Critical literacy continues to be a concept which is widely misused, mis-applied and misunderstood. Social commentators and politicians in particular use it to create unease about the way schools teach reading. However, a brief review of curriculum documents from six Australian State Education Departments demonstrates that in the private world of…

Teaching William Shakespeare's canonical tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" to teenagers in the context of the English classroom in Australia is not a particularly new pedagogical practice. In the year 2008, when many teachers (particularly those with a feminist bent such as I) are intent on guiding their students to decipher the ideological…

Borrowing the title of Raymond Williams' famous study, the following reflections--sometimes collective and sometimes individual--are based on a series of "Keywords", specifically: "fear", "community" and "creativity". By reflecting on the meanings these words have for us today, we attempt to capture their dialogical character, posing them as sites…

This article presents the author's reflection on Statement 4 of the Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE) "Statements of Belief". The statements attempt to outline beliefs about what might form the most important work of Australian English teachers. The author explores Statement 4, which heralds: "We are…

The most reported outcome of programs for teaching English in Indigenous schools in Australia is that there continues to be a significant gap in the level of attainment of English language and literacy between Indigenous students as a group and other Australian students (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), 2008a,…

A critical/creative paradigm in contemporary English carries with it an imperative that students should be given opportunities for deep engagement with texts relevant to what matters in their everyday lives. In this paper, I argue that the materiality of everyday life includes the physical and geographic places where we live. When students live in…

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…

The English teaching profession, spurred on by media and federal politics, has tended to construct aesthetic reading and political reading within a dichotomous conceptual framework (Morgan, 1997; Devine, 2004; Donnelly, 2007). The article argues that this need not be so, and that the two apparently opposed modes of reading can be performed not…

This article discusses a unit of work, developed by this author, that encouraged students to "express themselves" by using language to make a difference (i.e., to protest an issue of particular concern.) While the culminating task for this unit was a spoken task requiring students to reflect upon what they had done and how successful…

The Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy in Australia (STELLA) were developed and launched in 2001. In this article, the author aims to consider their relevance and value to practising and beginning English teachers. STELLA provides a lens through which the very complex job that English teachers do to prepare students for…

In this article, the author shares her practicum experience in a nine-month English program and a gruelling assessment schedule for her other five subjects. During her practicum several incidents occurred that caused a shift in the way she perceives the role of an English teacher, and they have informed her English teaching practices. She reflects…

For some time now, English teachers have used electronic discussion in their classrooms. There is also a considerable literature suggesting benefits to student learning in doing so. However this research often downplays the context in which the discussion group is used--so that the particularities in use, including teacher decision-making as they…

In this article, the author reflects on keywords in Statement Two of the Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE) "Statements of Belief". The second statement says, "We believe students come to understand themselves and their work through engagement with a range of cultures and the ways these cultures represent…

Lists five areas of grammar teaching/learning that can help beginning writers consciously avoid errors. (RL)

Offers five reasons for the uncertainty in the state of the art of English instruction. Asserts the need for a theory of English instruction and offers James Moffett's theory on the universe of discourse as the one to use. (RL)