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Paradoxes are particularly problematic in literacy as they often complicate learning. However, identifying and examining them can also tell us something about the inherent problems within social, political, and educational systems. This paper reports on an analysis of a total of 205 AJLL articles and editorials, published between 2011 and 2021. The purpose of the study was to identify the paradoxes associated with student language and literacy learning. The systematic literature review identified 311 instances of paradoxes across these 205 articles. Thirty instances of paradoxical terminology associated with student literacy learning were selected from the 311 instances. The excluded 271 instances of paradox were associated with policy contexts, teacher performance, and accountabilities, which are outside the scope of this article. The research in the 205 articles found that literacy learning was shaped by the skills of literacy learning, the complexity of student learning through standardised approaches, and textual plurality. The contexts of literacy learning spanned the virtual and real, the implications of national testing on local situations, and the changing nature of text and what it means to be literate. This review identified that students negotiate paradoxes associated with the risks of standardised testing, the narrowing of the writing curriculum, and understanding the variety of textual forms and practices. Identifying and examining these paradoxes will help address some of the persistent problems in literacy learning faced by students and teachers. Keywords Paradox * Literacy learning * Literacy skills * Literacy context * Becoming literate, 1 Introduction Literacy learners often experience paradoxes. This sign, displayed alongside a busy Yarra River walking trail in Victoria, promotes Odyssey House, a rehabilitation centre for people struggling with substance [...]

As long as literature has been specifically aimed at children questions have been raised about ideological representations in children's literature. Award-winning children's literature generally upholds contemporary standards of moral ideologies in the text. Ideological representations of sustainability and justice are yet to be fully accommodated in the judging criteria of children's literary awards. The Earth Charter proposes a framework of responsibility for 'a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice and a culture of peace'. This paper proposes an argument for adopting the sixteen principles of the Earth Charter as an ideological framework for selecting award-winning children's books. The 2018 Australian Children's Book Council Award for Early Childhood is used as the case for analysis. The award-winning book is analysed using an Ideological Framework for Earth Charter Principles. This framework is adapted from McCallum and Stephens' (2011) model of Ideological Framing in Children's Literature. Our analysis revealed that this award-winning book both upholds and violates Earth Charter principles. This paper provides an argument for excluding books from award honours if they violate the principles of the Earth Charter without redefining or resolving the violations. For award-winning children's literature to stand the test of time, the selection of texts could be referenced to an aspirational document like the Earth Charter that advocates justice for a sustainable future., Introduction We acknowledge that we are living in a critical moment in our history where humanity must enforce a shift to choose a future that is ecologically, economically, and socially [...]

The need to expand traditional, print-based versions of literacy to also incorporate attention to multimodal forms of text and literacy in the English curriculum is now well established. Much can be learnt about students and their literacy practices from the exploration of their engagement with digital culture--particularly videogames--from their out-of-school lifeworlds. However, the emerging set of skills and competencies or, the 'new' literacies and literacy practices associated with multiple and ever-emerging genres generated through information and communications technologies, present challenges in terms of how they might be conceptualised as literacy (or not) and how the multiple dimensions entailed in gameplay are increasingly a part of what it means to be literate in the 21st century. Drawing on two case studies of classroom work, the paper describes approaches to conceptualising the complexity of digital texts and their access, production and distribution and the opportunity to create spaces where students could interact, socialise and learn in both the real and virtual world. Dimensions such as play, interactivity, action, movement and time raise challenging questions about the limits and possibilities of constructing games and gameplay as texts and literacy practices that push the boundaries of literacy., Introduction The project Literacy in the Digital World of the Twenty First Century (1) was particularly concerned with what might be offered to English and literacy curriculum and pedagogy through [...]

The article outlines the aspects of the research design that engage with teachers in schools and discusses some of the challenges and affordances that the relationships (between the teachers, the schools, the research partners and the researchers) experienced in the project, Literacy in the 21st Century: Learning from Computer Games. The article has a particular focus on the teachers' work as co-researchers, their descriptions of working in the project and some of the issues for teachers and researchers in working in this way. The data used for the analysis includes the teacher writing, interview data and researcher observations. The teachers who participated in the project designed and delivered curriculum using computer games in various ways including making their own games, evaluating games, analyzing game structures, and examining the culture around games and the ways in which games and other technologies are merging. Some of these curriculum units are described elsewhere in this issue (Beavis & O'Mara, 2010). This article's purpose is to follow the teachers' professional learning experiences rather than detail these curriculum designs, which the teachers will describe elsewhere. The paper concludes with our personal reflections on the affordances and challenges of working this way for us in our different roles in the research team., Visions and realities: Recruiting teachers and schools When we designed the methodology for researching Literacy in the 21st Century: Learning from Computer Games, we envisioned recruiting six schools to the [...]

Literacy remains one of the central goals of schooling, but the ways in which it is understood are changing due to the growth of the network society and the ubiquity [...]

The need for English and literacy curriculum to connect with young people's lifeworlds to build bridges and frames of reference that connect traditional English curriculum with digital texts and literacies, are increasing priorities in curriculum frameworks in Australia and elsewhere. This paper reports on a project in which the authors worked with teachers and students in five secondary schools to research the ways in which digital games might be incorporated into the English curriculum. Central to this endeavour was 'turning around' to the affordances of digital games and their paratexts to understand how they can be understood as text and action. Drawing on classroom observations and literature in Games Studies and English curriculum we present a timely model and innovative heuristic that we argue facilitates teachers incorporating digital games into their English classrooms. We illustrate how each assists teachers in 'turning around' to digital games to make their English classrooms more relevant to students' lifeworlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the intersections between drama and digital gaming and the educational possibilities for literacy of both. The article draws on a model for the educational uses of digital gaming and three case studies from the Australian Research Council funded three and a half year project, Literacy in the digital world of the twenty first century: Learning from computer games. This model theorises the scope of the possibilities for literacy outcomes from the usage of computer games. The article describes how the model works, and then applies the model to drama education, specifying some new ways of thinking about the literacy outcomes from drama education. Process drama is theorised as the creation of text-in-action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]