Editors' introduction.

Editors' introduction. This is our first issue of the AJLL journal as the new editorialteam and we thank Jan and Jillian for their kind wishes published inVolume 25, No. 1. Their advice, experiences and support have certainlyassisted in the introduction to the editing task. We would like tointroduce ourselves and to present some of our plans for the next 3years. We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome you tothis issue of AJLL and invite you to contact us with your feedback andideas about language and literacy research. We are committed to following the example established by previouseditorial teams to work with literacy teachers, literacy policy andcurriculum developers, pre-service and postgraduate education See also: Postgraduate Training in EducationPostgraduate education (often known in North America as graduate education, and sometimes described as quaternary education studentsand academics in the publication of relevant, accessible, exciting andcritical articles of the highest quality. The team is interested in publishing a balance of thematic andgeneral issues for AJLL. While these are currently in the planning stagewe can announce that Vol. 25 No. 3 will bring together nationalresearch, classroom based practice and policy in the area of learningdifficulties. Typically, the topics of the thematic issues emerge inresponses to current issues, problems and new developments, as well asto changes and redirections in literacy education and practice. We encourage the publication of articles by postgraduate students,and encourage classroom teachers to continue the research and dialoguebetween theory and practice, policy and implementation and to foster theparticipation of new researchers in the academic community. As part of that commitment we hope to publish an article aboutwriting and preparing a contribution for AJLL in early 2003. Inaddition, we encourage contributions from international literacyeducators, particularly writers of international acclaim, in order tohighlight the (inter)national contexts of literacy research andpractice. We are confident that our collaborations with national andinternational scholars, practising classroom teachers and researchers inthe field as reflected in articles submitted and published in AJLL willenhance the international reputation of the Journal. Member of the editorial team The AJLL editorial board at Edith Cowan Edith Dircksey Cowan (n��e Brown), OBE (August 2 1861–June 9 1932) was an Australian politician, social campaigner and the first woman elected as a representative in an Australian parliament. University (ECU) consist ofa team of four editors (Judith Rivalland, Mary Rohl, Sue Statkus, JoanneWinter) and three associate editors (Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Bill Louden,Marion Milton). As members of various research teams they have worked onmany Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST DEST DestinationDEST DestroyDEST Department of Education, Science and Training (Australia)DEST Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories (Australia))-fundednational children's literacy research projects. Findings of theseprojects are reported in various publications, including the DESTreports: Literacy in its Place, Literacy at a Distance, Profiling ESL (1) An earlier family of client/server development tools for Windows and OS/2 from Ardent Software (formerly VMARK). It was originally developed by Easel Corporation, which was acquired by VMARK. Children, 100 Children Go To School, Mapping the Territory: PrimaryStudents with Learning Difficulties in Literacy and Numeracy numeracyMathematical literacy Neurology The ability to understand mathematical concepts, perform calculations and interpret and use statistical information. Cf Acalculia. , and 100Children Turn 10. Members of the editorial board are presently engagedin two ongoing DEST projects: Preparation of Teachers to Teach EnglishLiteracy and Numeracy in Primary and Secondary Schools and EffectiveTeaching and Learning Practices Leading to Improved Literacy Outcomes inthe Early Years of Schooling. Judith Rivalland is an Associate Professor and the Associate Deanof Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Community Services, Educationand Social Sciences. She teaches in the primary and postgraduateprograms in Language and Literacy Education, with special expertise inthe areas of literacy development, remediation and critical literacy Critical literacy is an instructional approach that advocates the adoption of critical perspectives toward text. Critical literacy encourages readers to actively analyze texts and it offers strategies for uncovering underlying messages. . Mary Rohl is a Senior Lecturer senior lecturern. Chiefly BritishA university teacher, especially one ranking next below a reader. in the School of Education andCo-Director of the Centre for Applied Language and Literacy Research(CALLR). She is a literacy specialist whose research has focused uponchildren in early childhood and primary school settings, with particularreference to children who have learning difficulties. Mary has had morethan 20 years' classroom teaching experience in state andindependent systems in the UK and Australia, as both a mainstreamteacher and as a specialist teacher for children with learningdifficulties. Susan Statkus has worked in teacher education and has lectured inall aspects of language and literacy education since 1972. Her majorareas of interest are children's literature children's literature,writing whose primary audience is children.See also children's book illustration. The Beginnings of Children's LiteratureThe earliest of what came to be regarded as children's literature was first meant for adults. and the development ofwriting. She has been a judge for the West Australian West Australian commonly refers to people or things from Western Australia.Specific things to which it may refer include: the newspaper The West Australian; YoungWriters' Award over a number of years. Joanne Winter is a Senior Lecturer and the Associate Director ofthe Centre for Applied Language and Literacy Research (CALLR). Herresearch interests and publications include workplace literacy inprofessional contexts, e-communication and text message interaction,language and identity, language and gender and Australian English.Joanne is a former editor of the journal Language, Gender & Sexism. Bill Louden is a Professor and Associate Dean (Research and HigherDegrees) in the Faculty of Community Services, Education and SocialSciences. He is the author of more than a hundred journal articles,books, monographs and conference publications, and has edited a themedissue of the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy. In recentyears he has been the Director of five large DEST-funded nationalchildren's literacy research projects. Marion Milton is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education. Shehas a broad background of teaching in special education, and hasspecialised in working with children and adults who have learningdifficulties in the areas of language, literacy and numeracy. She is arecent past member of the editorial advisory board of the internationaljournal The Reading Teacher. Caroline Barratt-Pugh is a Senior Lecturer in the School ofEducation. Currently she is exploring a number of early literacy relatedareas, including literacy for the under threes, the literacy developmentof twins and the relationship between structured play and literacydevelopment in relation to Student Outcome Statements in Year 1.Together with Mary Rohl she is the co-editor of Literacy Learning in theEarly Years (2000, Allen & Unwin/Open University Press). Volume 25, Number 2 This, our first edition, features a range of interesting viewpointson varied topics. Katina Zammitt and Toni Downes explore the newknowledge society beyond the information age. They make the point thatstudents and teachers need new skills, not just a reworking oftraditional practices, to handle the diversity and complexity of textsencountered in a multi-literate society. Their article focuses onpedagogical ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. practices and curriculum changes, using an illustrativeclassroom example that involves co-operative learning between teachers,a librarian and `expert' students. The research team of Barbara Comber comb��er?n.1. One, such as a machine or a worker, that combs something, such as wool.2. A long wave that has reached its peak or broken into foam; a breaker. , Lynne Badger, Jenny Barnettand Helen Nixon report on their longitudinal study longitudinal studya chronological study in epidemiology which attempts to establish a relationship between an antecedent cause and a subsequent effect. See also cohort study. of the literacydevelopment of children in middle primary years (ages 8-12) with lowsocio-economic circumstances. Students from three disadvantaged schoolswere studied, using an anthropological perspective. The researchfindings addressed three questions: What did these children bring toschool? What literacy curriculum did they encounter and how did theyreact? What is needed to make literacy teaching and learning work in lowsocio-economic areas with middle years primary students? Theirdiscussion of each of the findings is thought provoking and should giveteachers insights into this particular area of literacy need. Linda Komesaroff's fascinating exploration of social criticalliteracy theory as applied to deaf education will challengereaders' views. The examples of discussions and articles aboutcochlear implants Cochlear ImplantsDefinitionA cochlear implant is a surgical treatment for hearing loss that works like an artificial human cochlea in the inner ear, helping to send sound from the ear to the brain. , clearly an area of debate for those involved in deafeducation, provide an insight into the real world social and politicalagendas aroused by social critical literacy. Komesaroff provides apowerful vision of the marginalisation Noun 1. marginalisation - the social process of becoming or being made marginal (especially as a group within the larger society); "the marginalization of the underclass"; "the marginalization of literature"marginalization of a minority group and jolts thehearing public into a realisation of their own, of the well intendedpositioning of deaf children and their exposure to medical`miracles'. Our final article was commissioned by the Department of Education,Science and Training. Sue Clancy and Lee Simpson address the crucialissue of how teachers might use the large body of research on Aboriginaleducation in working with Indigenous students. They provide us not onlywith an overview of government policies and findings from nationalIndigenous research reports, but also an illuminating insight into theirown research partnership of a cultural `outsider'educator/researcher and a cultural `insider' within the Aboriginalcommunity. Readers will find particularly enlightening the authors'insights into the difficulties that Aboriginal students may encounter innegotiating a pathway between two cultures, and their suggestions forways in which teachers might help in this negotiation.