DOCUMENT RESUME ED 411 454 CE 074 789 AUTHOR Lo Bianco, Joseph; Freebody, Peter TITLE Australian Literacies. Informing National Policy on Literacy Education. INSTITUTION National Languages and Literacy Inst., Melbourne (Australia). SPONS AGENCY Australian Dept. of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Canberra. ISBN ISBN-1-875578-67-6 PUB DATE 1997-00-00 NOTE 194p. AVAILABLE FROM Language Australia Publications, Level 9, 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia ($29 Australian). PUB TYPE Books (010) Information Analyses (070) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC08 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adult Basic Education; *Adult Literacy; Bilingual Education; Catholic Schools; Cultural Differences; Cultural Pluralism; Early Childhood Education; Economically Disadvantaged; *Educational Environment; Educational Needs; Educational Planning; *Educational Policy; English (Second Language); Foreign Countries; Indigenous Populations; Lifelong Learning; *Literacy Education; Literature Reviews; National Programs; Numeracy; *Policy Formation; Postsecondary Education; Private Schools; Public Schools; Secondary Education; *Sociocultural Patterns; Special Needs Students; State of the Art Reviews; Statewide Planning; Synthesis; Trend Analysis; Workplace Literacy IDENTIFIERS *Australia ABSTRACT This book, which is intended to inform Australia's education community about various aspects of the national literacy debate and the policy development process, reviews the literature on literacy teaching in secondary and postsecondary education and the workplace and describes the sociocultural and educational context for development of literacy policy and programs in the 1990s. Among the topics discussed in the book's six parts are the following: part 1, broad context of literacy education (the powers of literacy; literacy levels among Australians; and citizenship, social equity, and competence); part 2, necessary content of a national policy on literacy (policy context; purpose and scope; definitions; considerations in defining literacy; teaching cycles); part 3, Australia's learners (Australian English speakers, language diversity and English literacy, indigenous Australians, special needs, socioeconomic disadvantage); part 4, school literacy education (the early years, the middle years, the later years, the postschooling sector); part 5, adult literacy, numeracy, English-as-a-Second-Language) education, and lifelong learning for all; and part 6, state and territory programs in literacy (literacy teaching and learning in department of education schools in South Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales, and the Northen Territory and literacy teaching and learning and current practices in literacy education in the Catholic and independent schools sectors). (Contains 162 references) (MN) AUSTRALIAN LITERACIE5 informing national policy on literacy education U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCEAND Office Educational Research and Improvement DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL EDUOATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION HAS BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization 4 originating it. ID Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. affiffr TO HE EDUCATIONAL Points of view or opinions stated in this RESOURCES document do not necessarily represent INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) official OERI position or policy. I by Joseph Lo Bianco and Peter Freebody BEST COPY AVAILABLE 1 2 1 Australian Literacies AUSTRALIAN LITERACIES Informing national policy on literacy education by Joseph Lo Bianco Peter Freebody LANGUAGE AUSTRALIA The National Languages and Literocy Institute of Australia THIS PROJECT WAS SUPPORTED BY A GRANT FROM THE COMMONWEALTH DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION, TRAINING AND YOUTH AFFAIRS; THE VIEWS EXPRESSED HERE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY. REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE COMMONWEALTH DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION, TRAINING AND YOUTH AFFAIRS. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Lo Bianco, Joseph Australian Literacies: informing national policy on literacy education Includes bibliographical references. ISBN: 1 875578 67 6 1. Language policyAustralia. 2. Literacy - Government policy - Australia. I. Freebody, Peter. II. Language Australia. III. Title. 379.240994 © Copyright 1997 Commonwealth of Australia No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Language Australia, PO Box 31, Belconnen ACT 2614, Australia For information regarding production and marketing of this publication contact David Dickson, Language Australia Publications, GPO Box 372F, Melbourne VIC 3001, Australia Australian Literacieswas researched and written by Language Australia: The National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia, through its Child English as a Second Language and Literacy Research Network. Principal author: Joseph Lo Bianco, Chief Executive, Language Australia and Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong. Contributing author: Professor Peter Freebody, Centre for Literacy Education Research, Faculty of Education, Griffith University. Critical readers and contributors: Dr Penny McKay; Queensland University of Technology; Laraine Morris, University of Canberra; Chris Howell, Vice-President, Australian Council of TESOL Associations; Jennifer Haynes, President, Australian Association for the Teaching of English; David Howes, Vice-President, Australian Association for the Teaching of English; CecilNeilson,Principal Education Officer TESL, Northern Territory Department of Education, President of Australian Council of TESOL Associations Inc., Sally Thomson, Education Manager, Further Education Collective, Heidelberg, Victoria; Dr Ian Falk, Sub-Dean, Adult and Vocational Education Studies Unit, University of Tasmania; Dr Peter Wignell,Lecturer,Applied Linguistics,Northern Territory University; Dr Barbara Comber, Language and Literacy Research Centre, Faculty of Education, University of South Australia; Professor Desmond Power AM, Director,Centrefor Deafness and Communication Studies, Faculty of Education Griffith University; Marion Meiers, Executive Liaison Officer, Australian Literacy Federation; Professor Trevor Cairney, University of Western Sydney, Nepean; Professor Marie Emmit, Head, School of Social and Cultural Studies in Education, Deakin University and President, Australian Literacy Educators Association; Dianne Dean, Coordinator, Child English as a Second Language and Literacy Research Network; Jean Clayton, Manager, South Australian Teaching and Curriculum Centre, Language Australia; Rosa McKenna, Coordinator, Adult Literacy Research Network; Associate Professor Pam Peters, Style Council, Macquarie University; Associate Professor Bill Corcoran, Head, School of Language and Literacy Education, Queensland University of Technology; Dr Howard Nicholas, Graduate School of Education, La Trobe University; Glenda Shopen, Lecturer in Education, Australian Catholic University; Ann Kelly, President, Australian Council for Adult Literacy; Christina Davidson, President, Primary English Teaching Association; Claire Hiller, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of Tasmania; Dr Bill Cope, Centre for Workplace Communication and Culture; Professor Mary Kalantzis, The James Cook University of North Queensland; Dr Christina E. Van Kraayenoord, Schonell Special Education Research Centre, The University of Queensland; Professor Allan Luke, Dean and Head, Faculty and Graduate School of Education, The University of Queensland; Helen Moore, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto; Dr Richard B. Baldauf, Jr., Language Australia, Dina Guest, Assistant General Manager, LOTE, ESL and Multicultural Education Branch, Department of Education, Victoria. The sections describing the literacy education initiatives of the State and Territory education and training systems which appear in Part IVwere contributed by the following: Jim Del lit, Executive Director, Curriculum, Department for Education and Children's Services, South Australia; Alan Hird, Director, Schools Programs Branch, Australian Capital Territory Department of Education and Training and Children's Youth and Family Services Bureau; 7 Dr Allan Rice, Director of Early Childhood, Department of School Education, New South Wales; Vivienne Hayward, PrincipalEducationOfficer,Northern Territory Department of Education; Diane Wood, Senior Superintendent (Years K-4), Department of Education Cultural and Community Development, Tasmania; Andrew Connolly, Equity Projects Coordinator, Educational Programs Branch,Department of Education Community andCultural Development, Tasmania; Joan Bradbury, Assistant General Manager, Early Years Schooling, Department of Education Victoria; Jan Gil lies, Director Quality Assurance and School Review, Department of Education, Queensland; Gavin Morris, Learning Area Superintendent English, Department of Education, Western Australia; Glenda Shopen and Kevin Vassarotti on behalf of the Catholic education sector and Fergus Thomson on behalf of independent schools. 8 Contents FOREWORD PREAMBLE X V PART I: BROAD CONTEXT 1.1 THE POWERS OF LITERACY I 1.1.1 Introduction 1 1.1.2 The impact of changing economic patterns 2 1.1.3 The impact of communication technologies 6 1.1.4 The impact of global and national cultural diversity 9 1.2 HOW LITERATE ARE AUSTRALIANS? 1 2 1.3 CITIZENSHIP, SOCIAL EQUITY AND COMPETENCE 1 6 PART