Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to share findings from empirically driven conceptual research into the implications for English teachers of understanding generative AI as a "tool" for writing. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reports early findings from an Australian National Survey of English teachers and interrogates the…

This paper explores how Australian literature mandated for study in the Victorian senior English curriculum creates opportunities for problematizing central myths about Australia. We engage with Homi Bhabha's notion of ambivalence to demonstrate how representations of colonization, rurality and migration reflect discursive formations of Australia.…

My thoughts on the question of 'Textuality as the Centre of English' were presented at a Roundtable session at the 2020 International Federation for the Teaching of English (IFTE) Conference. Through critical discourse analysis of media and curriculum texts, I highlight how the 'being' of the English subjects is always and already textual in…

This article was originally published in "English in Australia," number 5, 1967. The text is Professor A. D. Hope's presidential address to the Australian Association for the Teaching of English from April, 1967. It manifests his concern for the state of English teaching in Australia.

A significant body of research points to the benefits of empathy for young people's personal, social, and educational development. However, some research indicates that youth empathy levels are declining. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to research empathy in education during times of global crisis and local educational…

The COVID-19 Pandemic dramatically impacted the classroom experiences of teachers and students across the globe. This reflexive autobiographical article critically examines the ramifications of this extraordinary event on the experiences of teaching and learning for the teacher-writer and her secondary English and literature students. Through a…

Debates about subject English in Australia are often conducted through the senior years curriculum. In light of the anticipated interest in the new Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) English study design released in 2022 to be implemented in 2023, this paper outlines the current state of research on the VCE English subject by mapping areas…

Being literate empowers individuals to be active citizens and enhances individuals self-esteem, self-confidence, and independence. In today's society, literacy requires much more than alphabetic knowledge. Curriculum documents provide content knowledge for teachers to refer to as they assess and plan for the learning needs of their students.…

Beyond the notion of decision-making of career choice just being rational, this article proposes the primacy of 'affect' in the decision to become teachers over time. The article explores the becoming of immigrant English language teachers as an identity formation process, focusing on the lived experiences of 16 English language teachers since…

English teachers have long stood at the intersection of helping young people to read the 'word' and read the 'world' through rich learning experiences that tap into diverse literature, literacy and language practices with purpose, creativity and flair. However, given the complex set of crises facing young people, English curriculum and pedagogy…

The role and significance of schooling in maintaining and renewing social disadvantage is particularly evident in upper secondary education, and especially so in the high-stakes final examination at the end of Year 12. This paper focusses on Senior English in this context, with specific regard to the Australian state of New South Wales. Building…

Purpose: Videogames are complex, meaningful and multimodal texts. This study aims to explore how students could learn about narratives from, and be engaged by, playing a videogame and how a teacher adapted their pedagogy to incorporate the young adult videogame (YA game) "What Remains of Edith Finch" into an English Language Arts…

This paper considers the research evidence-base informing teaching practice and policy in subject English in schools. We explore the "Australian Journal of English Education," the flagship research publication from the Australian Association of Teachers of English, at a time when an evidence-base is in high demand. Our aim is to…

This article examines the transformation of Australian EAL/D (English as an additional language/dialect) classrooms, transitioning from a monolingual focus on Standard Australian English (SAE) to embracing plurilingual and intercultural approaches in English language and literacy teaching and learning. Employing hermeneutic phenomenological and…

The teaching of writing in secondary English subjects in Australia, as in other countries including England and the United States, has become increasingly formulaic. Pedagogies including direct instruction, modelling, scaffolding, and genre-based approaches involve the implementation of formulas for writing sentences, paragraphs, and entire…