This paper gives a brief summary of Halliday's theory of how children learn to talk, illustrating the development of children's language from the microfunctions through the macrofunctions and into the metafunctions of adult language. The paper points to a possible source of the misinterpretation of Halliday's theory in the work of Frank Smith…

This essay focuses on two sites of memory in my professional life. One is from my very early years of teaching, the second from about 10 years later. Each is centred on a moment of controversy in English curriculum in New South Wales, Australia, and each is to do with the teaching of writing and the supposed neglect of language study, including…

The need for English and literacy curriculum to connect with young people's lifeworlds to build bridges and frames of reference that connect traditional English curriculum with digital texts and literacies, are increasing priorities in curriculum frameworks in Australia and elsewhere. This paper reports on a project in which the authors worked…

While perceptions that the roles of teacher and teacher educator as an oppositional binary are being challenged, sustaining and incorporating both professional identities has presented challenges. This paper presents a narrative account of my professional identity journey, including a description of a partnership that enabled boundaries to be…

In his article, Jack Thomson counsels against crudely instrumental models of English curriculum. His imagining of a national curriculum draws on the strong traditions of English curriculum in this country, and it is built on what he calls "Foundational Principles of Good Educative Practice."

Opinion surrounding Western Australia's provision of compulsory education via an outcomes-based education (OBE) paradigm is severely divided. At the centre of debate is an attempt by authorities to extend OBE into the final years of secondary schooling, Years 11 and 12. In this paper an examination is made of OBE as a curriculum paradigm.…

This practical guide discusses the challenges teachers will face when programming for language--that is, in planning an effective language program for their students. The guide includes ways to meet the challenges; suggestions for what to read, attend to, observe, write, and who to talk to; points to ponder before programming; and a model for…

Increasingly in Australia, attention is being given in English or language education to core or functional literacy conceived as print mastery, alongside literature, and critical literacy. The Queensland Years 1 to 10 English syllabus evinces an attempt to organize such qualitatively distinct "literacies" under a burgeoning conceptual…

This large-scale international comparative study addresses changes in students' math- and English-related self-concept of ability, subjective task-value and interest. Australian (N=1,323) and American (N=651) students are from two separate studies with similar designs and samples, in three cohorts spanning grades 7 to 11 in Australia and 7 to 12…