EDUC6741 Assignment 1 Review of Resources

c3109550

For secondary English teaching there are a number of resources on the effective communication of the English language style to students by teachers. Literacy within subject English is a major component of the State and National English curriculums. Literacy resources attempt to provide solutions to and advice on the pressures involved with language and literacy instruction in secondary school English, as they are complex and contentious issues.

A good introductory resource to understanding the instruction of literacy is the website Curriculum Support, designed to help pre-service and practicing teachers to navigate the NSW state curriculum. Key skills that teachers should aim to have their students achieve are mentioned in NSW Literacy K-12 Policy literacy definition. There is a link dedicated to Literacy support for Secondary English ( Department of Education and Communities, 2011) with downloadable resources. The website makes explicit the needs of English as an Additional Language Dialect (EALD) students, who have diverse talents and capabilities [] prior learning experiences and levels of literacy in their first language and in English. ( Department of Education and Communities, 2011) This site has further links to information and resources for literacy in the NSW and Australian curriculums, so in its entirety it is a very valuable resource. The handbook Inspired English Teaching concentrates on giving advice to English teachers seeking to make sure their lessons are engaging, interactive and ultimately inspirational for their students. It certainly provides a wealth of ideas on great ways to structure English lessons in order to effectively communicate specialist English

EDUC6741 Assignment 1 Review of Resources

c3109550

concepts and language, but it only briefly touches on the specific issue of literacy teaching and does not mention disadvantaged students. The English Teachers Companion makes the important point that the issues of literacy and language instruction in the classroom are changing and developing with the many new technologies that are available and operated by many students of secondary classrooms. This means that the perceptions and environments of students are changing, and The English Teachers Companion recognises that the secondary English classroom needs to keep up with these new technologies in order to stay relevant to the present and future expectations of literacy for the current students in our classrooms. (Burke, 2003) This guide synthesises much of the available advice and direction on literacy available and references a lot of research into the area of literacy instruction. It is both a useful guide and a good starting point to find out more about research into the dynamics of teaching literacy in secondary school English. Re-viewing English is a great resource for examining the language development within secondary English. It concerns the instruction of critical literacy through the application of the cultural studies model, designed to enable students to challenge and redefine foundational assumptions. (Sawyer, Watson, & Gold, 1998) There is also a chapter dedicated to Second Language Learners (Sawyer, et al., 1998) in the English classroom and another for the consideration of Aboriginal Perspectives, (Sawyer, et al., 1998) so this guide is certainly useful for the instruction of literacy in Australian secondary English classrooms. Literacy for Children in an Information Age discusses the teaching of English in a modern context at length. It makes the claim that literacy as it has been known

EDUC6741 Assignment 1 Review of Resources

c3109550

traditionally needs to be completely redefined. The guide supplies a redefinition that is expounded for the rest of the text, which emphasises the increasing importance of technological literacy in the classroom. Three broad categories of necessary learning skills (Cohen & Cowen, 2011) are identified, and examples illustrate how technical literacy can be achieved through the mastery of these learning skills by using 21st century tools (Cohen & Cowen, 2011) This text is potentially useful when applying to learners with difficulties or from diverse backgrounds; although targeted at an American audience, the texts quotation of the International Reading Associations (IRA) position statement for second language literacy learners could definitely apply to an Australian secondary English classroom. It stated that teachers should remember to teach literacy skills and content through the experiences and cultural background of the children in the class. (Cohen & Cowen, 2011) The Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC) Clearinghouse System produces a reports and discussions about literacy, education and secondary English called ERIC Digests and one of them, titled Adolescent Literacy and Content Area Reading, explores the issues of adolescents who will be adults in the 21st century, as it makes the claim that they will need advanced levels of literacy to perform their jobs, run their households [] and conduct their personal lives. (Grady, 2002) The report sustains the important point on the impact and influence of a students background on their ability to interpret texts a develop literacy skills. (Grady, 2002) This could be applied to students from diverse backgrounds or with special needs. Grady then examines some existing frameworks and strategies for literacy instruction, recommending the Reading Apprenticeship model (Greenleaf, Schoenbach, Cziko, & Mueller, 2001)

EDUC6741 Assignment 1 Review of Resources

c3109550

For National Literacy and Numeracy Week, the DEC produced a Video titled Literacy Learning &Technology. This video offered the perspective and research of Associate Professor Kaye Lowe on the issues surrounding technology and literacy. Dr Lowe makes the claim that the role of teachers, what students learn and how they learn are all being transformed (Lowe, 2012) by the increase of technologies and the new skills that they demand. Emphasising the new literacies of ICT (Lowe, 2012) Dr Lowe mentions that disadvantaged and minority students may have restricted access to the Internet (2012) and this could have implications in the classroom. Her main point is that the teachers have the greatest role in helping students become technologically literate, (Lowe, 2012) so they need to be skilled and passionate about the effective use of ICT for teaching and learning (Lowe, 2012) The journal article What English Teachers Need to Know about Grammar explores the equal importance of teacher and secondary student understanding of correct grammar as a necessary skill of the literate individual. (Murdick, 1996) He acknowledges the deficiencies of traditional grammar which may partly explain why children and teenagers have such trouble learning it. (Murdick, 1996) The article explores various problems areas in grammar and literacy instruction but it does not explore the potential issues of instructing students with learning difficulties or from diverse backgrounds. Teaching Visual Literacy in the 21st Century is an article mainly concerned with emphasising the importance of teaching students how to decode advertising images (Glasgow, 1994) as a means to gain visual literacy relevant to the 21st Century. Glasgow argues that deconstruction of visual images in advertisements is a very important skill for students. The article does not mention students from diverse backgrounds or with learning difficulties.

EDUC6741 Assignment 1 Review of Resources

c3109550

Luke and Elkins editorial on a Special Themed Issue of the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy on Re/mediating adolescent literacies (2000) is a valuable resource in itself in explaining the perspectives of various scholars on the teachers purpose and role in secondary literacy education. They claim that literacy provide symbolic tools, resources, and means to conduct social and ecological relations (Luke & Elkins, 2000) and in summary of the articles to follow, they identify the trend view that the teachers role is in mediating adolescent literacies through staging the conditions (Luke & Elkins, 2000) in which they learn. In speaking on individual needs, they imply a consideration of those from diverse backgrounds, but this article does not directly discuss the issue.

Many of these resources focus on the technology of the 21st century and how it is impacting literacy instruction in secondary English classrooms. This is certainly a considerable issue that will constantly redefine how literacy is taught in secondary English.

Bibliography

Department of Education and Communities. (2011). Curriculum Support, 2012, from http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/secondary/english/index.htm Burke, Jim. (2003). The English Teacher's Companion: a complete guide to classroom, curriculum, and the profession (2nd ed.). Portsmouth: Heinemann. Cohen, Vicki, & Cowen, John. (2011). Literacy for Children in an Information Age (2nd ed.). California: Wadsworth, Cenage Learning.

EDUC6741 Assignment 1 Review of Resources

c3109550

Glasgow, Jacqueline. (1994). Teaching Visual Literacy for the 21st Century. Journal of Reading, 37(6), 494-500. Grady, Karen. (2002, 03/03). Adolescent Literacy and Content Area Reading. Report Retrieved from http://ericdigests.org/2003-3/area.htm Greenleaf, C, Schoenbach, R, Cziko, C, & Mueller, F. (2001). Apprenticing adolescent readers to academic literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 71(1), 79-129. Lowe, Dr Kaye (Writer). (2012). Video 1: Literacy Learning & Technology. In Centre for Learning Innovation (CLI) (Producer): National Capital Centre for Literacy Research. Luke, Allan, & Elkins, John. (2000). Special Themed Issue: Re/Mediating Adolescent Literacies. [Editorial]. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 43(5), 396-398. Murdick, William. (1996). What English Teachers Need to Know about Grammar. The English Journal, 85(7), 38-45. Sawyer, Wayne, Watson, Ken, & Gold, Eva (Eds.). (1998). Re-Viewing English. Sydney: St Clair Press.