'Language Background Other Than English': a problem NAPLaN test category for Australian students of refugee background

Since 2008 Australia has held the National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (known as NAPLAN) for all students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Despite the multilingual character of the Australian population, these standardized literacy and numeracy tests are built on an assumption of English as a first language competency. The capacity for monitoring the performance of students who speak languages other than English is achieved through the disaggregation of test data using a category labelled Language Background Other than English (LBOTE). A student is classified as LBOTE if they or their parents speak a language other than English at home. The category definition is so broad that the disaggregated national data suggest that LBOTE students are outperforming English speaking students, on most test domains, though the LBOTE category shows greater variance of results. Drawing on Foucault’s theory of governmentality, this article explores the possible implications of LBOTE categorisation for English as a Second Language (ESL) students of refugee background. The article uses a quantitative research project, carried out in Queensland, Australia, to demonstrate the potential inequities resultant from such a poorly constructed data category

The contribution of general language ability, reading comprehension and working memory to mathematics achievement among children with English as additional language (EAL): an exploratory study

An increasing number of high-stakes mathematics standardised tests around the world place an emphasis on using mathematical word problems to assess students’ mathematical understanding. Not only do these assessments require children to think mathematically, but making sense of these tests’ mathematical word problems also brings children’s language ability, reading comprehension and working memory into play. The nature of these test items places a great deal of cognitive demand on all mathematics learners, but particularly on children completing the assessments in a second language that is still developing. This paper reports findings from an exploratory study on the contribution of language to mathematics achievement among 35 children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) and 31 children with English as their first language (FLE). The findings confirm the prominent role of general language ability in the development and assessment of mathematical ability. This variable explained more variance than working memory in word-based mathematics scores for all learners. Significant differences were found between the performance of FLE learners and EAL learners on solving mathematical word-based problems, but not on wordless problems. We conclude that EAL learners need to receive more targeted language support, including help with specific language knowledge needed to understand and solve mathematical word problems

Sensory ways to indigenous multimodal literacies : Hands and feet tell the story

This chapter reports original research that asks the question: What are the ways of knowing, being, and communicating that are valued and practiced in Indigenous communities? Literacy curricula, internationally and nationally, typically do not take into account the multi-sensorial dimensions of non-Western forms of representation that go beyond narrow conceptions of print. For example, literacies are often conceived as drawing on print, visual, spatial, gestural, and audio modes, but the role of haptics and locomotion has typically received little attention. This chapter highlights examples of the multi-sensoriality of Indigenous literacies observed in participatory community research with an Indigenous school. It extends recent theories of sensory studies in the history and cultural anthropology of the senses, applying these principles to literacy education. Sensory literacies is a theoretical perspective that gives priority to the sensorial dimensions of the body and its role in communication in literacy practice, because without a sensing body, we cannot know about or communicate with the world. The data demonstrates how the forgotten role of the hands and feet in dominant theories of communication is central to Indigenous identity and literacies. Written by a white academic with an Indigenous researcher, the chapter problematises the privileging of narrow, logocentric, and Western forms of literacy and its implications for rethinking the role of the whole body in literacy and the literacy curriculum for Indigenous students

Art, science and organisational interactions: Exploring the value of artist residencies on campus

This case study examines how an artist residency at an aquaculture institute within a university creates value on campus and beyond. We find that the residency, initially regarded as ‘risk-taking’ by both artist and institute, created unexpected opportunities stemming from the synergies between art and science. We find that ‘new ways of seeing’ aquaculture science resulted in the creation of aesthetic, emotional, environmental, educational and social values embracing the intrinsic, instrumental, and institutional, on both personal and organisational levels. The lack of available time from academic staff and financial support for the artist, however, need to be addressed in order to achieve the residency's full potential. In addition to the arguments for art-based initiatives generally, we suggest that artist residencies, if planned thoughtfully, have the potential to create an innovative and creative culture on campus and beyond

Australian language policy and the design of a national curriculum for languages

20 page(s

Bollettino del Servizio Geologico d'Italia

An explanation is a statement or set of statements that clarifies the reasons, causes, context, or principles that underpin a particular phenomenon. The word derives from the Latin term explicatus, which means to provide reasoning for. Explanations are central to the discipline of science as one of the goals of the discipline is to provide explanations that lead to a deeper understanding of various phenomena. In plain English, explanations elucidate why things work, what something is, or how things happen. They often provide cause and effect relations, include a time sequence, and use action verbs. An explanation usually has five parts: (i) naming or specifying the concept, (ii) describing elements or components of the concept in an appropriate order, (iii) explaining how the elements relate or connect to each other, (iv) providing an example, and (v) summarizing with a concluding statement. It is a fundamental expectation in most school science curricula that students should be able to explain science concepts. For example, the Australian National Curriculum states: Science provides an empirical way of answering interesting and important questions about the biological, physical and technological world. The knowledge it produces has proved to be a reliable basis for action in our personal, social and economic lives (ACARA 2012, p. 3). Similarly, the US National Science Education Standards calls for more than science as process, in which students learn such skills as observing, inferring, and experimenting. Inquiry is central to science learning. When engaging in inquiry, students describe objects and events, ask questions, construct explanations, test those explanations against current scientific knowledge, and communicate their ideas to others. They identify their assumptions, use critical and logical thinking, and consider alternative explana- tions. In this way, students actively develop their understanding of science by combining scientific knowledge with reasoning and thinking skills