EDEN290 - English Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment 1 (B-8)

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

EDEN100 Foundations of Literacy AND EDEN102 Childrens Literature for Early Reading

Incompatible

EDLA241 Literacy Education 1: Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment , EDLA264 Literacy Education 1

Unit rationale, description and aim

Being literate and proficient in reading, writing, viewing, listening and speaking is a fundamental requirement for full participation in society. The crucial role of Primary and Early Childhood teachers is to equip children to be able to apply literacy knowledge to a wide range of situations and texts.

This unit will examine recent theory, research and concepts that are foundational to literacy learning and teaching in the early years (Birth to Year 2). With a focus on the emergent and early literacy development of children in the early years (Birth to Year 2), the teaching of reading and writing and how children learn to read and write will be developed using a balanced literacy approach. A range of evidence based pedagogical approaches which include phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency through the use of authentic texts will be applied to both early childhood and primary contexts. This unit includes an explicit focus on the three strands of the Australian Curriculum: English: Language, Literature and Literacy, as well as reference to the Early Years Learning Framework. Literacy teaching and assessment practices will be based on current literacy research with a focus on supporting the literacy learning process for diverse learners and will draw on the discipline knowledge developed in the previous units. Underpinning the learning in the unit is a fundamental concern for justice and equity, and the dignity of all human beings based on literacy as a socio–cultural concept and one in which all young Australians can become successful learners.

The aim of this unit is to ensure pre–service teachers take a balanced literacy approach to teaching literacy which includes the ability to motivate, develop and extend children’s responses to imaginative, informative and persuasive texts of oral, written and multimodal media, and ensure teachers can introduce higher–order thinking strategies through critical and analytical tasks appropriate for children in the pre–school and early years of primary school.