Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief review of foundational research that has informed how the field of literacy education understands the importance of child-adult interactions for learning language and early literacy, and the importance of this learning for learning literacy later in life. Design/methodology/approach: The…

A key factor that has been found to be critical in shaping family language policy is parents' linguistic identities, or "parents' personal experiences with bilingualism, biculturalism or second language learning" (King, Kendall A. & Lyn Fogle. 2006. Bilingual parenting as good parenting: Parents' perspectives on family language…

For many Indigenous children living in remote communities, the prerequisites to achieving strong language and learning outcomes include the maintenance of their first languages and progress in learning English as an additional language. This paper reports on data from a Linkage study conducted with families at two Families as First Teachers (FaFT)…

The present study examines a family language transmission project in which a child, learning Polish in Australia, created video documentaries with her own voice annotations in Polish. The project generated numerous parent-child interactions at the time of videorecording, a focus of the present study. The data in the study were seven…

Early language ability is a strong predictor of later language and reading outcomes. Whilst young children with home languages that differ from the dominant language spoken in their country of residence may lag behind their peers in literacy and academic achievement, effective supports for young dual-language users may be overlooked in mainstream…

As reading to children plays an important role in language development, primary caregivers are often encouraged to read to their children from a very young age. However, little is known about the age at which such reading should start. The linguistic skills of 104 children were assessed shortly before school entry. Their parents were asked how old…

Home language literacy education in Australia has been pursued predominantly through Community Language Schools. At present, some 1,000 of these, attended by over 100,000 school-age children, cater for 69 of the over 300 languages spoken in Australia. Despite good intentions, these schools face a number of challenges. For instance, children may…

Background: Little is known about the nature, range and prevalence of different subgroups in language trajectories extant in a population from 4 to 11 years. This hinders strategic targeting and design of interventions, particularly targeting those whose difficulties will likely persist. Methods: Children's language abilities from 4 to 11 years…

In a mixed-methods study, which included surveys of 247 parents and 151 teachers, the researchers investigated the modes of communication used by children with cochlear implants and the role of signed communication in the children's lives. Findings indicated that 15%-20% of the children in the parent surveys and approximately 30% of the children…

In this 3-year longitudinal study, the authors tested and extended M. Senechal and J. Le Fevre's (2002) model of the relationships between preschool home literacy practices and children's literacy and language development. Parent-child reading (Home Literacy Environment Questionnaire plus a children's Title Recognition Test) and parental teaching…

Much Australian work on immigrant languages has revealed that the family is a crucial site of language maintenance (LM). The family remains for most immigrants and their offspring the main domain for community language (CL) use. At the same time, there is no doubt that positive language, education and migration policies strengthen the maintenance…

This study examines the process of Japanese language maintenance or shift among children who were exposed to Japanese and English through the "one parent-one language" approach in Melbourne. The aim was to identify factors that correlate with successful and unsuccessful cases of Japanese language maintenance of such children. The data…

Examines the case of two five-year-old twin boys with delayed language development, yet judged to be articulate and successful students in kindergarten. Suggests that the delay appeared because most of their interaction had been with each other. However, through their family they became acquainted with the discourse activities that are valued at…