EDUC 90204 (formerly 476 696)

Project in Literacy Intervention

Course outline

This subject equips students with the ability to research an issue in literacy learning disabilities, to implement its implications in teaching and to communicate its implications at a school level, leading to school-wide instructional improvement in catering for literacy learning disabilities.

Objectives     

On completion of this subject participants should be able to

• describe the key components of a research study
  
  
• generate testable predictions (or hypotheses) in the area of reading disabilities
  
  
• collect, interpret and analyse data relating to reading related measures
  
  
• comprehend and apply commonly used experimental designs in the area of reading disabilities
  
  
• contextualise the outcomes of reading difficulties research
  
  
• map the research outcomes into instructional practice
  
  
• implement procedures for communicating the outcomes to colleagues and implement staff development activities
  
  
• implement procedures for monitoring changes in staff and student performance in literacy

Content

Implementing a research study in the area of literacy learning disabilities
Components of a research study. Brief review of quantitative and qualitative designs in the study of literacy disabilities, including the purposes of each, the type of questions each asks and the values of each. Types of data used to describe literacy-related performance. Generating and testing hypotheses in the study of literacy disabilities. Data analysis procedures.

Contextualising research outcomes
Framework for mapping research outcomes into teaching practice. Procedures for interpreting/translating research outcomes. Factors that implement the application process.

Procedures for implementing change in practice
Models of school-based professional development that lead to pedagogic change, including identification of the change unit within the organisation, readiness of the organisation to change. Adult-learning framework; adult learner variables including level of existing knowledge, motivation to change, reflective practice, capacity to proceduralise. Organisational conditions that facilitate/inhibit the change in practice and processes to target these (including educational coaching procedures, professional action learning teams).

Indicators of organisational growth
Procedures for monitoring changes in teacher practice, student knowledge and organisational progress in catering for literacy learning disabilities.