Students need to orchestrate and mix all of these textual resources to lead literate lives in the 21^st century.  It is important to note that these resources are not hierarchical or developmentally-based and should not be seen in linear ways.  The key concept in Luke and Freebody’s four resources model is necessity and not sufficiency i.e. each resource is necessary to enable students to become literate but none of the resources by themselves is sufficient. 

All four resources should be identified, explicitly taught and systematically integrated into the planned learning sequences delivered by all teachers at all levels of schooling.  Teachers of English can best provide for literacy learning by planning rich and comprehensive text and language-based learning sequences that address all four resources.

The Communicating Essential and the Being Literate Key Element

The Communicating Essential focuses on conveying meaning from one person to another through the use of symbol systems, that is representations of objects, ideas and experiences.  These symbol systems include “…words and images in print, the representation of quantitative and spatial information, arts forms, mass media and contemporary communication technologies.” (Essential Learnings Framework 1, p. 20 ) Each of these symbol systems is a literacy with its own codes and conventions.

The Being literate Key Element focuses on understanding, using and critically evaluating the non-verbal, spoken, visual and print communication practices of the world in which we live.  It encompasses accessing the resources involved in being a competent communicator and using these resources in interconnected ways with the focus always on making meaning and communicating.

These resources include being able to: 

• work with the codes in which texts are constructed;

• participate in making meaning of texts;

• use texts; and

• critically analyse and transform texts.

The links between Luke and Freebody’s four resources and the Being literate Key Element, including the literacy theory and approach underpinning each resource, are outlined in the following table:

Towards a multiliteracies pedagogy

Literally meaning many literacies, the term multiliteracies was first coined in 1996 by the New London Group to encapsulate two significant shifts in how we view literacy.  The concept of multiliteracies acknowledges that in a rapidly changing, culturally and linguistically diverse society we need to use texts in critical, active and reflective ways.  It also acknowledges that literacy goes beyond print language and incorporates the multiple modes of meaning found in new information and communication technologies. 

Multiliteracies provide a bridge between the real-life texts of the community and school texts and encourage a real-world, interdisciplinary approach to learning through the use of disciplined knowledge.  Using a multiliteracies approach enables students to understand, use and critically evaluate the multimodal texts of the 21^st century.  These complex texts incorporate elements of linguistic, visual, spatial, audio and gestural design.

Healy (2004) believes that a multiliteracies curriculum and pedagogy:

The attributes of a good literacy teacher

Braithwaite et al (1997) has reported on the attributes of literacy teachers in 'best practice' classrooms.  The findings, summarised below, are of particular relevance to teachers of English.

Braithwaite found that effective teachers:

Literacy in English learning - what works?

Teaching programs work best when the teacher has clear learning intentions that all students know about and understand.  A carefully considered choice of specific teaching strategies that focus on the study of texts and their structures and features will:

• provide explicit knowledge about language and literacy; and

• establish teaching and learning contexts where 'point-of-need' teaching relates to the teacher's intended goals and purposes.

So, what makes for an effective literacy learning strategy?  Cambourne (1997) reported on a study by Brown and Turbill that looked at the characteristics of successful literacy activities.  The analysis of data revealed that those activities, which showed both deep engagement and transfer into other learning contexts, were:

• linked to other parts of the teaching and learning program;

• preceded by explicitly stated purposes for engaging in the activity;

• involved high degrees of social interaction and cognitive collaboration;

• coerced learners to use more than one mode of language;

• coerced learners to draw on more than one subsystem of language;

• encouraged learners to transfer meaning across and or different semiotic systems;

• allowed a range of acceptable responses; and

• were cost efficient and developmentally appropriate.

Assessing, monitoring and reporting literacy outcomes

Literacy outcomes are assessed for a range of purposes.  Students monitor and reflect on their own literacy learning.  Teachers monitor their students' literacy in order to assess progress and to plan for future teaching.  Schools monitor students' literacy to assess the quality of the programs offered, and the system as a whole monitors students' literacy to observe progress over time.

The assessment, monitoring and reporting of Being literate outcomes in Tasmanian government schools is mandatory.  Teachers are required to monitor and assess students' literacy outcomes regularly and to report these assessments to parents.  Visit the Office of Educational Review web site for further details about the Assessment, Monitoring and Reporting Policy and Strategic Plan.

Schools are also required to establish student literacy learning outcome targets as part of the Partnership Agreements with their school communities. School principals are required to ensure that these targets are appropriate and that progress is made towards achieving them.  Annual reports to parents, and to the branch (via the annual school report), on progress towards the achievement of the identified literacy targets is also mandatory.

The Office of Educational Review assesses literacy in grades 3, 5, 7 and 9 through monitoring instruments that have been developed.

Assessment principles for literacy

For literacy assessment to be both effective and informative there are principles that must be observed. Firstly, assessment must have clear and direct links with outcomes.

Assessment must be integral to teaching and learning so that it can better inform future teaching.  It must also be balanced, comprehensive and varied. It needs to be accessible in regard to the variety of learning and thinking styles which students employ.  Within this site, many of the teaching strategies can be used for assessment.  Under each teaching strategy, there are notes about the ways in which it can be used to evaluate students' language learning.

The assessment must be valid.  It must accurately assess what it purports to assess, so that it reflects the aims and intentions of the learning strategies.

The assessment must be fair.  It must allow all students the opportunity to show what they know and can do, regardless of such things as gender or socio-cultural background.

The assessment process must engage the learner.  There ought to be opportunities for learners to negotiate, monitor and reflect upon their own learning.

Effective assessment methods value teacher judgment.  The reliability of teacher judgment is enhanced when collaborative structures are set in place to allow teachers to work together to develop common understandings of outcomes and to agree upon what is necessary to demonstrate achievement of them. From 2005 teachers will work collaboratively to assess, monitor and report against the Being Literate Key Element outcome.

Assessment must be time efficient and manageable.  It ought to be embedded in the teaching and learning program so that it is possible to assess a number of outcomes in a single assessment task.  There needs to be a whole-school approach to assessment so that teachers have a set of guiding principles which are consistent and coordinated.

Good quality assessment evidence is best collected by using a wide range of strategies. These could include:

• observation;

• portfolios;

• continuums;

• performance assessments;

• student self assessment; and

• teacher-made and other tests.

The Department of Education Assessment, Monitoring and Reporting Strategic Plan 2005 - 2008 published on the Office of Educational Review web site outlines the requirements for assessing, monitoring and reporting against existing literacy K-12 assessment frameworks.  These include:

• The Kindergarten Development Check (KDC);

• Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS);

• Statewide Literacy Monitoring Program;

• Essential Learnings Outcomes and Standards (in years K-10 from of 2005).

Continuity and cumulative literacy learning

Literacy coordinators find that the task of leading literacy learning is becoming more complex each year.  Partnership agreements, the School Improvement Review program generally, the centrally driven literacy testing program and the introduction of Individual Professional Learning Plans have impacted upon the roles of individual teachers and literacy leaders.  Schools are concerned with explicitly teaching for improved literacy outcomes.  Every teacher needs to contribute to their students’ continuous and cumulative literacy learning. They need to know what happened before their students arrived in their classes and also where they are heading after they leave their care.

Summary

For more information

A statement on English for Australian schools, (1994) Curriculum Corporation.

English - a curriculum profile for Australian schools (1994) Curriculum Corporation.

Essential Learnings Framework 1. (2002) Department of Education, Tasmania.

Essential Learnings Framework 2. (2003) Department of Education, Tasmania.

Literate Futures: Reading (2002) Department of Education, Queensland.

Jennings, C. and Shepherd, J. (1998) Literacy in the Key Learning Areas, Eleanor Curtain, Victoria

Practical Literacy Programming, (2002) PETA, NSW.

Kiddey, P. & Robson, G. (2001) Make Their Heads Spin: Improving Learning In The Middle Years, Curriculum Corporation, Carlton South, Victoria.

Cope, B. & Kalantis, M. eds (2000) Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures. Great Britain, Macmillan.

Cambourne, B. ‘What makes for an effective literacy learning activity? Seven years of observation and analysis’ in Set Special 1997: Language and Literacy, ACER Australia.

Healy, A. ’Multiliteracies Pedagogy’ in Practically Primary, Volume 9, Number 2 (2004) ALEA.

LoBianco, J & Freebody, P. (1997) Australian Literacies: Informing National Policy on Literacy Education, Language Australia, Melbourne.

Sawyer, W. and Gold, E. eds (2004) Reviewing English in the 21^st Century, Phoenix Education, Melbourne.