Taking a dialogic approach, this edited book engages in analysis and description of dialogic discourse in a number of different educational contexts, from early childhood to tertiary, with an international team of contributors from Australia, Finland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The chapters focus mostly on dialogic face-to-face discourse, with some examples of online interactions, and feature insights from educational linguistics, particularly the work of Michael Halliday. While the contributors come from a range of theoretical backgrounds, they all share an interest in language in use, and engage in close analysis of transcripts of naturally-occurring interaction. Taking inspiration from Alexander and other theorists, they employ a fine-grained and analytic approach to the exploration of their data. The authors make use of the linguistic tools and models of language in society, in order to examine the turn-by-turn unfolding of the interaction. The authors relate their insights from disparate forms of linguistic analysis to elements of Alexander's (2020) dialogic framework, situating the discourse in its contexts and discussing the pedagogical implications of the linguistic choices at play. In presenting this work from a range of situations and perspectives the authors strive to demonstrate how dialogic discourse plays out in educational contexts across the world. The book aims to foster further research in this direction and to inspire educators to explore dialogic discourse for themselves. It will be of interest to a wide audience, including literacy researchers, linguists, teachers and teacher educators, as well as graduate students.

The Use of Children's Literature in Teaching reveals the impact of politics, professional guidelines and restrictive measurements of literacy on the emerging identities of young teachers. It places renewed emphasis on the importance of creative teaching with children's literature for the empowerment of teacher agency to enhance the learning of their students. Framing the debate alongside the issue of teacher autonomy, Simpson describes results from a two-year study, which brings together information from interviews, surveys, document analysis and digital stories from Australia, Canada, the UK and the US to assess the role of children's literature in pre-service teacher education. Through cross-cultural comparison, this research captures the different levels of connection between politics, education systems, higher education and pre-service teachers. It exposes how politics, narrow views of professionalism and program structures in teacher education may adversely affect the development of pre-service teachers. This book presents a strong case that reading and responding critically to literary texts leads to better educational outcomes than basic decoding and low-level comprehension training. As such, this book will be of great interest to researchers and scholars working in the areas of teacher education and literacy and primary education. It should also be essential reading for teacher educators and policymakers.

The Use of Children's Literature in Teaching reveals the impact of politics, professional guidelines and restrictive measurements of literacy on the emerging identities of young teachers. It places renewed emphasis on the importance of creative teaching with children's literature for the empowerment of teacher agency to enhance the learning of their students. Framing the debate alongside the issue of teacher autonomy, Simpson describes results from a two-year study, which brings together information from interviews, surveys, document analysis and digital stories from Australia, Canada, the UK and the US to assess the role of children's literature in pre-service teacher education. Through cross-cultural comparison, this research captures the different levels of connection between politics, education systems, higher education and pre-service teachers. It exposes how politics, narrow views of professionalism and program structures in teacher education may adversely affect the development of pre-service teachers. This book presents a strong case that reading and responding critically to literary texts leads to better educational outcomes than basic decoding and low-level comprehension training. As such, this book will be of great interest to researchers and scholars working in the areas of teacher education and literacy and primary education. It should also be essential reading for teacher educators and policymakers.

This book brings together an international group of literacy studies scholars who have investigated mobile literacies in a variety of educational settings. Approaching mobility from diverse theoretical perspectives, the book makes a significant contribution to how mobile literacies, and tablets in particular, are being conceptualised in literacy research. The book focuses on tablets, and particularly the iPad, as a prime example of mobile literacies, setting this within the broader context of literacy and mobility. The book provides inspiration and direction for future research in mobile literacies, based upon 16 chapters that investigate the relationship between tablets and literacy in diverse ways. Together they address the complex and multiple forces associated with the distribution of the technologies themselves and the texts they mediate, and consider how apps, adults and children work together as iPads enter the mesh of practices and material arrangements that constitute the institutional setting.

Noticing is an essential aspect of professional expertise in teaching - a skill that draws on deep professional knowledge in ways that affect how teachers are aware of, respond to and meet the needs of their students. Being a 'noticing teacher' in the language and literacy classroom can make a real difference to students' progress as readers and writers, to their literacy attainment and to their engagement with learning. This international, research-informed book is unique in its focus on literacy and language. The authors explore models and methods to embed both noticing and the development of teacher agency and grounded knowledge into teacher education programs and school practices. To further the professional knowledge and agency of 'noticing teachers', the authors argue that research, policy and the professional community need to understand how noticing skills can be woven into the policy and practice contexts of the literacy teacher's work. Developing Habits of Noticing in Literacy and Language Classrooms: Research and Practice across Professional Cultures is designed to help teachers, researchers and school leaders think in new ways about how 'noticing' operates in the context of the literacy classroom and how it can be supported. Each chapter provides a valuable insight into how teachers learn from their students, in the course of teaching activities, to be responsive, analytical and inspirational.

This book brings together an international group of literacy studies scholars who have investigated mobile literacies in a variety of educational settings. Approaching mobility from diverse theoretical perspectives, the book makes a significant contribution to how mobile literacies, and tablets in particular, are being conceptualised in literacy research. The book focuses on tablets, and particularly the iPad, as a prime example of mobile literacies, setting this within the broader context of literacy and mobility. The book provides inspiration and direction for future research in mobile literacies, based upon 16 chapters that investigate the relationship between tablets and literacy in diverse ways. Together they address the complex and multiple forces associated with the distribution of the technologies themselves and the texts they mediate, and consider how apps, adults and children work together as iPads enter the mesh of practices and material arrangements that constitute the institutional setting.

Noticing is an essential aspect of professional expertise in teaching - a skill that draws on deep professional knowledge in ways that affect how teachers are aware of, respond to and meet the needs of their students. Being a 'noticing teacher' in the language and literacy classroom can make a real difference to students' progress as readers and writers, to their literacy attainment and to their engagement with learning. This international, research-informed book is unique in its focus on literacy and language. The authors explore models and methods to embed both noticing and the development of teacher agency and grounded knowledge into teacher education programs and school practices. To further the professional knowledge and agency of 'noticing teachers', the authors argue that research, policy and the professional community need to understand how noticing skills can be woven into the policy and practice contexts of the literacy teacher's work. Developing Habits of Noticing in Literacy and Language Classrooms: Research and Practice across Professional Cultures is designed to help teachers, researchers and school leaders think in new ways about how 'noticing' operates in the context of the literacy classroom and how it can be supported. Each chapter provides a valuable insight into how teachers learn from their students, in the course of teaching activities, to be responsive, analytical and inspirational.

This volume brings together a number of people professionally engaged in the study of literacy, either because they are teachers or teacher educators of language and literacy, or because they are involved as social and/or educational workers researching or providing programs to address the needs of people at risk because of inadequate literacy skills. It thus sets up a dialogue between these two communities of writers, all bringing different perspectives to the issues, some from the context of Literacy Education, others from the context of Social Work. All are committed to the view that provision of effective literacy programs is a matter of equity and social justice, though the ways in which they address such a view can differ. Issues addressed include: the changing nature of literacy in the modern world; the impact of the multimodal environment in which literacy now functions; the implications of this environment for pedagogical practices in the teaching of literacy; the causes and consequences of social disadvantage in learning literacy among various groups; and means to address such disadvantage.

This volume brings together a number of people professionally engaged in the study of literacy, either because they are teachers or teacher educators of language and literacy, or because they are involved as social and/or educational workers researching or providing programs to address the needs of people at risk because of inadequate literacy skills. It thus sets up a dialogue between these two communities of writers, all bringing different perspectives to the issues, some from the context of Literacy Education, others from the context of Social Work. All are committed to the view that provision of effective literacy programs is a matter of equity and social justice, though the ways in which they address such a view can differ. Issues addressed include: the changing nature of literacy in the modern world; the impact of the multimodal environment in which literacy now functions; the implications of this environment for pedagogical practices in the teaching of literacy; the causes and consequences of social disadvantage in learning literacy among various groups; and means to address such disadvantage.

Selected, edited papers from the conference in September 2007. The link between research and practice has never been more significant as global awareness about literacy pushes us to question the success of programs in schools. National reports on literacy were challenged during the conference. Grounded evidence was given of literacy programs that work to make a difference for groups with diverse needs. The collection of ideas in the conference represents a broad concept of literacy that includes the ability to communicate in multimodal, digital texts and values creativity alongside testing for skills. Classroom based research from the sum of these perspectives presents significant reason for change to practice and policy. To make a difference to future generations of students, we need to take the research out of the classroom and make it the centre of informed debate. This publication is a step towards achieving that goal.