Human-Animal Relationships in Literacy Education

This paper presents a case for the inclusion of human-animal relationships as a focus for literacy education. It outlines the ways in which language is implicated in human alienation from nature in a modern technology-focused life, and discusses the effects of nature-deficit disorder on human well-being. It calls for an ‘entangled pedagogy’ that attends to stories of local wildlife, and points to the importance of such a pedagogy for particular groups of literacy learners, including international students, new migrants and recent refugees, who may be unfamiliar with the flora and fauna of their new environment. As an example of entangled pedagogy the paper presents ideas for literacy lessons based on the iconic Australian magpie whose relationship with humans is, at times, problematic.

What we do with words, and what they do with us

This is an invited paper based on the keynote presentation that Professor Ralf St Clair made at the 2019 Australian Council for Adult Literacy Conference in Sydney, Australia on 4 October.

Numeracy as Social Practice: Global and Local Perspectives

Edited by Keiko Yasukawa, Alan Rogers, Kara Jackson and Brian Street Routledge, London and New York, 2018, 260 pages. ISBN 9781138284449

Teaching University Students to Read and Write

Recent government initiatives have required universities to include specific literacy and numeracy targets for the students. The authors – both members of the English discipline at Charles Sturt University – were invited to develop and run a two-semester program for all students studying to become early childhood, primary, and secondary teachers. This article outlines the nature of the two subjects which comprise the program: the first focused on reading and comprehension, the second on writing and composition. These subjects were conceived from collegial dialogues between academics in education and the humanities, and then developed from these different assumptions and starting points. Over the last five years, the shared experiences of teaching these prospective teachers has grown into a strongly coherent first year of study. This article seeks the describe the experiences of teaching literacy to first-year education students, and it is by turns hypothesising and speculative, reflective and qualitative, in its approach. In the process, this article offers colleagues across the country a reflection on the hypotheses of literacy education, some new ideas for teaching literacy, and some optimism for the future of the teaching profession, and the dignity of those who aspire to be a part of it.

Hīnātore: Upskilling Māori and Pacific Workplace Learners

Hīnātore: Upskilling Māori and Pacific workplace learners research project investigated the development of employees who undertook literacy and numeracy programmes in their workplaces, during work time. This paper describes the findings from the project in relation to the processes used in the programmes and outcomes for these employees in eight workplaces. It describes ako (teaching and learning processes); mahi (work), how workplaces support learning and employees’ changed ways of working after a programme; and how learning is taken into and contributes to whānau/aiga (family) lives.

Editorial

Editorial by Keiko Yasukawa

Plurilingualism in teaching and Learning: Complexities across contexts

Book review of Plurilingualism in teaching and Learning: Complexities across contexts, Edited by Julie Choi and Sue Ollerhead, Routledge, New York, 2018, 244 pages, IBSN 978-1-138-22849-8

Development of intuition in a new currency, the Euro: The Slovak experience

Adaptation to an unfamiliar currency is required regularly of international travellers – and also of citizens of countries changing their currency, such as the 19 (to date) Eurozone members. We report on the currency adaptation process in the Slovak Republic during 2008-2011. We analyse its effects on citizens’ development of price intuition in the euro. Our study draws on Hofmann et al.’s (2007) work, which proposed four different strategies for coping, ranging from direct numerical conversion to developing intuition. We conducted repeated cross-sectional surveys using structured questionnaires in realistic Slovak settings. We describe European and Slovak institutions’ supports for the public, such as dual display of prices, and readily available conversion tables. We found that, whereas the numerical conversion strategy was used most frequently by respondents in the first year, within two years they were already developing intuition in the new currency, especially for frequently bought products. We also investigated the ‘Euro Illusion’, the extent to which Slovak citizens, in their evaluation of prices, may have been influenced to make decisions based on nominal values, whereby prices in euros seemed smaller than those in Slovak crowns. We summarise suggestions for promoting learning in situations of currency change, and briefly discuss the features of the Slovak process as a ‘numerate environment’. KeywordsPrice intuition; numeracy; learning; intuition strategy; marker value strategy; anchor strategy; numerical conversion strategy.