The increasing influx into Australia of (im)migrants whose first language is not English has made Australia linguistically more diverse than ever. Despite this, Australia remains a strongly Anglocentric nation, and migrants, in response, tend to abandon their heritage languages (HL) and shift to English relatively quickly. Korean migrants in…

While digital multimodal composing, underpinned by a critical literacies approach, provides opportunities for students to make informed semiotic choices and voice concerns about social issues, there is limited research exploring how digital multimodal composing is employed to interrogate and challenge the entanglements of language, immigration…

Reporting on the relationship between homework, foreign language learning and self-regulated learning, this paper examines how a teacher used homework to promote Japanese language learning in a Year 4 class at an Australian primary school. The study drew on naturally occurring data including classroom observations and student-produced video of…

Language learners often require appropriate scaffolding to engage in digital multimodal composing to maximise its potential for learning. This illuminates the need for pre-service teachers to be ready for these experiences both on teaching placements and at the beginning of their careers. However, little is known about their readiness for digital…

Drama has the potential to enrich and enliven established approaches to literacy learning, engaging students and expanding their possibilities for meaning-making. Drama-rich pedagogy is well-established as an effective tool in supporting language and literacy development. However, research to date has not explored the possibilities of using drama…

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's (IEA's) Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011 provided evidence which showed differences in the reading achievement of students who spoke the language of assessment at home and those who did not for many countries including a selection of the…

The reading literacy skills of Australian adolescents, as measured in successive PISA waves, have declined since 2000. Literacy achievement is not low by international standards, but it is lower in Australia than it is in Anglophone countries with which we compare ourselves, e.g. Canada. Using PISA 2018 and PIRLS 2021 data, we investigated both…

The present study was conducted to explore how the relationships between reading comprehension constructs change according to word reading accuracy, as measured in a large convenience sample (n = 857) of school-aged students (Years 3-6) with reading difficulties. Multiple regression analyses containing interaction variables were conducted, to…

Language is critical in the mediation of scientific reasoning, higher-order thinking and the development of scientific literacy. This study investigated how an exemplary primary science teacher scaffolds and supports students' reasoning during a Year 4 materials unit. Lessons captured on video, teacher and student interviews and micro-ethnographic…

The acquisition of spelling skills in English presents, for a substantial number of children, a significant challenge. Spelling skills do not automatically transfer from reading skills, and while many teachers are aware of the need to develop a separate word study program to assist with spelling development, time and confidence factors often…

Teachers are often unaware that bilingual students often switch between their languages when doing mathematics. Little research has been undertaken into this phenomenon. Results are reported here from a study of language switching by sixteen Year 4/5 Iranian bilingual students as they solved mathematical problems in an interview situation. Reasons…

PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) was inaugurated in 2001 as a follow-up to International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's 1991 Reading Literacy Study. Conducted every five years, PIRLS assesses the reading achievement of young students in their fourth year of schooling--an important transition…

This book contains a compilation of papers presented at the International Conference on Education and New Developments (END 2017), organized by the World Institute for Advanced Research and Science (W.I.A.R.S.). Education, in our contemporary world, is a right since we are born. Every experience has a formative effect on the constitution of the…

Genetic and environmental relations between vocabulary and reading skills were explored longitudinally from preschool through Grades 2 and 4. At preschool there were strong shared-environment and weak genetic influences on both vocabulary and print knowledge but substantial differences in their source. Separation of etiology for vocabulary and…

The "TIMSS 2011 International Results in Mathematics" summarizes fourth and eighth grade student achievement in each of the 63 countries and 14 benchmarking entities which participated in TIMSS 2011. The report includes trends in mathematics achievement over time for participants in the previous TIMSS 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007…