Current research suggests that students who struggle with grammar, spelling, mechanics and other "problems of ability," as well as students who suffer from "problems of engagement," as well as those students who see reading and writing as a chore, can benefit from creative writing assignments and learn to enjoy reading and…

Mutual support and dialogue across secondary and tertiary English is vital work in urgent times. In this article, the authors examine Australia's secondary-tertiary English education nexus, building on previous scholarship to explore points of connection and disconnection with a view to identifying sustainable ways of supporting points of…

Garth Boomer's democratic and often provocative vision for English teaching continues to play an important part in the professional development of English teachers. In particular, Boomer's work is often used by Teacher Educators in preservice degrees to introduce emerging English teachers to key ideas such as curriculum negotiation and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the suggestive possibilities of an approach to undergraduate English teacher education that the author has called the 3D Approach--Develop professional knowledge, Display professional knowledge, Disseminate professional knowledge--in relation to a number of groups of first year pre-service teachers…

Shows what it was like for the author to move from teaching in a secondary school in Victoria, Australia to tutoring English for Academic Purposes in a university in London. Concludes that her identity as an English teacher had a new dimension--she had really entered into the world of both Academic English and Higher Education. (SG)

Representing Australia, Canada, England, the United States, and Wales, this collection of essays focuses on ways in which teachers can adapt classroom activities and modify writing assignments to encourage personal response and exploration of texts. Essays, their authors, and nationalities are as follows: (1) "The River and Its Banks:…

This book contains insights into the writer's craft by 17 leading novelists from Australia and New Zealand. The Novelists were asked ten questions that covered the following topics: what the novel form can uniquely accomplish, the scope of the modern novel in comparison to earlier novel forms, the genesis of their own novels, special problems…

Explains that throughout the past one hundred years, the question of how Shakespeare plays should be taught has been a point of contention in the New South Wales secondary English curriculum. Outlines the two main stances, the traditional literature-based approach and the active approach with emphasis on the text as play script. Discusses the…

Uses examples of poetry by Australians to show how response to a poem depends on being a good listener; detecting with accuracy the tone of voice that governs the poem. (RL)

Describes the preliminary findings of a comparative study investigating what "English" as a discipline means to secondary school and college teachers and students in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Situates these findings in a historical context, reviews current discussions about the discipline, and looks to…

Explores complex relationships between teachers (in Victoria, Australia) and curriculum change. Explores ways in which the teachers' positioning within a mix of discourses and settings variously supported or undermined their preparedness to accept new configurations of the subject Literature as well as the implications of curriculum change not…

Three papers given at a seminar on the state of the "discipline" of English are presented which form an introduction to an analysis of the activity of "teaching and researching English" as it is currently being done at Queensland University (Australia) and others. Following an introduction summarizing the background of the…

Based on interviews with 40 Austrian primary school teachers, contends that equitable classroom practices result from beliefs and practices that are part of natural child discourse and are promoted by language learning. Recommends a new discourse of equity for teachers. Describes a project on language teaching based on the psycholinguistic…

The conference reported in this document, jointly sponsored by the Queensland Board of Teacher Registration and the Centre for Research in Literacy, arose out of public concern about literacy standards and claims that higher literacy levels will be needed in an increasingly technological society--concerns that make it necessary for educators to…