Editorial.
Rennie, Jennifer
Welcome to the October edition of AJLL. The issue comprises a
variety of articles that report on literacy research in early childhood,
primary and tertiary settings.
In the first article 'Revisiting Rosenblatt's Aesthetic
Response Through The Arrival' Sylvia Pantaleo revisits
Rosenblatt's transactional theory of reading and shows how
instruction around visual elements of art and design can facilitate
students aesthetic responses to text. The following two articles report
on research around new technologies in primary classrooms. Lisa Kervin,
Irina Verenikina, Pauline Jones and Olivea Beath report on a study that
investigated the synergies between literacy, technology and classroom
practice. Using Activity Theory as a framework they present data from
213 teacher surveys related to their use of and engagement with new
technologies. In the next article, 'Touching, tapping ... thinking?
Examining the dynamic materiality of touch pad devices for literacy
learning', Maureen Walsh and Alyson Simpson present data from an
ongoing international study on Year 5 students using iPads alongside
print based texts in their literacy lessons. The fourth article
continues this theme of new technologies. In her article 'Early
Childhood Designs for Multiliteracies Learning', Sandra Hesterman
reports on five case studies and illustrates how teacher pedagogy
impacts on the quality of children's Multiliteracies learning
experiences. In particular she found a Reggio-inspired teaching approach
as best supporting the 'Early Years Learning Framework'
outcomes and Multiliteracies learning. In the fifth article,
'Social Semiotics and Literacy: A case study about the social
meanings constructed by Ads of a children's magazine',
Flaviane Faria Carvalho contributes to studies on literacy and
multimodality from the theoretical perspective of social semiotics and
the methodological framework of visual grammar. In particular her work
emphasises the importance of adopting a visual grammar in educational
contexts, in order to analyse and understand the meanings engendered in
the process of visual representation and communication in advertising.
Moving from the schooling to tertiary education in our final article,
'Supporting pre-service teachers' academic literacy
development', Elizabeth Walker and He An-e, discuss effective
practices for supporting student teachers' development of academic
literacy within a discipline.
We hope that you enjoy reading these articles and look forward to
receiving contributions from teachers and researchers.
