative messages about various topics, including literacy. Yet little has been done to examine whether and how television messages about literacy affect young children's attitudes about literacy. Guided by three theoretical frameworks (Emergent Literacy perspective, Active Viewing model, and Social Cognitive Theory), this investigation involved two experiments in which 4- and 5-year-olds (N1 = 63; N2 = 52) in the US viewed clips that contained positive or negative messages about literacy. The General Literacy Attitudes Measure …

Final Evaluation Report: Supporting Improved Literacy Achievement (Sila) Project, Robert Hattam, Lyn Kerkham, John Walsh, Jenny Barnett, Dianne Bills, Petra Lietz, Mollie Tobin

Dr Petra Lietz

The Supporting Improved Literacy Achievement (SILA) project has attempted to make a difference to literacy achievement in some of the most ‘educationally disadvantaged’ schools in South Australia, and hence to take on seriously what has been an intractable policy and practice problem for many decades. In brief, the SILA project has adopted a coaching model as the means of providing schools with support for developing responses to diagnostic reviews. This strategy is a significant departure from common practice in DECS where schools are expected to undertake regular self-review processes using the DIAf tools with support for post-review development usually left …

National Partnership Agreement On Literacy And Numeracy : Performance Report For 2010, Ray Adams, Mike Long, Paul Mcclintock

Professor Ray Adams

The COAG Reform Council must independently assess whether Australian jurisdictions have met pre-determined milestones and performance benchmarks contained in the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy before reward funding is paid. This report assesses state and territory performance for 2010. Part A describes the National Partnership; Part B devotes a chapter to each jurisdiction's assessment; and Part C suggests improvements to the performance reporting framework.

A Family Strengths Approach To Early Language And Literacy Development, Deborah Carter, David J. Chard, Juli Pool

Juli Lull Pool

Language and literacy skills are an essential element of young children’s development and allow them to interact meaningfully with other people and to develop knowledge in all subject areas. Despite the importance of language and literacy development, however, more than one third of children in the United States enter school with significant differences in language, early literacy skills, and motivation to learn that place them at considerable risk for developing long-term reading difficulties. The quantity and quality of language interactions children have with their parents and exposure to print in their home environment prior to entering school have an important …

Teacher Support - An Exploration Of How Foundation-Phase Teachers Facilitate Language Skills, Anna-Maria Wium, Brenda Louw

Brenda Louw

Language And Literacies In The Borderlands: Children Acting Upon Theworld Through Testimonios., Cinthya M. Saavedra

Cinthya M. Saavedra

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Education, Sheldon Rothman, Sarah Buckley, David Slattery, John Ainley

Dr Sarah Buckley

The Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) was announced on 21 July 2007 and has been implemented over the last four years. This federal government initiative aims to protect children, to make communities safe and to build a better future for people living in Indigenous communities and town camps in the Northern Territory. The strategies have changed since its initial implementation but its focus and many of the key themes and measures remain the same. This evaluation examines the NTER from a whole-of-government perspective, reviewing the impact on community safety, wellbeing and service provision; service coordination and engagement; promoting law and …

Thinking Critically About Diagrams: A Theoretical Framework For General Diagrammatic Literacy, Brad Jackel

Dr Brad Jackel

Diagrams are used heavily throughout contemporary society, yet there is little guidance for educators on teaching students to think critically about diagrams in general. Because of this there is almost no systematic guidance for learners on how to approach unfamiliar diagrams with some degree of confidence, particularly in terms of their ability to think critically about the visual ‘rhetoric’ of a given diagram. This is a crucial ability to foster in students, given society’s increasing reliance on forms of graphical communication which encourage the use of diagrams (internet, PowerPoint, tablet computing, smart phones) and the decision-making contexts in which diagrams …

An Ant's Eye View : Some Pluses And Minuses, Dave Tout

David (Dave) Tout

This article provides a history of adult numeracy teaching, looking back at the rise and development if adult numeracy provision, mainly in Victoria, from the perspective of an ANT (adult numeracy teacher), beginning in the late 1970s. The author then describes what lies on the horizon, what lessons adult educators can learn, and what opportunities might lie ahead for adult numeracy in the next decade or so. The article contains an exposition on the benefits of explicitly recognising and supporting numeracy within the language, literacy and numeracy equation. The author argues that, given the Australian data from ALLS, there is …

Contemporary Literacy Practices Of Early Learners (Preps), D Cohen, Anne-Marie Chase

Dr Anne-Marie Chase

Embracing Literacy-Based Teaching: A Longitudinal Study Of The Conceptual Development Of Novice Foreign Language Teachers, Heather W. Allen

Heather Willis Allen

Taking a sociocultural theory perspective (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006), this longitudinal study explored the conceptual development of two teaching assistants in a university foreign language department in relation to literacy and language teaching. Findings illustrate the "twisting path" (Vygotsky, 1987, p. 156) of concept development experienced by the two first-time teachers of Spanish as their understandings of literacy and efforts to use tools of literacy evolved over several years. Evidence of the ability to think through concepts of literacy in structuring teaching practices did not emerge for either participant until four semesters after they started teaching, illustrating what a gradual …