• Students should be aware of and apply the University policy on academic honesty (see: https://policies.mq.edu.au/document/view.php?id=3) 

• Unless a Special Consideration (see: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/special-consideration) request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of 0 (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11:55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue. 

• This late penalty will apply to non-timed sensitive assessment (incl essays, reports, posters, portfolios, journals, recordings etc). Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs etc) will only be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special Consideration application. Special Consideration outcome may result in a new question or topic.  

• Please format assessments using 12-point font and 1.5 spacing. (In this unit, there may be some parts of assignments where a smaller font can be used. This will be explained in the assignment guidelines.)

• All assessments are submitted electronically. Turnitin plagiarism detection software is used to check all written assessments. 

• Students can use Turnitin’s Originality Report as a learning tool to improve their academic writing if this option is made available in the unit. 

• Students should carefully check that they submit the correct file for an assessment as no re-submissions will be accepted after the due date and time, including instances where students upload an incorrect file in error. 

• Word limits are strictly applied. Work above the word limit will not be marked.  

• All assessments are marked using a clear marking scheme or a rubric. 

• Marking of all assessments is moderated by the Unit Convenor. 

• Applications for extensions must be made via AskMQ (https://ask.mq.edu.au/).  

• It is not the responsibility of unit staff to contact students who have failed to submit assessments.  If you have any missing items of assessment, it is your responsibility to make contact with the unit convenor. 

University policy on grading 

Criteria for awarding grades for assessment tasks 

Assignments will be awarded grades ranging from HD to F according to guidelines set out in the University's Grading Policy. For Professional Experience units the PE Report is marked as satisfactory or unsatisfactory and the Teaching Performance Assessment (in final PE units) is marked as not meets, meets or exceeds. The following descriptive criteria are included for your information. 

Descriptive Criteria for awarding grades in the unit 

In order to meet the unit outcomes and successfully pass this unit, students must make a genuine attempt at all assessment tasks. Where any submitted assessment task is considered to be unsatisfactory in this regard, the highest possible final grade that can be awarded for the unit will be 45. 

Withdrawing from this unit 

If you are considering withdrawing from this unit, please seek academic advice via https://ask.mq.edu.au before doing so as this unit may be a co-requisite or prerequisite for units in the following sessions and may impact on your course progression. 

Exam

The final assessment task in this unit is an in-person, invigilated exam. Students are expected to ensure they are able to attend the exam and therefore vacations should not be scheduled during the exam period.

Results 

Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au. 

Required and recommended texts 

Compulsory texts:

Fellowes, J. & Oakley, G. (2020). Language, literacy and early childhood education (3^rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Derewianka, B. (2022). A new grammar companion for teachers. (3^rd ed.). Primary English Teaching Association.

Highly recommended:

Humphrey, S., Droga, L., & Feez, S. (2012). Grammar and meaning (2^nd ed.). Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA). This book includes activities with answers, for developing and applying your grammar knowledge.

Recommended:

Callow, J. (2018). Classroom assessment and picture books: Strategies for assessing how students interpret multimodal texts. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 41(1), 5–20.

Christie, F. (2005). Language education in the primary years. UNSW Press.

Derewianka, B. (2020). Exploring how texts work (2^nd ed.) Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).

Derewianka, B & Jones, P. (2022). Teaching language in context (3^rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Emmitt, M., Zbaracki, M., Komesaroff, L. & Pollard, J. (2015) (6^th ed.). Language and learning: An introduction for teaching. Oxford University Press.

Ewing, R. (2001). What is a functional model of language? Primary English Teaching Association. (Original work published 1994)

French, R. (2017). 'The picture is pleading to us to help': Primary school children interpret a persuasive online video. Practical literacy: The early and primary years, 22(3), 29–31.

Hill, S. (2021). Developing early literacy. Assessment and teaching (3^rd ed.). Eleanor Curtain Publishing.

Humphrey, S. & Vale, E. (2020) Investigating model texts for learning. Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).

Kalantzis, M,, Cope, B., Chan, E. & Dalley-Trim, L. (2016). Literacies (2^nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

McLeod, S., & McCormack, J. (Eds) (2015). Introduction to speech, language and literacy. Oxford University Press.

Moats, L. (2020). Speech to print: Language essentials for teachers. Paul H. Brookes Pub. Co.

Murphy, S. (2021) Teaching poetry for pleasure and purpose. Primary English Teaching Association.

Tompkins, G., Campbell, R. & Green, D. (2018). Literacy for the 21st Century: A balanced approach (3^rd ed.). Pearson Education Australia.

Walsh, M. (2011). Multimodal literacy. Researching classroom practice. Primary English Teaching Association.

Winch, G., Johnston, R., March, P., Ljungdahl, L. & Holliday, M. (2020). Literacy: Reading, writing & children’s literature (6^th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Wing Jan, L. & Taylor, S. (2020). Write ways. (5^th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Yopp, H.K. & Yopp, R. H. (2009) Phonological awareness is child’s play. Young Children (YC), 64(1), 12–18, 21.

Information about the unit iLearn site   

This unit has a full web presence through iLearn.   

Students will need regular access to a computer and the Internet to complete this unit.  

Weekly access to iLearn is compulsory for all students. Important assessment information will be posted here, as will other relevant unit notices and materials. 

Various activities and materials for discussion and tutorial preparation will be provided. Electronic links and suggested references will be included in the Leganto section, which is linked to the library. Please check the iLearn site for the unit regularly.    

Structure 

The unit will be delivered using a combination of lectures and tutorials.

Lectures

Lectures are recorded and are available on the web through the Echo360 component. You must listen to and view all lectures. PowerPoint slides will also be available in the Echo360 component. You are encouraged to create your own notes rather than only downloading slides.  

There are 15 hours of lecture content. There will be a weekly 1-hour lecture, and in roughly every second week there will be an additional 1-hour lecture, that is, three lectures in a fortnight, on average. In the final week of session, an optional revision lecture with live Q&A will be held online.

Tutorials

'Weekday' mode: Weekly 1.5-hour tutorials will be held in Weeks 1 to 10 for students enrolled in the 'In person-scheduled-weekday' attendance mode (total: 15 hours).

'Infrequent' mode: For students enrolled in the 'In person-scheduled-infrequent' attendance mode, there is a combination of online 1.5-hour tutorials (2023 dates: 22/2, 8/3, 29/3, 5/4, 3/5, 10/5) and two half-day on-campus seminars (total: 15 hours, made up of 9 hours in online tutorials and 6 hours in on-campus seminars - note - these are interactive workshops, not lectures). Dates of the on-campus seminars are in students' personalised timetables in eStudent.

In tutorials and at on-campus sessions (as relevant to their attendance mode), students will discuss issues and questions arising from the lectures and prescribed readings. They are expected to base their arguments/discussions on evidence from published research and other relevant material. Students are required to participate in small group activities and whole class discussion, to read the weekly material in advance, and to complete brief tasks either as individuals or in pairs. Sometimes short 'homework' tasks will be set, which also need to be completed as tutorial preparation.

The weekly program for the unit with the accompanying readings/ preparation will be available on the unit iLearn site.

Access and technical assistance  

Information for students about access to the online component of this unit is available at https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/index.php. You will need to enter your student username and password. 

Please do NOT contact the Unit Convenor regarding iLearn technical help.  

Assistance is available from IT Helpdesk  

Ph: 9850 4357 or 1800 67 4357  

Email: help.mq.edu.au. 

On Campus: Ground floor at 18 Wally’s Walk 

On-campus sessions for 'Infrequent' mode students

The dates and venues of on-campus sessions will be available in students' personalised timetables in eStudent.

The 5Rs Framework, developed by the School of Education at Macquarie University, is embedded throughout your teacher education course.

Your use of the 5Rs Framework will help you develop the capabilities that will make your teaching career sustainable and fulfilling.

In this unit, you will learn using the 5Rs framework in the following important ways:

• Resilience practised inside and outside of the classroom. 

Students will build resilience by engaging strongly with intellectually challenging content relevant to teaching. Students will draw on social and structural supports including meaningful interaction with a range of peers as well as teaching staff in the unit.

• Reflexive in their teaching practice.

Opportunities to develop a reflexive approach to practice will be specifically afforded by assessment Tasks 1, 2 and 3, where students should reflect upon feedback and then feed forward relevant advice to subsequent assessment tasks and/or into their teaching practice in professional experience placements.

• Responsive to students, colleagues, parents and professional communities.

Students will understand and respect the roles adults play in children's literacy development, the importance of oral language as foundational for literacy success, and the development of reading, writing, and multimodal and critical literacy in homes/communities as well as in formal educational contexts. Students will begin to develop an understanding of the role of literacy education in promoting social justice for children experiencing difficulties in literacy learning, Indigenous learners and EAL/D (English as an additional language or dialect) learners - and their responsibilities as educators in being responsive to student diversity.​ Students will develop their own knowledge about language so that they are equipped better to understand children’s language and literacy development and to provide meaningful feedback as responsive teachers in the future.

• Ready to learn.

Students will develop a foundational understanding of the role and value of language, literacy and children’s literature across the curriculum in prior-to-school and school (K–6) contexts. They will demonstrate a basic working knowledge of aspects of language and literacies including phonology, grammar and text types including multimodal texts. This will form the basis for future learning in other units, that is, students are encouraged to see this unit as foundational and not an end point. Students will practise positive dispositions to professional learning, for example, they will come to tutorials prepared for learning, including having completed prior reading and preparatory tasks, and bringing their own questions and key understandings to share. They will engage in small group activities and discussions. They will cultivate positive attitudes towards lifelong professional learning about language, literacy education and literature.

• Research-engaged throughout their career.

Students will engage, individually and collaboratively, with research-informed lecture content, tutorials and scholarly readings. In Task 1 and in the Major Assignment, students will apply analytical skills to texts, which will provide practice for similarly informed analysis in future professional work e.g. understanding students' phonemic awareness skills; applying knowledge of language to texts for and by children. Weekly readings will engage students with research-informed principles and practices in English/literacies education.