Showing papers in "The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy in 2017"

What motivates avid readers to maintain a regular reading habit in adulthood

Abstract: Regular engagement in recreational book reading remains beneficial beyond early childhood. While most of the research in reading motivation focuses on the early schooling years, regular recreational book reading remains a highly beneficial practice beyond childhood, as it continues to enhance literacy skills and may help to maintain cognitive stamina and health into old age. Understanding why some individuals are avid readers in adulthood can offer insight into how to foster greater frequency of reading through both early and later interventions. This paper reports on data collected in the 2015 International Study of Avid Book Readers, which posed the question 'Why do you read books?' in order to capture self-reported motivations for reading from an adult sample. Qualitative data collected from 1,022 adult participants are analysed in order to explore the diverse and often interrelated motivations of adult avid book readers. Recurring motivations included perspective-taking; knowledge; personal development; mental stimulation; habit, entertainment and pleasure; escapism and mental health; books as friends; imagination and creative inspiration; and, writing, language and vocabulary. Findings offer a greater understanding of reading preferences and motivation of adult avid book readers, highlighting multiple potential points of engagement for fostering positive attitudes toward recreational book reading across the lifetime.

Students' reading achievement during the transition from primary to secondary school

Abstract: Adolescent literacy achievement has been, and continues to be, a hot topic in the educational community, with concerns about students' literacy capabilities consistently dominating the educational landscape, particularly in the area of reading. What is known from years of educational research, high stakes testing and teacher testimonials is that reading is an area of difficulty for many adolescent students. The focus of this research was to investigate adolescents' reading attainment at one of the most important times in a students' educational career; the transition from primary school (Year 6) to secondary school (Year 7). Seven co-educational government schools from the state of Tasmania, Australia, participated in the research, whereby a combination of primary and secondary schools from both rural and urban areas were included. Conducted over a two phase process, the research utilised the Progressive Achievement Test in Reading (PAT-R) to determine changes in students' reading ability. Methods of quantitative analysis were utilised; these employed a series of statistical tests. Results revealed that, for the overall cohort, students' PAT-R scores significantly declined from Year 6 to Year 7, indicating that the transition to secondary school can have serious negative effects on students' reading attainment as they transition into secondary education. The research findings raise attention to the impact that transition can have upon adolescent students' educational success and concludes with suggestions for how schools and educators can enhance the transition process and support students into effective secondary school literacy learning.

That's Not a Narrative; This Is a Narrative: NAPLAN and Pedagogies of Storytelling

Abstract: For the past eight years, Australian school students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 have engaged in the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) writing test, with a one-in-two chance they will be tasked with producing a 'narrative' genre. This paper examines the way in which the very notion of storytelling and narrative is conceptualised in the NAPLAN supporting documentation, and its potential negative consequences. The paper begins by providing a review of the literature on storytelling, paying particular attention to research which has established the 'Complication- Resolution' narrative as one type of storytelling. It then provides an account of how story and narrative are typically characterised and defined in the official NAPLAN documentation, that is, as the 'Complication-Resolution' narrative exclusively. The final section of the paper presents a genre analysis of eight student writing samples and the related comments and gradings from the NAPLAN narrative marking guide. The analysis found a number of student texts in the marking guide that were effectively structured stories, but which had been marked down for Text Structure because they did not comply with the specific structure of the 'Complication-Resolution' narrative. The analysis also found a number of texts that scored highly with respect to the Text Structure criterion, even though they were not instances of the Complication-Resolution narrative sub-type. Drawing on these findings, the paper argues that various inconsistencies and points of apparent confusion in these comments and gradings can be taken as evidence that other sub-types of storytelling are being inappropriately devalued, and that ultimately, there is a lack of understanding in the nature of storytelling in the NAPLAN documentation. By way of conclusion, the paper reflects on some of the negative consequences that may flow from storytelling being defined in this limited way, including the implications for how storytelling is taught by teachers and caregivers, the potential misdirection of students as to what constitutes a 'good' story, as well as the cultural implications of limiting stories to one specific type.

Indigenous children's multimodal communication of emotions through visual imagery

Abstract: Billions of images are shared worldwide on the internet via social platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and Twitter every few days. The social web and mobile devices make it quicker and easier than ever before for young people to communicate emotions through digital images. There is a need for greater knowledge of how to educate children and young people formally in the sophisticated, multimodal language of emotions. This includes semiotic choices in visual composition, such as gaze, facial expression, posture, framing, actor-goal relations, camera angles, backgrounds, props, lighting, shadows and colour. In particular, enabling Indigenous students to interpret and communicate emotions in contemporary ways is vital because multimodal language skills are central to academic, behavioural and social outcomes. This paper reports original research of urban, Indigenous, upper primary students' visual imagery at school. A series of full-day, digital imagery workshops were conducted over several weeks with 56 students. The photography workshops formed part of a three-year participatory community research project with an Indigenous school in Southeast Queensland, Australia. The archived student images were organised and analysed to identify attitudinal meanings from the appraisal framework, tracing types and subtypes of affect, and their positive and negative forms. The research has significant implications for teaching students how to design high-quality, visual and digital images to evoke a wide range of positive and negative emotions, with particular considerations for Australian Indigenous students.

So how do you teach literacy in teacher education?: Literacy/English teacher educators' goals and pedagogies

Abstract: Given expanding concepts of literacy and evolving communication patterns literacy teacher educators face a daunting task - preparing student teachers for a world where literacy is very complicated and contested. This paper addresses two key questions: What are the elements of a pedagogy of literacy teacher education? What opportunities for learning do literacy/English teacher educators offer to help student teachers understand the changing conception of literacy? For this research 28 literacy/English teacher educators in four countries were interviewed three times. Two overall conclusions are: the need to anchor their course in the concept of literacy as expanding and evolving; and to approach literacy teacher education holistically. Three elements of a pedagogy of literacy teacher education are discussed in this paper; that there is a need to: value and respond to diversity; read, discuss, and analyse a range of texts and genres; create authentic reflection activities. These elements are relevant for our increasingly diverse student body and can work dialogically. This paper provides a broad road map for literacy teacher educators who are often faced with conflicting messages from governments and feel tremendous pressure to teach to the test.

Teaching Asia: English Pedagogy and Asia Literacy within the Australian Curriculum

Abstract: Introduction Over the last decade, the changing landscape of Australia's curriculum development and implementation has demonstrated a strong emphasis on ensuring that Australian students have the knowledge, skills, and capabilities to participate within an increasingly globalised world. Consequently, there is a focus on students becoming 'Asia literate', which includes 'the capacity to reflect upon and explore cultural differences in the Asian region [and] the ability to understand Asian cultures and gain knowledge about Asian people and their histories' (Asia Literacy Teachers' Association of Australia, 2016, para. 2). The steadily growing migration levels of people from countries within the Asia region to Australia, coupled with a growing emphasis on developing culturally inclusive and relevant pedagogy, is highly reflective of the push for Australian school students to become 'Asia literate' (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2016; Burridge, Buchanan & Chodkiewicz, 2009; Harris, 2013). In 2015, the New South Wales K-10 English Syllabus was fully implemented across the state. One unique aspect of this new syllabus was the inclusion of three cross-curriculum priorities, which were aimed to 'provide dimensions which will enrich the curriculum through development of considered and focused content that fits naturally within learning areas' (ACARA, 2016a, para 1). The inclusion of one of these priorities, 'Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia', reflects the deepening ties between Australia and countries within the Asia region in the spheres of economics, politics, migration and trade. This is particularly highlighted by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, which state that the inclusion of this priority 'reflects Australia's extensive engagement with Asia in social, cultural, political and economic spheres' (ACARA, 2016b, para 4). The inclusion of the cross-curriculum priorities highlight that a sociocultural approach to education has influenced the construction of the Australian F--10 Curriculum, in that the cross-curriculum priorities are reflective of the current social context of Australian students. However, it does beg the question as to what attitudes English teachers hold toward teaching texts that address this outcome, particularly when it comes to issues concerning accessibility, cultural understanding and content knowledge. Though this cross-curriculum priority may encourage English teachers to explore rich literary traditions, compelling text types, and diverse subject matter, there is a risk that such topics are explored in a way that is tokenistic, or otherwise culturally insensitive. Potential factors leading to this risk may include the broadly defined geographic region that is Asia, a lack of understanding of cultural relativism, or teachers' lack of confidence in their abilities to effectively cover subject matter. To examine these concepts, this study sought to identify the factors that have influenced the attitudes and, in turn, practices that high school English teachers have towards teaching 'Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia', in order to understand the implications this has on the enactment of the New South Wales K-10 English Syllabus. Research questions The study asked: What are New South Wales English teachers' attitudes and practices toward addressing the cross-curriculum priority 'Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia'? To examine this, the following research questions informed this study: 1. What specific factors have led to, or influenced, high school English teachers' attitudes towards addressing this cross-curriculum priority? 2. How do English teachers define 'Asia', and what implications does this have when addressing the cross-curriculum priority? 3. To what extent do teachers identify the political and economic motivations behind the inclusion of the cross-curriculum priority? …

Testing spelling: How does a dictation method measure up to a proofreading and editing format?

Abstract: In response to increasing data-based decision making in schools comes increased responsibility for educators to consider measures of academic achievement in terms of their reliability, validity and practical utility. The focus of this paper is on the assessment of spelling. Among the methods used to assess spelling competence, tasks that require the production of words from dictation, or the proofreading and editing of spelling errors are common. In this study, spelling achievement data from the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) Language Conventions Test (a proofreading and editing based measure) and the Components of Spelling Test (CoST) (a dictation based measure) were examined. Results of a series of multiple regression analyses (MRAs) were based on a sample of low-achieving and high-achieving spellers from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in Year 3 (n=145), Year 4 (n=117), Year 5 (n=133) and Year 6 (n=117). Findings indicated significant relationships between scores in the spelling domain of the NAPLAN Language Conventions Test and the phonological, orthographic and morphological subscales scores of the CoST. Further, the orthographic subscale of the CoST was generally the main predictor of NAPLAN spelling across year level. Analysis also demonstrated that gender was not an influential factor. Implications for assessment and instruction in spelling are discussed in this paper, and the CoST is offered as a valid, reliable and informative measure of spelling performance for use in school contexts or future research projects.

Subject Area Literacy Instruction in Low SES Secondary Schools in New Zealand

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate patterns of student achievement and subject-area literacy teaching in a cluster of 22 New Zealand (NZ) secondary schools that serve low-to mid-socio-economic-status (SES) communities. We describe patterns of students' reading achievement in high stakes assessments in English, mathematics and science as well as patterns of literacy teaching across 104 Year 12 subject-area classrooms. The wider context of the study is NZ's high quality but low equity compulsory education system (OECD, 2014). NZ students regularly rank well above the OECD average in mathematics, reading and science but there is a wider gap between high and low-achievers than most other countries (OECD, 2010; Vannier, 2012). Students from low SES backgrounds, Maori (indigenous) and Pasifika (first or second generation immigrants from Pacific island countries) are markedly overrepresented in the tail end of the achievement distributions (OECD, 2010). Maori and Pasifika ethnicities and low SES are also strongly positively correlated. We were interested in understanding how patterns of literacy teaching in subject-areas might contribute to historic patterns of low achievement for students from this group of schools and in identifying teaching practices that could be developed to be more consistent with practices identified as effective in the literature. The specific research questions were: 1. What are the patterns in low SES schools of student participation and achievement in high stakes English, mathematics and science assessments that have complex reading demands? 2. How does literacy instruction across different subject areas in low SES schools reflect increasingly specialised and sophisticated reading and writing challenges in the senior secondary school? 3. How does literacy instruction in low SES schools in different subject areas reflect currently known optimal practices? Internationally, over the past two decades, there has been growing concern about an 'adolescent literacy crisis'. The crisis consists of high school students' reading achievement stagnating or declining, relative to previous cohorts, at a time when the literacy demands of education, work and society are rapidly increasing due to technological, social and economic changes (Jacobs, 2008; Moore, Bean, Birdyshaw & Rycik, 1999) such as the expansion of information-based technologies, the internationalisation of labour markets, and the dramatic decline in the number of jobs that do not require (much) reading or writing (Biancarosa & Snow, 2006; Kamil et al., 2008; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). The increasing importance of reading means that, regardless of whether overall levels of reading are actually declining, as they appear to be in the USA (Brozo, Moorman, Meyer & Stewart, 2013), or merely stagnating, as they are in New Zealand (Telford & May, 2010), there is a growing gap between the literacy vision and the reality. Leaving high school without the literacy needed to fully participate in workplace and life situations constrains the life chances of the individuals involved but having large numbers of students leave high school without advanced forms of literacy is also concerning from a community and national perspective. Particularly troubling is that some groups of students -notably minority, indigenous and students from poorer communities --are markedly overrepresented in the lowest achieving groups. Ethnicity and socio-economic based disparities in literacy outcomes are persistent features of the educational systems of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and other Anglophone nations. Given the importance of literacy--and clear evidence that quality teaching has the potential to improve student learning (Alton-Lee, 2003; Hattie, 2008)--it is unsurprising that much attention has been directed toward better understanding the role that teaching can play in improving literacy outcomes. …

IRE and content area literacies: A critical analysis of classroom discourse

Abstract: This article draws on a research project undertaken in a state secondary school that explored ways of engaging students in the content area of science. The paper argues that high school teachers teaching in specialist areas can better cater for student needs through attention to a pedagogy that is literacy focused. This is particularly relevant in content area subjects in the secondary school where many teachers have not had access to pre-service literacy training and, traditionally, teaching approaches have been content focused. Moreover, contemporary schools are now places characterised by linguistic, cultural and social diversity and coupled with Australia's push for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), it is helpful if science teaching incorporates productive (student engagement) and inclusive (student diversity) approaches. A discursive analysis of classroom talk excerpts from three science lessons is used to make comparisons: one from early in the project where the nature of science teaching was investigated and two as a result of findings from investigating the first. The talk was coded using an IRE (initiation-response-evaluation) structure to show how student activity and engagement increased as a result of a pedagogical change. The findings of this research have implications for the way content areas are taught in some secondary schools.

Being and becoming TESOL educators: Embodied learning via practicum

Abstract: Introduction: Practicum enquiry Becoming a teacher, Graham and Phelps (2003) wrote, is a multi-faceted process involving individuals intellectually, socially, morally, emotionally and aesthetically engaging in community-focused activity. In TESOL teacher education, the practicum is recognised as a crucial, socio-educative experience where practice teachers both witness theory in application and become members of a real-world community of practice (Ishihara, 2005; Wenger, 1998). In Bourdieusian terms, they realise capacities, gain dispositions, and ways of thinking, being and acting. Practicums contribute to the ongoing formation of the habitus and expose the value of types of learning that occur; the cultural, social and symbolic capital of the practicum (Bourdieu, 1986). Offering insights to language teachers involved in connecting the classroom to the world beyond the classroom and particularly to tertiary lecturers in TESOL, our study identifies and describes key forms of learning, both the expected and the unexpected, adding further weight to research valourising the practicum as a site of valuable and authentic learning, and learning that occurs through thinking, being and acting the teacher and becoming closer to the aspiration of becoming a confident practitioner. We do not detail what a successful practicum looks like, as Ulvik and Smith (2011) have done, nor what practice teachers focus on, like Brinton and Holten (1989). Building on the literature, our interest lies in identifying what forms of knowledge result and how they impact practice teachers' reported confidence, how they enhance a 'teacherly' habitus, and how they lead practice teachers towards being and becoming TESOL practitioners. Simply put, our research question is: What forms of learning gained on practicum do postgraduate practice teachers value? We engage with a consideration of how these forms affect practice teachers' professional identities. In the postgraduate context of a Certificate, Diploma or Master of TESOL program, the learners, the 'practice teachers' (Richards & Farrell, 2011; Ulvik & Smith, 2011) are no longer 'students', 'novices' or 'trainees'; they are working professionals aiming to ground their teaching practice within the discipline by becoming more aware of how to become more effective teachers within their teaching and learning communities. The practicum, consisting of twenty-two days of placement including seven observations and fifteen days of planned, supervised teaching, is a core unit which provides a set of structured experiences and students document these via their practicum portfolio comprising a range of identity texts: teaching practice notes, reflective diaries and observation reports, supervisory reports, lesson plans and retrospective, reflective surveys (Velikova, 2013). These texts are embodiments of practice teachers' reflection for, in and on action (a literary constant from Schon, 1987 to Farrell, 2015 & 2016). As lecturers and researchers on the postgraduate practicum unit, Professional Practice, in the only university in the Western suburbs of Melbourne, the authors were in a unique position to construct a practitioner enquiry into the process of being and becoming TESOL practitioners. Hence, in the manner of Richards and Farrell (2011), this study aims to mine the reflective potential of completed students'(VU) practicum portfolios for narrative data to investigate the pedagogical and learning value of practicum. For this paper, we analyse their reflective surveys, drawing from their lesson reflections to triangulate the data. Connecting a body of knowledge of work on experiential and participatory learning beyond the classroom to practicum experiences, our investigation sets out to discover the pedagogical and learning benefits of the guided practicum through analysis of the experiences embodied within the reflective texts. Background: The practicum One reason why this study is unique is that it occurs in the context of an MTESOL unit taught in the Western suburbs of Melbourne in the College of Education at Victoria University, Melbourne, a university marked for its ethnic and educative diversity. …

A phenomenological perspective of children's writing

Abstract: Classroom teachers would recognise the struggle of engaging all students in producing quality writing assignments. This might be the view from the outside, but the world experienced by the child during the act of writing may be comprised of potentially rich and signicant meaning that is waiting to be uncovered. This paper explores writing research from cognitive, affective, and social perspectives as the foundations for the major determinants on children’s writing experience and engagement. In light of modern trends in technology and pedagogy, we argue for a shift in perspective that views these determinants as crucial factors constituting and shaping the lived experience of the act of writing. Drawing upon various disciplines, we suggest a new phenomenological orientation that positions writing as an experience of the self, the expression of ideas, and the existential phenomena of the lifeworld, to investigate this rarely addressed field of writing research. We offer an emergent preliminary working framework useful for informing pedagogical approach, and we highlight future phenomenological research needed in this area.

Examining the examiners: The state of senior secondary English examinations in Australia

Abstract: This paper investigates the language of examination reports for senior secondary English courses in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. A combination of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is used to examine the types of knowledge and knower that are valued in examinations; and how language is used to describe successful and less successful writing, and the candidates who produce these texts. The analysis suggests that subject English values an elite code (at least, in examination settings), in which both an 'insightful' approach to texts and skilled writing justifying analysis is valued; and that students who are unable to take up these discursive practices are imagined as lazy and callow. The paper concludes with implications for teachers and examiners, arguing that teachers must make students aware of the 'dual-sided' nature of subject English, and that examiners should be cognisant of potential bias in their view of responses and their writers.

Learning through Responsive and Collaborative Mediation in a Tutoring Context

Abstract: Early in the US Common Core State Standards (CCSS) document, the authors state that the standards should be read 'as allowing for the widest possible range of students to participate fully from the outset' (NGACBP & CCSSO, 2010, p. 6). Standards from other countries also emphasise this sense of inclusiveness (e.g., ACARA, 2016). The students expected to 'participate fully' should include vulnerable readers--those readers who are unusually sensitive to disruptions in their literacy ecology--as they attempt to negotiate these new standards (Jaeger, 2015). Strong, differentiated classroom curriculum is key to progress for all students (Jones, Yssel & Grant, 2012). It appears, however, that a significant number of students will require additional support if they are to succeed, and a subset of these approximately will need intensive tutoring. The purpose of this paper is to describe a tutoring study conducted in an urban primary school with three fourth grade students who exhibited key strengths in reading, but also important challenges. This article focuses, in particular, on one child who was a fluent decoder, but struggled to make meaning from text. I argue that this partnership was effective for two major reasons: the tutor developed a curriculum in response to the specific needs of the child and collaborated with the learner to decide what objectives and practices would best meet his needs, what instructional tools would mediate his learning (Vygotsky, 1978), and how they would measure progress. Evidence suggests that the tutoring the child received as part of this study supported his literacy growth. After describing the theoretical framework employed here, I review recent literature on tutoring protocols. Details regarding implementation of the study and findings resulting from it follow. Theoretical framework In his seminal text, Mind in Society, Vygotsky (1978) argued that, in contrast to elementary forms of behaviour in which the subject/object link is direct, all higher psychological functions (such as literacy) are mediated. That is, the link between the subject and object of the activity is an indirect one with tools facilitating the outcome. These tools may be material, symbolic and/or human/relational. The subject employs these tools to secure an object s/he could not otherwise attain, as is the case when a child uses a chair (material tool) to reach a desired item, or asks (symbolic tool) a taller friend (human/relational tool) to procure it. As subjects become more sophisticated in their tool utilisation, they take advantage of a greater number and variety of tools, employ tools with greater mediational potential, and internalise strategies for the use of those tools (Cole, 1996). Returning to the example above, the child may find that a step stool is an alternative if no chair is available (increase in number and variety of material tools), a note may be more effective if the taller friend is busy at present (a symbolic tool with more mediational potential), and a 'list' of those willing to help in similar situations may be committed to memory for future retrieval (internalisation of a human/ relational tool). Engestrom (1987) provides a visual representation of mediation (see Figure 1). Within the realm of literacy learning, the child is the subject and meaning-making is the object. Texts serve as tools, as do lessons/relationships occurring between the child and the teacher, with enriched meaning-making as the ideal outcome (see Figure 2). Literature review Research literature that addresses the tools, objects, and outcomes of mediation of literacy learning occurring in the tutoring context is a relevant foundation for the study described in this article. After reviewing this literature, I will describe the limitations within it and the ways the current study fills those gaps. Studies published from 1998 through 2017 were selected for this review if they: (a) described an intervention in which the teacher-to-student ratio was 1:1 or 1:2, (b) included participants who were in first through eighth grade at the time of the study, (c) demonstrated positive literacy outcomes as assessed by measures that examined the act of reading in its entirety rather than skills in isolation (e. …

The Complexity of Teaching Internet Inquiry with iPads in the Early Years

Abstract: New media literacies and the interweaving of new and old Within literacy education research there is a strong tradition in seeking to understand children's use of new media and the emergence of new digital and multimodal literacies (e.g., Buckingham, Banaji, Carr, Cranmer & Willett, 2005; Kress & Jewitt, 2003; Mills, 2010; Pahl, 2007). These new literacies are increasingly understood as essential for contemporary learning, work and citizenship (e.g., Jewitt, 2008), and their importance has been evident for well over a decade in the recasting of Australian literacy curriculum frameworks to support broader definitions of text, reading, and composition. For example, in the current state curriculum framework pertaining to the children involved in the study reported in this paper (Years 1 and 2--the second and third year of school in Victoria, Australia), we see within the formal curriculum documents for English references such as: 'concepts of print and screen ... including how different types of texts are organised using page numbering, tables of content, headings and titles, navigation buttons, bars and links' and 'recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing, performance and digital forms of communication' (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, n.d.). These explicit references to other modalities and media beyond print are accompanied by more general references that are now understood to incorporate a broad range of texts and textual practices. For example, references to people using 'different systems of communication to cater to different needs and purposes' (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, n.d.) are generally understood to include both traditional print and spoken forms and new digital forms. A growing focus of contemporary research into children's media practices (e.g., Marsh 2014; McKee & Heydon, 2015; Walsh, 2011) is the interweaving of the performance of new digital literacies with traditional print-based skills and strategies, and the mutually-supportive relationship between these traditional and new literacies. This paper contributes to this knowledge by examining the diverse skills, strategies and materials involved in learning how to search the internet, with a focus on students in the early years of schooling. It pursues the questions: how do early years literacy teachers support their young students to develop skills and knowledge in internet searching, and how does this articulate with more traditional skill sets and materials? Reading internet texts Existing research into reading and comprehension of information on the internet suggests that it is a more complex undertaking than reading traditional print-based informational texts, involving new skills and strategies, interweaving new and more traditional literacy skills and strategies (Schumar-Dobler, 2003), and doing this in more complex and more cognitively demanding ways (Corio, 2011). For example, Corio and Dobler (2007) provide a detailed analysis of the skills and strategies used by eleven highly skilled sixth-grade readers as they engaged in internet reading tasks. Their findings suggest that internet reading requires both similar and more complex applications of prior knowledge, reasoning strategies, and self-regulated reading processes. Their research also suggests that internet reading tasks are more intense than reading traditional print-based informational texts, involving the combination of a greater number of comprehension strategies and in more rapid succession. Findings such as those of Corio and Dobler--that identify the increased complexity and intensity of internet reading over reading traditional print-based informational texts--complement analyses of search engines as information management systems that, when compared with previously indexed systems (e.g., Dewey Decimal Classification System), find them to be more sensitive to vocabulary and therefore more reliant on the search expertise and subject expertise of the searcher (Souto-Otero & Beneito-Montagut, 2013). …

Constituting 'at risk' literacy and language learners in teacher talk: Exploring the discursive element of time

Abstract: The student category of 'a risk' is often assigned to learners who are considered by teachers and school administrators to not meet specified curriculum and assessment requirements It is a pervasive term that manages to go unquestioned Being 'at risk' implies being out of alignment with opposite terms, that is terms such as stability, safety, not at risk This way of thinking can lead to an assumption that there is a fixed, normal position for learners, and that being other than that involves becoming 'at risk' within the schooling system We also argue that teachers' talk about such learners and their 'at riskness' can constitute learners in ways that are either more constraining or more enabling to their pathways through schooling The paper draws on our experience of analyzing teacher interview data collected across a variety of research projects with teachers in Australian schools Employing discourse analysis focusing on the discursive element of time as trace temporal markers in teacher interview talk, we provide specific analysis of one teacher's talk about her English language learners on their path to also becoming literate in English Her talk demonstrates an optimistic and generative discursive position that challenges views of English language learners as 'wanting' and potentially as 'at risk'