EDLA342 - Literacy Education 2: Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Unit rationale, description and aim

This unit focuses on the learning and teaching of speaking, listening, writing, reading and viewing appropriate to the later years of primary school. Knowledge and ability to scaffold children’s learning at more complex levels of reading and writing structures and processes, with a particular focus on scaffolding literacy in relation to the education of linguistic minority students. This knowledge incorporates children’s ability to draw on spelling strategies, word processing and technology to underpin their competence in literacy with a focus on the primary years 3-6. The unit will develop the pre-service teachers’ understanding of assessment-related issues and the purposes, characteristics, and limitations of various types of assessments. Further to this aspects of how to support readers who, in the upper primary years, may still be learning fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension which they require to access texts in the upper primary school.

This unit aims to assist pre-service teachers to develop knowledge and ability to scaffold children’s learning at more complex levels of reading and writing structures and processes, with a particular focus on scaffolding literacy in relation to the education of linguistic minority students.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - use theories of children’s literacy development to critically evaluate the range of approaches to teaching reading, writing, viewing, speaking and listening (GA4; APST 1.3, 2.1, 2.5)

LO2 - investigate teaching and learning strategies, including involving parents/carers in the educative process that scaffolds literacy learning; incorporating children’s ability to draw on spelling strategies, word processing, and technology as these apply to the later years of primary schooling (GA8; APST 2.1, 2.5, 3.7)

LO3 - work collaboratively to show ways of using a wide variety of literary, factual, media and multi-modal texts for planning and integrating literacy across their classroom teaching through a focus on critical reading and writing practices and strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities (GA5; APST 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.5)

LO4 - use varying approaches to monitor and assess children’s composition and comprehension of a variety of texts and language used to construct these texts (GA5; APST 2.1, 2.5, 5.1)

LO5 - demonstrate advanced pedagogical knowledge of setting goals for the teaching and assessment of phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency and reading comprehension to support reading development and assessment moderation for consistent and comparable judgement of student learning in the upper primary. (GA5; APST 2.1, 2.5, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 5.3).

Graduate attributes

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS - GRADUATE LEVEL

On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should be able to:

Content

Topics will include:

• Review of theories of the processes of reading and writing development and the ways in which these theories shape and construct literacy programs and in particular, the teaching and learning of reading and the impact of electronic media
• Ways of differentiating curriculum to setting goals to meet the diverse needs of learners in the English classroom, especially children who are working beyond or not achieving at appropriate levels
• Strategies for scaffolding children’s learning, with a particular focus on the scaffolding reading for meaning in the upper primary school
• Study of literature which that gives insights into Aboriginal, multicultural and children’s experiences using texts from Australia and other countries together with literary, factual, media and multi-modal texts, especially those intended for older children
• A range of goals and strategies for incorporation into the literacy block for teaching and assessing reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing – how to set up the literacy block, management and implementation issues, collaborating with teacher aides, parent helpers, teacher leadership in literacy development
• Ways of supporting children to become effective, analytical and critical writers and readers of a variety of text types for different purposes, appropriate for Years 3-6
• Strategies to provide accurate written and oral feedback for students in relationship to their literacy development with exploration of any ethical issues regarding feedback and responses
• Assessment-related issues and the purposes, characteristics, and limitations of various types of assessments
• Interpreting assessment data and its links to planning and school based policies
• Reviewing national testing requirements and its impact on teaching and learning eg NAPLAN
• Moderation practices for comparing individual and group differences within classrooms, state and national levels
• Diagnosing and planning for supporting readers and writers to meet the learning outcomes in the areas of reading and writing.
• The theory and practices of critical literacy, with a focus on critical reading and writing practices in the everyday context of the classroom and the wider society
• Skill in planning and sequencing activities and strategies that are intended to promote literacy and learning and that take account of information gained through monitoring and assessment
• Understanding the use of state and national curriculum requirements in planning literacy programs and how these are implemented by teachers in schools in relation to local situations.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Pre-service teachers will be involved in a variety of teaching-learning strategies to progress and demonstrate their understandings in this unit. Participants will be involved in a variety of teaching-learning strategies to support learning, including:

• Lectures
• Seminars, tutorials, or workshops
• Reading guides – which may involve students in both directed reading for the unit as well as self-directed study materials
• Online activity that may incorporate complex use at a level of composition (e.g., online literacy texts such as fan-fiction and blogs).

Duration

This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours with a normal expectation of 36 hours of directed study and the total contact hours should not exceed 36 hours. Directed study might include lectures, tutorials, webinars, podcasts etc. The balance of the hours then become private study.

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment tasks and their weightings are designed to allow pre-service teachers to progressively demonstrate achievement against the unit learning outcomes and demonstrate attainment of professional standards.

Minimum Achievement Standards

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome.

The total assessment tasks will amount to the equivalent of 4,000 words.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Comber, B., & Kamler, B. (2005). Turn-around pedagogies: Literacy interventions for at-risk students. Newtown, NSW: Primary English Teaching Association.

Department of Education and Training. (Western Australia). (2005). First steps: Writing map of development (2nd ed.). Port Melbourne, Vic: Rigby Heinemann.

Department of Education and Training. (Western Australia). (2005). First steps: Reading map of development (2nd ed.). Port Melbourne, Vic: Rigby Heinemann.

Hill, S. (2012). Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching (2nd ed.). South Yarra, Vic: Eleanor Curtain Publishing.

Healy, A. (Ed.). (2008). Multiliteracies and diversity in education: New pedagogies for expanding landscapes. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.

Kalantzis, M., & Cope. B. (2012). Literacies. Port Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press.

Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2011). New literacies: Everyday practices and classroom learning (3rd ed.). Maidenhead, Eng: Open University Press.

Tompkins, G., Campbell, R., & Green, D. (2011). Literacy for the 21st Century. Sydney, NSW: Pearson.

Winch, G., Johnston, R., March, P., Ljungdahl, L., & Holliday, M. (2010). Literacy: Reading, writing and children's literature (4th ed.). South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.

Wing Jan, L. (2009). Write ways: Modelling writing forms (3rd ed.). South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.