This semiotically informed article problematizes the concept of literacy as an aesthetic activity rather than reading skills and offers strategies for assessing young readers' understanding of fictional texts. Although not based on empirical research, the essay refers to and theorizes from extensive field studies of children's responses to…

There is a growing literature examining the impact of research on informing policy, and of research and policy on practice. Research and policy do not have the same types of impact on practice but can be evaluated using similar approaches. Sometimes the literature provides a platform for methodological debate but mostly it is concerned with how…

This paper undertakes a wide-ranging exploration of the concept of boredom from contrasting perspectives across different disciplines with a view to informing the pedagogy of schooling. It notes the rise of the concept in recent times, and juxtaposes diverse views on the perceived forms, causes, effects and responses to boredom, along the way…