The net effect of the early experiences of writing "compositions" which involved either describing the circumstances of a student's life or recounting the kinds of events encapsulated in that proverbially hack title, "What I Did on My Summer Vacation," has been a tendency for older teachers to devalue nonfiction as an object of…

This paper looks at recent debates about text selection and censorship in Australia. Its aim is to point beyond the terms in which the censorship debate has been conducted in the mass media, and to prompt reflection on how texts are used in English classrooms. The paper raises questions of language and cultural identity in secondary English…

Intended for English teachers and administrators involved in curriculum design, this monograph describes the Language Learning Project, an investigation into current school practices in the teaching of English language in the Australian junior secondary school, with particular reference to teaching directed toward the attainment of language…

The purpose of this study was to carry out a longitudinal study of the direct effects of traditional and transformational English grammar on children's writing skills. The investigation was conducted entirely in one large, coeducational high school on the outskirts of Auckland, Australia, beginning with the third form and ending with the sixth…

Identifies and discusses nine "pressures" that have influenced curriculum development in Australia: universal expertise, inertia, Australian rules, "Golden Past," unpreparedness, wishful thinking, inexperience, nondisposable resources, and public expectations. (HOD)

Offers six recommendations in response to a proposal to eliminate literature from the English program in Australia in favor of functional English skills. (HOD)

This paper reports on a work in progress, a critical-historical study which considers two issues: (1) the nature and scope of the English curriculum in primary and secondary schools in South Australia from the 1920s to the 1950s; and (2) the role of schooling in shaping young people as future citizens for a nation in a time of great change. The…

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…

Contends that having the responsibility to develop and implement curriculum is crucial to teachers' professional identity. Proposes that teachers are currently marginalized in the curriculum development process. Describes the opportunity presented to English teachers in 1986 to develop a Study Design for the Victorian Certificate of Education.…

Explores the largely unexamined years of English teaching between the 1910s and 1960s in Australia in order to supplement available forms of English curriculum history. Contends that an examination of teacher training curriculum and materials for this period would provide a useful way of further investigating the kind of English…

Papers in this book center around three themes: a growing emphasis on communication in the form of drama and film; the substitution of high standards of sincerity, awareness, understanding, creative self-fulfillment, and functional personal communication for conformity to standards; and an awareness of the maturity of the adolescent. Chapters…

Describes the history of the secondary school English curriculum in New South Wales, Australia since 1911. Examines the gradual shift from centralized control over curriculum development to an emphasis on teacher control over course content. (MM)

When crucial issues of text teaching were researched from "both sides" of the teaching context in 1999, findings dramatized the demands of teaching text in years seven to ten English in Australia and suggested some ways that it could be done better. Interviews were conducted with 14 secondary English teachers and 53 of their students (in…

This book sets out to map the development of English as a subject and how it has come to encompass the diversity of ideas that currently characterize it. Drawing on a combination of historical analysis and recent research findings, it brings together and compares important new insights on curriculum development and teaching practices from England,…

Oral language has primacy both developmentally and by virtue of use for most individuals in our society; however, the development of oral language for many children is left to chance. Although English education journals have resounded with exhortations to teachers about the importance of encouraging children to talk, the recent limited research…