Search

The New Word Hunter project sought to engage families of Year 1 children with the aim of extending their vocabularies beyond everyday language. Early vocabulary development has been linked to later performance in reading comprehension, as well as to socio-economic status. This project sought to recruit families from two diverse school communities as partners in encouraging their children to increase their lexical repertoires by providing them with vocabulary rich books, supplementary resources and advice. Utilising a pre-and post-test design with a treatment group and comparison group in each of two contrastive schools, the study investigated both receptive and expressive vocabulary performance, with a focus on words in the Tier-2 category, drawing on the work of Beck and McKeown. Initial assessment found unanticipated similarities in the performance of children from low and middle SES backgrounds, but differences related to language background and gender. Based on this assessment, we suggest that educators may be underestimating young children's receptive and expressive language competence. Findings of the comparative analysis of pre- and post-test results indicate that the intervention was effective in improving children's understanding of challenging words included in fictional and nonfiction texts provided in resource packs. However, this was only the case in one school, Pleasant Rise, which had a socially and culturally diverse community with a moderate level of disadvantage; it was not the case in Pelican Point, a school serving a highly disadvantaged community. In discussing the findings, we suggest there may be an interaction between teacher attitudes, family interventions and child outcomes, even when educators' pedagogy is not the focus of the interventions. Acknowledging limitations of the project, we propose that directly encouraging parents and carers to engage in vocabulary extension with their children, and providing high quality and engaging materials, is worth further attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores three innovative family literacy programs and employs a multi-categorical framework to analyse the theoretical orientation, goals, pedagogy, target group, personnel, resources used, partnerships and the literacy practices in the programs. The programs were Lap-Sit a birth to three-year-old outreach program from a public library, a Dads’ program in a children’s centre for parents of three- to five-year-olds and a Parent as Partners program in a school. The family literacy programs were developed in a two-year action research project involving nine teachers, community workers and university researchers employing collaborative action research methodology. The family literacy programs were designed for parents and carers to support children’s early literacy development, and to reconnect parents with reading, learning and schools in positive ways around their young children’s literacy experiences. The article highlights importance of the responsiveness of family literacy programs to local contexts, active learning pedagogies and importance of playfulness when developing home-school connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores three innovative family literacy programs and employs a multi-categorical framework to analyse the theoretical orientation, goals, pedagogy, target group, personnel, resources used, partnerships and the literacy practices in the programs. The programs were Lap-Sit a birth to three-year-old outreach program from a public library, a Dads' program in a children's centre for parents of three- to five-year-olds and a Parent as Partners program in a school. The family literacy programs were developed in a two-year action research project involving nine teachers, community workers and university researchers employing collaborative action research methodology. The family literacy programs were designed for parents and carers to support children's early literacy development, and to reconnect parents with reading, learning and schools in positive ways around their young children's literacy experiences. The article highlights importance of the responsiveness of family literacy programs to local contexts, active learning pedagogies and importance of playfulness when developing home-school connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This collaborative teacher-research study was conducted in children's first year of school and explored ways young children's use of oral language, vocabulary and phonology connected with beginning reading. A play-based oral language intervention was implemented and an analysis of oral language and reading suggested that spoken language did not provide a neat, sequential base which can be easily mapped to written language. Questions were raised about the view that oral language neatly underpins reading development and the study concluded that learning to read written English is influenced by children's oral language development as well as their experience and understanding about written language structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on privileged literacy development where the dispositions, aspirations and expectations at home and at school connect in Australia. Examination of the features of a privileged literacy experience prior to school; Relationship between social and economic resources and the academic achievement of children; Role of families in the years prior to school.

International and national data continue to identify poor literacy standards among secondary school students. The researchers, in collaboration with a metropolitan secondary school in Perth, Western Australia, elected to use the Direct Instruction Reading Mastery program to improve students' reading skills. Data on reading performance was collected from 59 Year 7-9 students identified by their teachers as having poor reading skills. Students were assessed using the Woodcock Reading Mastery III and were retested twice during the remainder of the year. Teaching staff were observed delivering the program and were interviewed in the final term of the year to ascertain their experiences while using the program. Results showed a statistically significant improvement in students' reading performance. There was a moderate, statistically significant correlation between higher reading improvement and higher attendance. The program was effective for students regardless of equity group. Semi-structured interviews with the teacher and teaching assistants delivering the program indicated they were overwhelmingly positive about the program but identified difficulty delivering it with fidelity. This was also noted during classroom observation. The results from this research support the efficacy of using Direct Instruction programs, such as Reading Mastery, to improve the reading outcomes for adolescent students who are struggling to read. However, they also highlight the complexity of influencing reading success for students in secondary schools, with factors such as attendance and fidelity of delivery influencing the success of the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]