In 2019, a new English Senior Secondary syllabus (QCAA, 2019) was implemented in all schools across Queensland, Australia. This syllabus, incorporating high-stakes external examinations and supporting documents, instigated a shift in the teaching and assessing of senior secondary English that has been both challenging and revitalising for…

Hattie and Timperley's (2007) model of effective feedback, widely used in teacher professional development, provides an easily-applied framework for thinking about the information contained in feedback. However, the model simplifies a complex phenomenon shaped in practice by interpersonal, disciplinary and institutional aspects. Examining the…

This paper provides a description of practice outlining changes made to English assessment structures for the purpose of facilitating improved teaching and learning. These changes, which included marking, feedback, reporting, and the evaluation of the efficacy of teaching, were implemented across Years 7 to 10 English classes in an independent…

This article provides an introduction to the kind of computer software that is used to score student writing in some high stakes testing programs, and that is being promoted as a teaching and learning tool to schools. It sketches the state of play with machines for the scoring of writing, and describes how these machines work and what they do.…

This article reports a research project investigating the formative assessment practices of two teachers of Year 12 English in Queensland. This is a high-stakes year that is focused on summative assessment for certification purposes. In this school-based, externally-moderated, standards-referenced system, however, teachers are also expected to…

To be used in conjunction with discussions on course planning and overall school assessment, this booklet outlines the different audiences and kinds of evaluations the English teacher needs to consider. The booklet contains lists of questions for parents, students, administrators, and teachers who evaluate instructional goals, strategies, and…

Elaborates some of the advantages and disadvantages for public audiences of the current trend towards teacher-controlled, continuous assessment of students and proposes some methods for overcoming the disadvantages. (HOD)

Supports David Howes's position that teachers engaged in qualitative research are best placed to enrich understandings of literacy learning and teaching. Cautions that the ethics and representational issues of such research are problematic and need to be considered. Reviews two books that explore the thorny questions surrounding qualitative…

Reasons that if one of the best ways to motivate writing is to write with the students, perhaps the best way to teach English is to talk with the students, read to them, write with them, exploring mutual concerns in an effort to express feelings and thoughts. (RB)

Presents a new model of the writing process, adding technic to the traditional elements of writer, subject, and audience. Offers 20 questions, based on the dynamics of the new model, to help students write and teachers respond. (RL)

Argues for a student assessment based on the goals of the course. In this way, the assessment is democratic, resulting from a very clear understanding on everyone's part of what has to be done to obtain a satisfactory assessment. (HOD)

Provides a description of how nongraded, descriptive assessment works in responding to the written assignments of some postgraduate students. (HOD)

Explains that throughout the past one hundred years, the question of how Shakespeare plays should be taught has been a point of contention in the New South Wales secondary English curriculum. Outlines the two main stances, the traditional literature-based approach and the active approach with emphasis on the text as play script. Discusses the…

Discusses what a month-long seminar on English teaching in Dartmouth in 1966 accomplished and failed to accomplish. Outlines its stance on integrated activities and assessment. Notes questions not raised at the seminar, by default or inevitability. Proposes new questions and possibilities since Dartmouth. (PM)

Argues that literary criticism, in the guise of genre theory, can illuminate a consideration of textbook language by (1) classifying texts based on form, (2) indicating the relation of that form to reader expectations and reader/author "shared past experiences," (3) determining communicable purpose and meanings, and (4) constraining…