Textuality is often thought of in linguistic terms; for instance, the talk and writing that circulate in the classroom. In this paper I take a multimodal perspective on textuality and context. I draw on illustrative examples from school Science and English to examine how image, colour, gesture, gaze, posture and movement--as well as writing and…

Chanelle Brown has not found much she can relate to in the classic texts assigned in her English classes at Evanston Township High School. A top student, the junior has toiled through "The Odyssey," "All the King's Men," "The Scarlet Letter," and other standards, she said, while many of her classmates at the suburban Chicago school have given up…

The context for this teacher narrative is a multicultural South Australian secondary school with over 50 nationalities represented, where many of the older students are disengaged from English. A transformative moment for the writer occurred following research for here doctoral thesis, which unexpectedly challenged her thinking about the English…

Mississippi Delta Community College (MDCC), one of the oldest community colleges in the country, is located in Sunflower County, Mississippi, which was home to both the infamous White Citizens Council and civil rights heroine Fannie Lou Hamer. It serves one of the poorest areas of the country; the unemployment rate in the district is higher than…

The documentary text, a relative newcomer to the textual armoury of subject English, has received remarkably limited theoretical discussion. It therefore provides an interesting opportunity for the contemporary researcher concerned with the reading/viewing practices that constitute modern textual study. This paper first presents an historical…

Current theoretical conversations in the field of Rhetoric and Composition, particularly conversations related to first-year curricular design, are increasingly concerned with the issue of "teaching for transfer." While developing successful transfer pedagogy is a challenging undertaking, one that may require writing instructors to…

The paper takes as its starting point the relationship between the "New English", a curriculum movement commonly associated with the 1960s and 1970s, and the New Education, an influential general educational reform movement of the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. It inquires into the…

As U.K. school exam results continue to rise, perennial accusations appear in the media of the "dumbing down" of the curriculum and of employers' complaints about school leavers' lack of basic literacy skills. In this context, Andrew Motion, the poet laureate, has raised questions about how to provide an inspiring English curriculum, the…

Sybil Wilson is a composite representation of an English teacher that typifies much of what most preservice English teachers have seen and experienced in U.S. classrooms. The authors' aim is to articulate textual frameworks often competing and unnamed in English curriculum (and evident in Sybil's classroom) and to argue for a particular reframing…

The authors draw on some powerful practitioner research they have been associated with recently to envision ways in which a national curriculum might redress the inequities experienced by Australia's most disadvantaged young people.

The California State University (CSU) requires entering freshmen to be proficient in English reading and writing, as demonstrated on proficiency measures. Currently, approximately 46 percent of incoming college freshmen need remediation in English reading and writing. To assist these students, CSU instituted an Early Assessment Program (EAP),…

This pioneering book, by one of the founders of the media literacy field, provides evidence of the impact of media literacy on the academic achievement of adolescents. Read about the practice of high school teachers who prepared their students to critically analyze all aspects of contemporary media culture. These teachers incorporated popular and…

For the first time in the history of American education, educators and policymakers are setting their sights on reaching the goal of preparing all students graduating from high school to meet the requirements of postsecondary education, professional careers and effective citizenship. The 2004 report, "Ready or Not: Creating a High School…

The availability of new technology and a willingness to experiment led Laura Christine Rochette to re-imagine a successful high school English curriculum. A SMART Board, individual laptop computers, and blogs became essential tools to enhance the learning of all students and to renew her excitement about teaching.

Prue Gill calls for a national English curriculum that appreciates the complex relationship between curriculum and assessment, one that is supported by strong government investment in professional learning, and one that will enable young people to imagine a different future from that which has been imagined for them by their elders.