"World of Warcraft" is an online computer game with over nine million players, many of them technically-minded young males. A proportion of these young males engage in spontaneous creative writing about their game adventures. They enjoy highly formulaic genres, such as the epic poem, with its complex technical requirements. This has implications…

This paper interrogates relationships among literacy research, policy development and classroom practice. It does so with concern that the fields of literacy research, policy and practice do not interact with one another in ways that are congruent or productive, as evidenced in recent government literacy reports in Australia and overseas. With a…

This article interrogates the dominant ideology that is shaping education in Victoria at the current moment. It does so by analysing the government school publication, "Education Times," focusing on the years 2000-2003. During those years the Victorian Government invested a significant amount of money into improving the literacy outcomes of…

The documentary text, a relative newcomer to the textual armoury of subject English, has received remarkably limited theoretical discussion. It therefore provides an interesting opportunity for the contemporary researcher concerned with the reading/viewing practices that constitute modern textual study. This paper first presents an historical…

Teaching William Shakespeare's canonical tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" to teenagers in the context of the English classroom in Australia is not a particularly new pedagogical practice. In the year 2008, when many teachers (particularly those with a feminist bent such as I) are intent on guiding their students to decipher the ideological motivations…

This article discusses a unit of work, developed by this author, that encouraged students to "express themselves" by using language to make a difference (i.e., to protest an issue of particular concern.) While the culminating task for this unit was a spoken task requiring students to reflect upon what they had done and how successful they had…

This action research project investigated the effects of negotiating curriculum on the affective attitudes of boys in my Year 8 English class towards studying English at high school. The ensuing unit involved developing autobiographical narratives to create, share and critique the students' life-stories, undertaking learning activities that were…

For some time now, English teachers have used electronic discussion in their classrooms. There is also a considerable literature suggesting benefits to student learning in doing so. However this research often downplays the context in which the discussion group is used--so that the particularities in use, including teacher decision-making as they…

A wonderful thing about teaching is that you encounter all sorts of students. This article takes a closer look at gifted students in my classroom. It explores a case where a student underachieved and another instance where a few gifted students were engaged in learning through a differentiated curriculum. This article briefly outlines their…

In my years as a student and as a teacher, I have come to understand that what matters most in schools are teachers. This is not a new phenomenon, nor is it a view I alone hold. It has become a mantra among academics, the media and politicians. All too frequently we are held accountable for all that is wrong with schools. Yet as teachers we…

While all comparisons are difficult, a consideration of the English national curriculum may offer some insights about the Australian version. In this paper, I suggest that there are some important similarities between the two approaches. I query the stated purposes of the Australian national curriculum and its adoption of a notion of equity which…

The authors draw on some powerful practitioner research they have been associated with recently to envision ways in which a national curriculum might redress the inequities experienced by Australia's most disadvantaged young people.

This opens with a critical and historical exploration of the terms that make up the phrase "English National Curriculum", breaking them down to build them up differently. This prompts a critique of the nominally singular subject "English" that stresses its plurality ("Englishes") and introduces the concept "Englishing" to highlight its ongoing…

The move currently underway to construct a formalised national curriculum presents us, as educators and as citizens, with both opportunities and challenges. This is perhaps especially the case with English teaching, clearly the most contentious of the four subject areas in the front line of such initiatives and agendas. Why this is so needs to be…

In the past two years, considerable media and government attention has been directed towards the teaching of Australian literature in secondary schools. This article explores the main themes of this discourse, and considers recent discussions about Australian literature in the National English Curriculum in the context of this debate. By way of…