Playing with Grammar in the Early Years : Learning about Language in the Australian Curriculum : English

As teacher/researchers interested in the pursuit of socially-just outcomes in early childhood education, the form and function of language occupies a special position in our work. We believe that mastering a range of literacy competences includes not only the technical skills for learning, but also the resources for viewing and constructing the world (Freire and Macdeo, 1987). Rather than seeing knowledge about language as the accumulation of technical skills alone, the viewpoint to which we subscribe treats knowledge about language as a dialectic that evolves from, is situated in, and contributes to a social arena (Halliday, 1978). We do not shy away from this position just because children are in the early years of schooling. In ‘Playing with Grammar’, we focus on the Foundation to Year 2 grouping, in line with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s (hereafter ACARA) advice on the ‘nature of learners’ (ACARA, 2013). With our focus on the early years of schooling comes our acknowledgement of the importance and complexity of play. At a time where accountability in education has moved many teachers to a sense of urgency to prove language and literacy achievement (Genishi and Dyson, 2009), we encourage space to revisit what we know about literature choices and learning experiences and bring these together to facilitate language learning. We can neither ignore, nor overemphasise, the importance of play for the development of language through: the opportunities presented for creative use and practice; social interactions for real purposes; and, identifying and solving problems in the lives of young children (Marsh and Hallet, 2008). We argue that by engaging young children in opportunities to play with language we are ultimately empowering them to be active in their language learning and in the process fostering a love of language and the intricacies it holds. Our goal in this publication is to provide a range of highly practical strategies for scaffolding young children through some of the Content Descriptions from the Australian Curriculum English Version 5.0, hereafter AC:E V5.0 (ACARA, 2013). This recently released curriculum offers a new theoretical approach to building children’s knowledge about language. The AC:E V5.0 uses selected traditional terms through an approach developed in systemic functional linguistics (see Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004) to highlight the dynamic forms and functions of multimodal language in texts. For example, the following statement, taken from the ‘Language: Knowing about the English language’ strand states: English uses standard grammatical terminology within a contextual framework, in which language choices are seen to vary according to the topics at hand, the nature and proximity of the relationships between the language users, and the modalities or channels of communication available (ACARA, 2013). Put simply, traditional grammar terms are used within a functional framework made up of field, tenor, and mode. An understanding of genre is noted with the reference to a ‘contextual framework’. The ‘topics at hand’ concern the field or subject matter of the text. The ‘relationships between the language users’ is a description of tenor. There is reference to ‘modalities’, such as spoken, written or visual text. We posit that this innovative approach is necessary for working with contemporary multimodal and cross-cultural texts (see Exley and Mills, 2012). We believe there is enormous power in using literature to expose children to the richness of language and in turn develop language and literacy skills. Taking time to look at language patterns within actual literature is a pathway to ‘…capture interest, stir the imagination and absorb the [child]’ into the world of language and literacy (Saxby, 1993, p. 55). In the following three sections, we have tried to remain faithful to our interpretation of the AC:E V5.0 Content Descriptions without giving an exhaustive explanation of the grammatical terms. Other excellent tomes, such as Derewianka (2011), Humphrey, Droga and Feez (2012), and Rossbridge and Rushton (2011) provide these more comprehensive explanations as does the AC:E V5.0 Glossary. We’ve reproduced some of the AC:E V5.0 glossary at the end of this publication. Our focus is on the structure and unfolding of the learning experiences. We outline strategies for working with children in Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 by providing some demonstration learning experiences based on texts we’ve selected, but maintain that the affordances of these strategies will only be realised when teaching and learning is purposively tied to authentic projects in local contexts. We strongly encourage you not to use only the resource texts we’ve selected, but to capitalise upon your skill for identifying the language features in the texts you and the children are studying and adapt some of the strategies we have outlined. Each learning experience is connected to one of the Content Descriptions from the AC:E V5.0 and contains an experience specific purpose, a suggested resource text and a sequence for the experience that always commences with an orientation to text followed by an examination of a particular grammatical resource. We expect that each of these learning experiences will take a couple if not a few teaching episodes to work through, especially if children are meeting a concept for the first time. We hope you use as much, or as little, of each experience as is needed. Our plans allow for focused discussion, shared exploration and opportunities to revisit the same text for the purpose of enhancing meaning making. We do not want the teaching of grammar to slip into a crisis of irrelevance or to be seen as a series of worksheet drills with finite answers. Strategies for effective practice, however, have much portability. We are both very keen to hear from teachers who are adopting and adapting these learning experiences in their classrooms. Please email us on b.exley@qut.edu.au or lkervin@uow.edu.au. We’d love to continue the conversation with you over time.

English in the urban environment : resources for 21st century readers

Where teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) once observed a paucity of authentic language input, public displays of written English are now proliferating. Ideas for capitalising on this abundance can be drawn from two strands of pedagogic thought: a psycholinguistic approach to conventional literacy long established in foreign, second and first language education (e.g., Teng, 2009), and a more recent and critical approach informed by diverse theoretical understandings of the ‘linguistic landscape’ (e.g., Rowland, 2013). In this paper I draw from these two approaches to suggest ways of helping EFL learners use environmental print to develop knowledge and skills required of English readers in the twenty-first century: (1) fluency in breaking the codes of English and other languages of publicly displayed text; (2) facility with making meaning as the English of these texts becomes ever more diverse in cultural, historical and contextual implication; (3) use of environmental English in contexts that range from the local to the transnational; and (4) critique of the presence of English and attendant worldviews in the urban environment (Chern & Dooley, forthcoming). The psychological concept of motivation and the complementary sociological concept of investment are at the heart of my deliberations here: realisation of the pedagogic potential of environmental print to develop literate resources requires consideration of sources of motivation in the classroom learning situation (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011), as well as learner investment in literate practices in English (Norton, 2010).

'Explain in plain English' questions revisited : data structures problems

Recent studies have linked the ability of novice (CS1) programmers to read and explain code with their ability to write code. This study extends earlier work by asking CS2 students to explain object-oriented data structures problems that involve recursion. Results show a strong correlation between ability to explain code at an abstract level and performance on code writing and code reading test problems for these object-oriented data structures problems. The authors postulate that there is a common set of skills concerned with reasoning about programs that explains the correlation between writing code and explaining code. The authors suggest that an overly exclusive emphasis on code writing may be detrimental to learning to program. Non-code writing learning activities (e.g., reading and explaining code) are likely to improve student ability to reason about code and, by extension, improve student ability to write code. A judicious mix of code-writing and code-reading activities is recommended.

Use of hospital emergency departments by immigrants from non-English speaking backgrounds in Queensland

This study aimed to examine the use of hospital emergency departments and to investigate the level of satisfaction with the emergency department service among patients from a non-English-speaking background compared to those of patients from an English-speaking background in Queensland. The findings of this study might inform health professionals and policy planners to develop educational interventions and policies to ensure equitable use of emergency services among the populations.

The ‘Indigenous Australian’ theme in the Australian Curriculum English : necessary or not?

On Friday 10 January 2014 Education Minister Christopher Pyne formally announced a review of the inaugural Australian curriculum. In his three and half minute televised justification, Pyne (2014) identified a number of criticisms of the national curriculum document, including the ‘necessity to have themes’ of ‘Australia’s place in Asia, Indigenous Australia and sustainability’. It is the second of these themes that we consider as ALEA’s Hot Topic for March 2014. We respond to Pyne’s momentary musing of the necessity of the ‘Indigenous Australian’ theme in the Australian Curriculum with a particular focus on the discipline of English. In the nomenclature of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2013), we are of course referring to the ‘cross curriculum priority’ of ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures’.

Understanding the information literacy experiences of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students

This thesis investigated the information literacy experiences of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students in a higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Phenomenography was used to investigate how EFL students' 'used information to learn' (ie. information literacy). The study revealed that EFL students' experienced information literacy across four categories and had varying experiences of information and learning. The research also showed that EFL students' faced a number of challenges and barriers due to language that impacted on their experiences of reading, understanding, accessing and translating information.

Plain English writing in Sri Lanka - an achievable goal

The use of plain English in document writing, whether in correspondence, agreements and deeds, court documents or judicial writing, is an important goal for the legal profession in Sri Lanka.

The Arab Spring and its social media audiences : English and Arabic Twitter users and their networks

2011 ‘Arab Spring’ are likely to overstate the impact of Facebook and Twitter on these uprisings, it is nonetheless true that protests and unrest in countries from Tunisia to Syria generated a substantial amount of social media activity. On Twitter alone, several millions of tweets containing the hashtags #libya or #egypt were generated during 2011, both by directly affected citizens of these countries, and by onlookers from further afield. What remains unclear, though, is the extent to which there was any direct interaction between these two groups (especially considering potential language barriers between them). Building on hashtag datasets gathered between January and November 2011, this paper compares patterns of Twitter usage during the popular revolution in Egypt and the civil war in Libya. Using custom-made tools for processing ‘big data’, we examine the volume of tweets sent by English-, Arabic-, and mixed-language Twitter users over time, and examine the networks of interaction (variously through @replying, retweeting, or both) between these groups as they developed and shifted over the course of these uprisings. Examining @reply and retweet traffic, we identify general patterns of information flow between the English- and Arabic-speaking sides of the Twittersphere, and highlight the roles played by users bridging both language spheres.

Australian Aboriginal English and cultural conceptions : can they affect policing?

It is well established that there are inherent difficulties involved in communicating across cultural boundaries. When these difficulties are encountered within the justice system the innocent can be convicted and witnesses undermined. A large amount of research has been undertaken regarding the implications of miscommunication within the courtroom but far less has been carried out on language and interactions between police and Indigenous Australians. It is necessary that officers of the law be made aware of linguistic issues to ensure they conduct their investigations in a fair, effective and therefore ethical manner. This paper draws on Cultural Schema Theory to illustrate how this could be achieved. The justice system is reliant upon the skills and knowledge of the police, therefore, this paper highlights the need for research to focus on the linguistic and non‐verbal differences between Australian Aboriginal English and Australian Standard English in order to develop techniques to facilitate effective communication.

"The Handbook of English for Specific Purposes" reviewed by Karen Woodman

English for specific purposes is a critical, but often under-researched, area in the fields of TESOL and Applied Linguistics, so the publication of a collection on this topic is a very positive development for those who work and/or research in the area.

Satisfaction with emergency department service among non-English-speaking background patients

Objective: The present study aims to investigate non-English-speaking background (NESB) patients’ satisfaction with hospital ED service and compare it with that of English-speaking background (ESB) patients. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the ED of an adult tertiary referral hospital in Queensland, Australia. Patients assigned an Australasian Triage Scale score of 3, 4 or 5 were surveyed in the ED, before and after their ED service. Pearson χ2- test and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the differences between the ESB and NESB groups in terms of patient-reported satisfaction. Results: In total, 828 patients participated in the present study. Although the overall satisfaction with the service was high – 95.1% (ESB) and 90.5% (NESB) – the NESB patients who did not use an interpreter were less satisfied with their ED service than the ESB patients (odds ratio 0.5, 95% confidence interval 0.3–0.8, P = 0.013). The promptness of service received the lowest satisfaction rates (ESB 85.4% [82.4–88.0], NESB 74.5% [68.5– 79.7], P < 0.001), whereas courtesy and friendliness received the highest satisfaction rates (ESB 98.8 [97.6–99.4], NESB 97.0 [93.9–98.5], P = 0.063). All participants reported the promptness of service (33.5%), quality and professional care (18.5%) and communication (17.6%) as the most important elements of ED service. Conclusion: The NESB patients were significantly less satisfied than the ESB patients with the ED service. Use of an interpreter improved the NESB patients’ level of satisfaction. Further research is required to examine what NESB patients’ expectations of ED service are.

Tensions between policy and practice : reconciliation agendas in the Australian curriculum English

In various parts of the world, Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples are actively working towards Reconciliation. In Australia, the context in which we each undertake our work as educationalists and researchers, the Reconciliation agenda has been pushed into schools and English teachers have been called on to share responsibility for facilitating the move towards a new national order. The recently introduced Australian Curriculum mandates that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures be embedded with “a strong” but “varying presence” into each learning area (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013). In this paper we consider the tensions between policy and practice, when discourses external to education are recontextualised into the discipline of English. We do so by applying an analytical framework based on Bernstein’s (1990, 1996,2000) sociological theories about the structure of instructional and regulative discourses. Our findings suggest that the space to exert Reconciliatory agendas in the Australian Curriculum English is ambiguous and thus holds the potential to not only marginalise Indigenous knowledges but also to create tensions between policy and practice for non-Indigenous teachers of English.

Understanding the information literacy experiences of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students

Purpose – This paper outlines research that explores the information literacy experiences of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. The question explored in this research was: how do EFL students experience information literacy. Design/Methodology/Approach – This study used phenomenography, a relational approach to explore the information literacy experiences of EFL students. Phenomenography studies the qualitatively different ways a phenomenon is experienced in the world around us. Findings – This research revealed that EFL students experienced information literacy in four qualitatively different ways. The four categories revealed through the data were: process, quality, language and knowledge. This research found that language impacted on EFL students’ experiences of information literacy and revealed that EFL students applied various techniques and strategies when they read, understood, organised and translated information. Research limitations/implications – This research was conducted in a specific cultural and educational context, therefore the results might not reflect the experiences of EFL students in other cultural or educational contexts. Practical implications – The findings from this research offer an important contribution to information literacy practice by providing important insights about EFL students’ experiences and perceptions of information and learning that can be used to inform curriculum development in second language learning contexts. Originality/Value - There is currently a lack of research using a relational approach to investigate EFL students’ experiences of information literacy. There is also limited research that explores the impact language has on information literary and learning in English as a foreign or second language contexts.

Multiliteracies pedagogy : creating claymations with adolescent, post-beginner English language learners

In addressing literacy in high school education, it is important to foreground the particular issues faced by growing numbers of English Language Learners (ELLs). In our increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, this is a matter for all literacy teachers, as well as ELL specialists. In Australia, teachers of ELLs are experimenting with Multiliteracies pedagogy which provides rich opportunities to explore language learning experiences and outcomes that stretch beyond exercises in reproduction in written and oral modes only. This paper documents the practice of a high school teacher who uses a claymation project, producing a movie by stop-motion filming of clay figures, with a class of low-level English literacy learners. Drawing on observations of three particular students, the paper outlines a number of possibilities of this approach for English language learners. These include increased individual agency; enhanced engagement through collaboration; and the opportunity to explore various elements of multimodal text design.

Great Expectations : stability and change in English teaching : the teacher as chameleon

Curriculum is always in a state of flux and so often the moves to ‘reform’ it are political rather than pedagogical. So often in these days of accountability we focus on the learner. I want to focus on the teacher in this presentation. As English educators we have to ‘fit’ whatever new policy model comes our way. The Australian curriculum seems to have tried to please every stakeholder in its process and as such has been formed without a single, unifying coherent theoretical basis. How do we challenge this paper tiger? We have to find the pedagogical models within the current framework and see what still works in practice. At the chalk-face there are still teaching, learning and assessment practices in English surviving from the last few decades of pedagogical change; and there is also room for accommodating new practices. Embracing and adapting the old and the new may be the key to staying creative and passionately engaged with our subject area.