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 Literacy
in AUSTRALIA
PEDAGOGIES for ENGAGEMENT

Donation
made to
the ILF
with every
copy sold

Amy SEELY FLINT | Lisbeth KITSON | Kaye LOWE | Kylie SHAW


Preface xi
About the adapting authors
How to use this book xvi
Additional resources xxi
Acknowledgements xxii
Contents
Language practices are dialogic and evolving 31
xiv Language practices are culturally and socially
situated 32
Language practices reflect power and politics 33
Variations in oral language 34

1 Examining literacy in the Increase of multiple languages in classroom

twenty-first century 2
OPENING VIGNETTE Discovering what makes a good reader
and a good teacher of readers 2
The gap: Literacy practices in school and outside of
school 4
Perspectives on what it means to be literate 6
Models of schooling that impact literacy development 7
Learning is about skill building: Industrial model 7
Investigating a question: Inquiry model 9
Problematising the status quo: Critical model 10
Six guiding principles for teaching reading and writing
in the twenty-first century 12
Principle 1: Literacy practices are socially and culturally
constructed. 12
Principle 2: Literacy practices are purposeful. 14
Principle 3: Literacy practices contain ideologies and
values. 14
Principle 4: Literacy practices are learned through
inquiry. 16
Principle 5: Literacy practices invite readers and writers
to use their background knowledge and cultural
understandings to make sense of texts. 17
Principle 6: Literacy practices expand to include
everyday texts and multimodal texts. 18
The Australian Curriculum 20
Creating a vision for effective literacy instruction 22
Summary 23
settings 35
Linguistic variation within English: Is there a
standard? 37
Language variation as a resource, not a deficit 39
Language policies: Implications for teaching
literacy 41
Conditions and models for oral language acquisition 42
Cambourne’s model of oral language development 43
Halliday’s model of language acquisition 46
Language cueing systems that support reading and
writing development 52
Graphophonemic: Sounds and symbols 53
Semantics: The meaning of words 56
Syntactics: The structure of language 57
Pragmatics: Language in use 58
Summary 59
3 Getting to know students:
Developing culturally relevant practices
for reading and writing 64
OPENING VIGNETTE Mr Brown learns from Allora 64
Examining cultural diversity in classroom settings 67
Recognising differences in literacy learning within
the classroom 68
Learning about home and community practices 69
Teaching from a culturally relevant perspective 73

2 Oral language learning in and out Supporting linguistically diverse learners in reading
and writing 74
of the classroom 28 Establishing culturally relevant interaction patterns
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Fisher learns from Mi Sun 28 in literacy events 81
Oral language development from a sociocritical Using early assessment to know your students 86
perspective 31 Kid-watching 86

vi Contents
 Attitudes and interest in reading and writing 90
Interviews 92
Summary 92
4 Theories of literacy development 96
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Campbell discovers the role of theory
in creating curriculum 96
What does theory have to do with curriculum
building? 99
Uncovering your beliefs about teaching and
instruction 100
Four classroom portraits and four theories of literacy
development 101
Ms Robyn Teal’s classroom: Learning to read means
focusing on skills 101
Ms Cheryl Battle’s classroom: Learning to read means
understanding the meaning of words 106
Mr Thomas Ruby’s classroom: Learning to read means
learning how to respond to a text 112
Ms Pauline Fuller’s classroom: Learning to read means
critically examining the text 117
Looking across the four reading models 123
Summary 125
5 Literacy programs and approaches 128
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Binns rethinks sustained silent
reading time 128
Changes in reading and writing 131
Skills: Grammar, decoding and drills 131
Whole language: Authentic texts and meaning
making 132
The balanced approach to literacy development 133
Approaches based on rigorous scientific research
evidence 134
The current situation in Australia 135
Classroom approaches to literacy programs 137
Developing or adapting a program 137
Commercial reading programs 139
Theme-based units 142
Literature–based units 143
Resourcing your classroom literacy program 146
Organising for literacy 149
Reading and writing procedures 150
Structure of the literacy block 162
Creating a literacy-rich environment 165
Spaces and places in the classroom to support literacy
development 166
Summary 168
6 Entering into the literacy landscape:
Emergent readers and writers 174
OPENING VIGNETTE Zac reads at home 174
Historical beginnings of emergent literacy 176
Reading readiness 177
Emergent literacy 179
Oral language learning: What it means for emergent
reading and writing practices 182
Conditions for developing oral language skills 183
Conditions to support young English language learners
(ELLs) in preschool settings 184
Dimensions of emergent literacy 185
Concepts of texts 187
Concepts of words 190
Concepts of letters and sounds 191
Assessing the dimensions of emergent literacy 193
Emergent writing 194
Inventing and refining written language forms 195
Emergent spelling 196
Emergent writing and meaning making 200
Literacy and technology in early literacy settings 201
Concepts of screen 201
Electronic/talking books 201
Literacy events and practices: Promoting emergent
reading and writing 203
Noticing environmental print 203
Writing centres 204
Storybook reading 205
Storybook reading as a cultural practice 206
Sociodramatic play settings 207
Language experience approach stories (LEA) and the
digital language experience approach (D-LEA) 208
Summary 212
Contents vii
7 Beginning readers and writers 218
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Simon’s class reads There was
an old lady who swallowed a fly 218
Guiding principles to promote beginning reading
and writing 221
Exploring beginning reading through the four-resource
model 225
Code breaking to exemplify how words work 226
Becoming a text participant 236
Understanding how texts are used 240
Text analyst — thinking critically about texts 241
Literacy blocks for beginning readers 242
Creating a routine for primary level literacy
blocks 243
Mini-lessons 244
Reading and responding 244
Connections to national achievement standards 259
Summary 262
8 Intermediate and accomplished
readers and writers 266
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Bell discovers her Year 5
readers 266
Needs and characteristics of students in middle
to upper primary 269
Guiding principles for intermediate and accomplished
readers and writers 270
What do we teach intermediate and accomplished readers
and writers? 273
Key understandings about multimodal and digital
texts 278
How do we teach intermediate and accomplished readers
and writers? 280
Selecting texts for intermediate and accomplished
readers 281
Reading and writing conferences 283
The four-resource model for intermediate and
accomplished readers and writers 284
Code breaking for intermediate and accomplished
readers 284
Text participant practices with intermediate and
accomplished readers 293
viii Contents
Text use with intermediate and accomplished readers
and writers 308
Developing critical practices with intermediate and
accomplished readers 311
Summary 314
9 Effective assessment practices
for reading and writing 322
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Taylor invites alternative
response 322
Formative and summative assessments 325
National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy
(NAPLAN) 326
Purposes for assessments 328
Literacy assessments reveal ideologies about learning
and literacy 330
The cycle of reflection–assessment–instruction 332
Who is interested in assessment? High stakes for parents,
teachers and schools 334
Authentic assessment practices 335
Characteristics of authentic assessments 335
Types of authentic assessment practices 336
Documentary/observation 336
Responsive listening assessments 345
Gathering information to use in assessing readers’ and
writers’ growth in literacy development 348
Portfolio systems 349
Assessment practices align with code breaking, text
meaning, text use and critical practices 350
Code-breaking assessment 351
Text participant assessments 354
Text use assessments 357
Critical practices assessments 358
Summary 360
10 Literature in the classroom 364
OPENING VIGNETTE Ms Wilson’s Year 5 students talk about
Infinity ring: Divide and conquer 364
What is literature? 367
The picturebook 369
Graphic novels and manga 371
E-literature 372
Literature and context 374 Integrating reading and writing in the content
Historical, cultural and social contexts 375 classroom 435
Responding to literature 377 Using resources to develop knowledge and understanding
Reader-response theory 377 in the content areas 436
Take a stance: A reader’s purpose and attitude 378 Inviting children to use informative resources for
Goals for literature discussions 383 content-area learning 436
Response and interpretive authority 384 The role of informative texts in developing readers and
writers 438
Teacher-led discussions 386
Selecting informative texts 439
Teacher-led, student-centred discussions 386
Using a range of texts 442
Student-led discussions 387
Teaching strategies for reading and writing in the
Examining literature for its features and language 389
content areas 444
Key features of literary texts 390
Read informative texts aloud 444
The language of literary texts 391
Provide time to read in content areas 445
Creating literary texts 395
Scaffolding creating and communicating with
Author craft 395
ICTs 445
Poetry 395
Developing literate practices in the content areas: The
Innovation on a text 396 four-resource model 447
Digital storytelling 397 Code-breaking practices 447
Summary 399 Text participant practices 450

11 ICTs and reading to learn in the content Summary 455

areas 406
OPENING VIGNETTE Mr Gallagher and Ms Reiner invite their
12 Working with struggling
readers and writers 462
students to inquire 406
Reading to learn: The literacy demands in content OPENING VIGNETTE Mrs Laughlin supports Ray as a reader
areas 409 and writer 462
Literacy demands in history 413 Factors that contribute to struggling reading and
Literacy demands in science 415 writing 465
Literacy demands in mathematics 416 Cognitive processing 465
Technology and literacy 417 Motivation and engagement 466
Integrating ICTs and literacy in the content areas 420 Teacher beliefs and attitudes 470
ICT capability across the content areas 424 Identifying struggling readers and writers during
Using inquiry-based learning 426 literacy events 472
Key principles of inquiry-based learning 428 Instructional practices for struggling readers
and writers 473
The teacher’s role in inquiry-based learning 429
Echo reading 474
Selecting an inquiry topic 429
Shared reading 475
Planning for inquiry in the classroom 431
Embedding literacy demands within an inquiry Neurological impress method (NIM) 475
approach 432 Interest and background 475
Reading and writing to learn in the content Read alouds to extend comprehension 476
areas 435 Independent reading time 477

Contents ix
 Buddy reading 477 Teaching all children to lead literate lives in the ­
Scheduling easy reading time to gain twenty-first century 487
confidence 478 Summary 489
Scaffolding 480
Comprehension monitoring strategies 481 Appendix 494
Supporting struggling readers through parent Glossary 495
education 484 Index 499

x Contents
Preface
Steven was 26 and struggling to keep his job, afraid that his employers would
­discover he couldn’t read. I showed him how reading works, moved him from fix-
ating on unknown words and demonstrated effective strategies. A few weeks later,
he triumphantly appeared — proud and smiling — at my office door. He said he
had never been into a bookshop in his life but had the courage to do so at the
weekend. In the bookshop, he was immediately drawn to a display shelf featuring
Bear Grylls. Being a Bear Grylls fanatic and having recorded every episode, he not
only knew about Bear Grylls — he knew what to expect in the book. Much to his
own surprise, he took out his credit card and paid the $28 to purchase the book.
Deciding to walk into that bookshop, picking up that book, and paying $28 was the
real beginning of Steven’s literacy success.
I am saddened that this experience had not occurred sooner for Steven. In
­Canberra’s Belconnen Mall, on a Saturday morning, Steven was compelled to take
a risk to read, and was interested enough to do so and willing to recognise that the
pay-off for reading just might be worth the $28 outlay. He had endured years of
struggle, fear and humiliation. All he ever wanted to do was succeed in the world
of literacy with the right book, supported by effective strategies and surrounded by
a network of advocates that celebrated his success.
Our education system has let students like Steven slip through the cracks; the
older they become, the less likely they will encounter the assistance they need. On
the other hand, I know it is never too late to make available the magic of reading to
anyone, irrespective of their age or stage in life. In the book Life is so good, George
Dawson (at the ripe old age of 98) describes how he decided to hang up his fishing
rod and do what he had always wanted to do: ‘learn to read’. He undertook the
lengthy walk to the closest school, with his packed lunch, and learned to read. At
age 103, he successfully completed the equivalent of a TAFE entry course. In this
truly inspirational journey of a reader, George reminds us of what inspired him:
Every morning I get up and I wonder what I might learn that day. You just
never know.

Our hope is that in Literacy in Australia, your passion to teach literacy well will
be reaffirmed or ignited and that, when you look into the eyes of your students,
you will notice that there is joy in turning up to learn in your class on a daily basis.
Students do not need convincing about the value of reading and writing. They do
not need to be cajoled, manipulated or bribed to read or write. They know that their
lives are enriched through literacy experiences with which they connect and that
reading and writing is central to who they are and who they can become.
Literacy in Australia highlights the sense of urgency and the compelling need for
all children, from their very first days in a classroom, to have access to what works.
Steven, and every other ‘Steven’ who has crossed my path, should never need to
endure years of fearing reading. There is no magic formula, no one-size-fits-all

Preface xi
 reading program, nor a set of blackline masters to teach reading. There is, however,
effective teaching driven by committed teachers who understand how best to sup-
port all readers and writers.
Research by John Hattie highlights what we all intuitively know and under-
stand — that is, that the teacher makes the difference. Dedicated teachers are busy
people but they never lose sight of what teaching is about: students, not programs,
formulas or assessment. This book was written to support teachers’ efforts in class-
rooms and provide real and research-based practices that inspire children to learn.
It is about putting power and responsibility in the hands of learners and providing
authentic purposes for engaging in literacy experiences that are mindful, not mind-
less. I know my literacy programs work when students leave messages asking if
I could purchase the next book in the series, or when the only copy of the ‘hot
book’ goes missing because someone has stashed it in a secret location in order
to finish it. I know parent literacy education programs work when parents recall
finding their child reading with a torch under the sheets way beyond bedtime, or
having to drive home in the dark with the car light on because their child couldn’t
stop reading.
Astute teachers only have to observe children’s responses to the implementa-
tion of their literacy programs to garner a measure of their teaching effectiveness.
I know my writing program works when the children elect to read each other’s
writing in SSR time, they moan in unison when it is time to stop writing, or they
enter authoring circles with enthusiasm to share their ideas and listen to the ideas of
others. They know the purpose for writing and celebrate their efforts and those of
their peers. They know writing improves their learning. In a writing classroom, my
job is multifaceted. I observe, conference, plan, assess and — importantly — I write.
I lead all students to the realisation that one of their biggest and most enduring
assets is the ability to write skillfully.
There is nothing more rewarding than hearing the writing voices of students,
freely expressed, and strong and confident. When students discover the power of
manipulating words, there are no limits. There are no boundaries to the worlds they
create, the knowledge expressed and elaborated, cultures they celebrate, nor the
stories they share. To focus on margin size, number of words, spelling and gram-
matical errors trivialises the writer and silences the power and purposes of the
writing. The conventions get in the way when they become what writing is about.
We live in different times. With spelling checks, grammatical prompts and apps that
can convert SMS to conventional spelling, students are freed from focusing on con-
ventions more than ever before. This is not to say that conventions are unimpor-
tant; they are extremely important because they impact on the meaning the writer
conveys. Conventions can be corrected. Desensitising and inspiring a silenced
writer proves more difficult.
In Literacy in Australia, you will notice that literacy experiences in classrooms are
based on identifiable and meaningful purpose(s) for reading and writing. Effective
teachers know their students and use formal and informal assessment data to make
informed choices to address the diversity of needs and interests of their students.

xii Preface
When it comes to writing, students are clear about ‘why I am writing’ (and for
whom). Far too many writers start by seeking clarity regarding how many words
they need to write, whether they need to use margins or a particular font, or write a
report, recount or narrative. Writers who know why they write, respond, refine and
adjust their writing style to align with purpose and audience. They make informed
choices about ‘how’ to write for whom and in doing so consider form, style, mode
and the medium. On the other hand, when it comes to reading, readers who make
choices about what they read know that their questions about life, themselves, the
world and the world of print are answered. What they repeatedly ask for is more
time to engage with the book they just can’t put down.
A sound knowledge base and passion provide the essence of good teaching.
Our intention is that Literacy in Australia provides the fuel to contribute to a fresh
perspective on what is happening in your literacy lessons. The fact that you have
picked up this book is a statement about your desire to learn more and make a
difference to the students you encounter. Moving readers from a world of trepi-
dation, disinterest and disengagement to a world filled with prolific readers who
talk and devour books is more than a worthy pursuit — it is life changing for stu-
dents. Moving writers from the mundane regurgitation of content to communi-
cation across a range of print-based and digital forms that inspire the reader is
more than pleasurable, it is essential to the future of all students. The world changes
because good teachers teach well. They know what it takes for the ‘Stevens’ in our
classrooms to discover the joy and love of reading and writing before they turn 26.

Kaye Lowe, August 2013

Preface xiii
 About the adapting authors
Kaye Lowe
Dr Kaye Lowe is Director of U-CAN Read at the University of Canberra and
­associate professor (adjunct). She has had a lifelong passion for literacy learning
and began her teaching career in a K-3 classroom in the small rural town of Marrar,
where the school was staffed by two teachers.
Since completing a PhD at Indiana University, she has taken up academic pos-
itions at the University of Kentucky, James Madison University (Virginia), Uni­
versity of Western Sydney and Charles Darwin University. She was the Chief
Investigator and Evaluator of Reading First in Kentucky. While in Kentucky, she
also received a grant to design and produce an online program to support strug-
gling adult readers using voice recognition technology, screen readers and inter-
active activities.
She has worked in many learning contexts including P-12, parent education,
adult education, jails and juvenile justice. She aspires to make the journey of the
reader fun and easy. Her research interests include supporting struggling readers,
supporting Indigenous learners, parent education, the impact of technology on lit-
eracy learning, boys’ education, adult literacy education, and inspiring reluctant
writers. In 2012, she instigated the project i-Read for disinterested and disengaged
secondary readers. It now occurs in 9 high schools in NSW and the ACT. She also
instigated Boys, blokes and books, a parent literacy education program for dads and
their sons.
She has written four books and numerous articles on the teaching of reading and
writing. She has been the recipient of many grants, three of which were for projects
of national significance.

Kylie Shaw
Dr Kylie Shaw is a lecturer at the University of Newcastle where she convenes the
Bachelor of Teaching (Primary)/Bachelor of Arts program and is the Director
of Student Experience in the School of Education. She coordinates and lectures
in literacy, educational psychology and ICT courses in the undergraduate and
­postgraduate programs. Before this, Kylie taught in primary and middle schools,
and held leadership positions of Stage 3 Coordinator and Coordinator of Academic
­Programs in Years 5–8 in the independent school sector. She presently maintains
her teaching credentials through continual work as a teacher in DEC primary
schools.
Kylie is currently a Chief Investigator on a global research project investigating
innovative teaching and learning practices for the twenty-first century, sponsored
by DEC and Microsoft. She has presented at global forums on innovative teaching
and has collaborated with the Stanford Research Institute (SRI International) to
further develop teacher engagement in twenty-first century learning design in

xiv About the adapting authors

schools. She consults in this area in schools in both the government and indepen-
dent sectors.
Kylie’s research interests also include the area of higher education, where she
has developed a measure of research preparedness for students involved in under-
graduate research and a methodological tool for tracking learning journeys. She is
­currently the Convenor of the Research into the Doctorate Special Interest Group
for the Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) and the T ­ reasurer
of the NSW Institute of Educational Research (NSW IeR).

Lisbeth Kitson
Dr Lisbeth Kitson is a lecturer at Griffith University at the Gold Coast, Queensland.
She teaches in both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Literacy and Eng-
lish education, multiliteracies and middle years English curriculum. Lisbeth is also
actively engaged with pre-service teachers in her role as the First year coordinator
of the Bachelor of Education (Secondary).
Her areas of research interest are related to literacy and multiliteracies, with a
particular focus on the integration of information and communication ­technologies
and multimodal texts into teaching practices. Lisbeth’s honours research investi-
gated the literacy practices developed by one middle year student as he engaged in
computer game play during his recreational time. Literacy practices were discussed
for a variety of computer games, applying the four-resource model.
Her doctoral research explored how teachers in one school integrated the inter-
active whiteboard into their English curriculum to develop students’ multiliterate
practices. In particular, it investigated how teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices
were shaped by the implementation of interactive whiteboards, and how this influ-
enced what counted as multiliteracies.

About the adapting authors xv

 How to use this book
Literacy in Australia: Pedagogies for Engagement has been written and designed as a
practical and user-friendly learning resource.

Chapter

3 Getting to know students:

I knew that Russell could not speak or understand English. Allora, on the other hand, was
able to speak and understand both English and Australian Aboriginal Creole. I thought

Developing culturally
she could possibly use her cultural knowledge and experiences to help Russell feel more
comfortable. Maybe she could explain assignments and procedures to Russell. I also had
a picture in my mind of the two of them becoming best friends over conversations about

relevant practices for

their similar family backgrounds.
Unfortunately, I was wrong. Allora hardly talked to Russell at all. Russell would just

reading and writing

sit there staring at his paper. I would say, ‘Allora, can you tell Russell in Aboriginal to
draw a picture of himself?’ Allora would answer, ‘I don’t know how to say it.’ I would
answer, ‘Well, can you say the word ‘picture’ for me in your language?’ Her answer was
always, ‘I don’t remember how.’
There was similar resistance from Allora anytime I asked her to tell me anything
mr Brown learns about her culture. It wasn’t that she was a quiet child afraid to open up. She had plenty
from allora to say about most things. However, in response to questions about her culture, she said
nothing.
I finally called Allora’s mother in for a conference. I felt that Allora was abandoning
her culture and I didn’t know what to do. This conference was invaluable as I learned
about Allora and how to draw out her strengths and cultural knowledge.
Allora’s mother told me that she, too, was having trouble with Allora. She said that
she didn’t understand it because Allora never wanted to speak Yarrie Lingo, the Australian
Aboriginal Creole the rest of her family spoke, at home. Due to her daughter’s dislike of
their language, she was trying to speak only English around Allora. She also told me that
she felt it was important for Allora to learn English so that she could ‘fit in’ with the other
students at school and understand her work at school. She then explained that Allora did
not think fondly of their time in the Northern Territory because her father had stayed
behind and Allora didn’t understand why. I explained that it was very important for Allora
to continue to use her language at home and in the classroom; that the other students
and I could learn from Allora’s knowledge and experiences if we could just get her to share
them with us. I knew that unless Allora valued her knowledge and knew that others valued
it, too, she was never going to want to share it or remember it.
In addition, I learned from her mother that Allora had many responsibilities at home.
‘Mr Brown, wat dis?’ ‘Mr Brown, go play?’ If she wasn’t asking me questions, then she was
She was expected to help her mother with her two younger brothers and to clean their
asking the person at the table next to her or the child walking by to sharpen a pencil.
rooms. Learning this information about Allora really helped me to understand more about
Allora, a bright, inquisitive learner was learning how to navigate two languages and two
Allora’s home life and background experiences. I felt that her knowledge of organising
cultures.
could be brought into the classroom. I began to ask her to be in charge of organising the
Allora was returning to my school for the second time. Last year, she originally started
writing centre, straightening the library books, and clearing the art centre. Allora demon-
in another teacher’s Foundation year class, only to leave to visit family in the Northern strated leadership and skill in organising and participating in these classroom jobs. She
Territory. Allora returned months later and re-enrolled. At the beginning of the following took pride in being able to do it so well. Other students noticed her new responsibilities
school year, she entered my Year 1 classroom. I remembered her from the year before and before long they all wanted to help and be involved.
and was looking forward to having her in my room. I wanted to learn more about her I made a conscious effort to include more stories and pictures that highlighted Abor-
culture. Allora was an Indigenous student who spoke Aboriginal Creole at home, but also iginal places and people during reading and writing time. My calendar area, which had a
had some pre-school and school experience of speaking Standard Australian English. calendar, weather and other daily markers, reflected both English and Aboriginal Creole
On the first
books day of school,
including My home I decided to sit Allora
in Kakadu next Christophersen
by Jane to another child whoandalso
Walking with the seasons words. All of my students were learning more about Indigenous culture as I continued to
had an Aboriginal Australian background. At that time, Allora and Russell were the only encourage Allora and Russell to share their own knowledge and experiences. I brought
in Kakadu by Diane Lucas with the class. This small change in the classroom made a big
two children in my classroom who did not speak English as their first language at home. in my own photographs and stories of visiting Kakadu National Park. I also read some
difference for Allora. She began participating more in the learning centres and other
activities. After sharing my photographs, I noticed that Allora started to open up a little
64 Literacy in Australia more about her knowledge and experiences. She started to help me pronounce words cor- Chapter 3 Getting to know students: Developing culturally relevant practices for reading and writing 65
rectly during calendar time as the rest of the students repeated. She also started to talk
about her visits and experiences in the Northern Territory a little bit more.
On one occasion in particular, students were asked to put a set of picture cards in
chronological order and then create a story based on the pictures. I gave Allora a set of
cards that reflected a Dreamtime story. I hoped that Allora would have some knowledge
of Indigenous Australian oral story traditions and be able to put the cards in chronological
order. I will admit that as teachers, we must be careful not to over-generalise when
teaching about cultural traditions. However, fortunately Allora said, ‘I know that! That’s
the story of Tiddalik the Frog!’ Her story reflected not only her ability to accurately
sequence the pictures (which was the objective), but
also demonstrated her rich cultural knowledge and Each chapter opens with
experiences.
Allora taught me a lot that year. As she moves on a real-world vignette
to Year 2 and I on to another school, I hope that her
new teacher will see the value and importance of her that highlights teaching
cultural knowledge and experiences. I want her future
teachers to notice that she is full of knowledge and decisions made by
skills that they and their students can learn from.
Most of all, I hope that Allora will no longer be hesi- current teachers and
tant to share who she is and that she will celebrate her
Indigenous culture, knowledge and life skills as she con- specialists in the field,
fidently and proficiently navigates two languages and
two cultures. followed by I Wonder
questions that generate
I wonder . . .
• What misconceptions did Mr Brown have about English as an additional language reflective thinking
or dialect (EAL/D) learners?
• What strategies could Mr Brown use to foster Allora’s understandings about and contextualise
literacy and to build connections with her cultural background?
• In what ways could Mr Brown demonstrate to his class that cultural diversity is
valued and important?
the chapter’s leaning
outcomes.
Chapter overvIew
Teachers know quite a bit about their students as the school year goes by. They learn about students’ academic strengths
and weaknesses, cultural experiences and differences, and personality traits and behaviour. Teachers gain this infor-
mation through many avenues. They observe how students interact with those in the classroom. They document students’
conceptual understandings that reflect academic strengths and weaknesses. Teachers hold parent conferences where they

66 Literacy in Australia

xvi How to use this book

 Oral language development from
a sociocritical perspective
The opening vignette highlights how children and teachers access and use oral
language to understand the world around them. Mi Sun needed time to under-
stand literacy activities in her classroom as she was getting used to a new country
and a new language. She demonstrated how she increasingly understood how lan-
guage is socially and culturally situated by using familiar language patterns, and
Ms Fisher realised that involving her family in the new setting (school) and using
opportunities to provide links between the two languages would assist Mi Sun’s
progress in kindergarten. Children come into classrooms with a rich repertoire
of language from their communities and homes. They have learned how to com-
municate with those around them. Five-year-old Kadin’s ability to recount a per-
Literacy in context boxed features appear regularly sonal experience of finding his pet snake in the closet after it had been missing
throughout the chapter as reflective questions and for a week, or eight-year-old Ben’s question, ‘Is your country safe?’ when intro-
duced to a classroom visitor demonstrates the powerful nature of language use.
tasks that students use to juxtapose text material with Children’s use of language to make sense of their communities and the world they
their own experiences. live in is ever-expanding. The following guiding assumptions about oral language
development provide a framework for teachers to maximise children’s learning
and literacy development.

Literacy in context 2.1

Make a list of common words that you use that are relatively ‘new’ to our lexicon.
Factual description — Fynn: Grade commentary Examples may include: blog, wiki, globalisation and iPad.
Fynn has demonstrated a sound understanding of the features of a factual Where did these words come from?
description. The text has been adequately structured but is missing an intro- How often do you use these words?
duction. A clear image of the toy has been provided through good use of
adjectives and similes. Compound sentences have been used, and the spelling
and punctuation are adequate. There is some confusion with word order and interact with each other and, as they do, it is worthwhile to make notes and reflect
omitted words, suggesting that self-editing skills need to be developed. To Language practices
on what occurs as students are dialogic
participate andactivities.
in literacy evolving Ketch (2005) claims:
progress further, Fynn could use a variety of sentence beginnings, work on con- Language users are always in the process of refining their language use. Children
sistency of handwriting size, and conclude the text with a personal comment. Conversation is a basis for critical thinking. It is the thread that ties together
regularly and in visible ways try out various hypotheses about language structures,
This work sample demonstrates characteristics of work typically produced by a cognitive strategies and provides students with the practice that becomes the
word meanings, and pronunciations. Toddlers play with language, wondering if
student performing at grade C standard at the end of Stage 1. foundation for reading, writing, and thinking (p. 8).
certain combinations of sounds mean anything to those around them. Is it possible
Example of work sample for a factual description of a toy, with teacher annotations to Too often,
say ‘fa fa’ intalk in the classroom community
an English-speaking is overlooked andashave
a crucial
it mean building block
anything, or isfor
it
Source: Board of Studies NSW (2012). literacy
only when development.
the toddler In saysaddition,
‘wa wa’ teachers who schedule
that something happens? time each
Even day continu-
adults to listen
to fouracquire
ously or fivelanguage
children—read aloudnew
learning on avocabulary,
one-on-one basis gain
nuances a sound
of the language,under-
and
standing
rules of thelanguage
for using literacy inneeds of individual
particular contexts. students
Becauseaslanguage
well as gain
use isana human
overall
Assessing children on a variety of tasks and concepts provides a more complete
picture of the student as a learner. Each student engages with the learning pro- understandingitofisthe
phenomenon, literacy needs
constantly evolving of the
intoclass. The same
new forms. New process
words applies
becomeequally
a part
cess in a slightly different and unique way. They bring to the literacy event prior to writing.
of the lexiconTeachers whoiPad,
(e.g. blog, schedule a regular
twitter), whiletime
othersto conference
disappear. with students about
knowledge, experiences, and linguistic and cultural ways of being (as shown in the their writing gather important evaluative information that can
Language is dialogic in that it is negotiated from speaker to speaker. Bahktin be matched against
opening vignette). the achievement
(1981) talks aboutstandards for programming
how language is appropriated purposes.
by others,
In order to make informed programming decisions, a sound knowledge of the
[the word
Australian in language]
Curriculum is isessential.
half someone else’s.teachers
Effective It becomes are‘one’s own’ with
familiar only when
the con-
Literacy in context 9.1 tent the
of speaker populatesCurriculum
the Australian it with his own andintentions,
match what his own accent,
they know when
andheunderstand
appro-
Reflect on your own primary school experience. What assessments were you given as priates the word, adapting it to his own semantic and expressive intentions. . .
about their students with the achievement standards. Evaluation — both formal
a student? What are some of your memories regarding these assessments? Did the (pp. 293–294)
and informal — drives instructional decisions across the three strands (Language,
assessment fit the instruction and curriculum?
Literacy and Literature).
Share your memories with peers.
Chapter 2 Oral language learning in and out of the cla
Literacy in context 7.4
Literacy assessments reveal ideologies An invaluable document to support teachers across all stages is the Literacy

about learning and literacy
Literacy assessment practices, in conjunction with instructional practices, reveal
the beliefs and values one has about literacy development. Recall the different ideol-
ogical perspectives and models of schooling around teaching, learning and literacy
presented in chapter 1— industrial, inquiry and critical. These perspectives and
models also influence teachers’ assessment practices. Assessment practices aligned
with an industrial model reflect standardisation and uniformity. This can be seen
in the large-scale, standardised testing measures currently sweeping the nation. All
students in a particular year group are given the same test at the same time, with the
same amount of time to complete the test. There is little, if any, acknowledgment
that students come to the test with different experiences and knowledge.
Teachers who view literacy from an industrial or bottom-up perspective will
most likely use assessment practices that address individual skills that make up the
reading process. The assessments often focus on discrete skills that can be easily
measured — for example, identifying parts of speech, correct usage of punctuation,
determining the main idea of a reading passage, and selecting correctly spelled
words. These assessments are more often decontextualised, which means they are
not connected to the everyday activities in the classroom.
330 Literacy in Australia
continuum in General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum (ACARA 2012,
pp. 16–20). It is organised according to year levels 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. The Literacy
continuum is a simple overview of literacy learning for classroom teachers and
provides a useful guide for planning. The Literacy continuum below outlines what is
expected of students by the end of Year 2.
Comprehending texts through listening, viewing and reading
Reading and viewing learning area texts
• use prior knowledge and vocabulary to read and view learning area texts, using
developing strategies such as predicting, monitoring meaning and crosschecking
Listening
• listen to one- and two-step instructions for undertaking learning tasks, listen
for information about topics being learned and to participate in discussions
Comprehending learning area texts
• understand and use different types of learning area texts to explore topics,
gather information and make some obvious inferences
Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
Oral interactions
• participate in group and class discussions about learning area topics using
oral interaction skills such as speaking clearly, initiating topics, expressing
opinions and listening to the opinions of others

260 Literacy in Australia

How to use this book xvii

 and Infinity ring: Divide and conquer (Ryan, 2012). Infinity ring is a series of time-
travel adventure books suitable for middle years primary, where students ‘read the
book, follow the guide’ and then play the online game. The books are also available
in an audio format.
Keeping in mind that no text is neutral, the next section will explore the his-
torical, cultural and social contexts of literary texts.

Literacy in context 10.1

What do you consider as literature? Would you include postmodern picturebooks,
graphic novels, manga or e-literature? Find a text from each format and look at it
for its literary value. Is there the use of aesthetic language? What aspect of human
experience would it provide for students?

Going further . . . Going further . . .

There are a variety of organisations that have electronically recontextualised
literary texts. Some of these works are now in the public domain, as copyright
laws have expired, and include the historical texts discussed later in this chapter.
The Australian children’s literature digital resources (CLDR) project, involving
several universities, involved the digitalisation of a selection of both popular and
rare Australian literature from the period of 1851–1945. It includes children’s and
young adult fiction, short stories, picturebooks and poetry. Full text materials of
primary and secondary sources are available through AustLit. Other useful resources
include Project Gutenberg and the International Children’s Digital Library. Google
one of these organisations and look at what texts are available for your future use
in the classroom.
The National Assessment Program ICT Literacy Years 6 & 10 assessment, conducted
in 2005, 2008 and 2011, tests a random sample of students. It is a performance-
based assessment which assesses the proficiency of students’ ICT skills and
knowledge, using a series of authentic and simulated computer-based tasks. There is
also a student questionnaire used to gauge ICT use at home and school, as well as
student levels of confidence, interest and enjoyment.
Access the ICT Literacy Years 6 & 10 Report 2011 (ACARA, 2012) to learn more
about what types of tasks students complete. How do these align with the ICT
capabilities detailed above?

Many of the content areas (science, history, maths) are based on inquiry-based
learning approaches. The next section explores inquiry-based curriculum and
Literature and context learning approaches, some key principles of this approach, how to select inquiry
Children’s and young adult literature has always reflected the societal knowledge, topics, and some current models of inquiry-based learning. It will also explore
values and beliefs of the time (Sipe & Pantaleo, 2008). For this reason, under- how to embed literacy opportunities or demands (e.g. comprehension and com-
standing how texts reflect historical, cultural and social contexts — and how this is position of texts using text, grammar, word, and visual knowledge) within
always situated — is a key thread in the Australian Curriculum’s Literature strand. the content area knowledge and the processes of these inquiry-based learning
It is important that: approaches.
Students learn how ideas and viewpoints about events, issues and characters that
are expressed by authors in texts are drawn from and shaped by different historical, Using inquiry-based learning
social and cultural contexts (ACARA, 2013, p. 7).
‘Without one’s own serious and sincere questions one cannot creatively understand
This section will explore the key concepts of historical context, social context and
cultural context, and how these are reflected in a variety of literary texts.
anything other or foreign.’ Going further boxed
(Bakhtin, 1986, p. 11)
features present topical
Children are naturally inquisitive. They ask numerous questions about their envi-
iteracy in Australia ronment, their communities, why things happen and and
engaging
how thingsinformation
work. They often
use ‘why’ and ‘how come’ questions while exploring about thevarious aspects
world around them. Their
questions and interests expand as they enter school. However, in some classrooms,
content areas (English, mathematics, science, history) are taught as discrete of teaching literacy to areas
of knowledge that begin and end with facts. encourage students
In mathematics, to chil-
for example,
The picturedren book may complete worksheets of maths problems, while for history they read the
critically reflect on their
information from informational texts and answer a series of follow-up questions.
The first exposure to literature that children often experience is the picturebook.
The use of the term ‘picturebook’ as one word reveals its uniqueness as emphasised
by Lewis (2001). There is
Picturebooks a considerable
are amount
more than just illustrated of
storybooks, curricula
the written text, fonts and illustrations all part of the story (Lewis, 2001). As dis-
with practice in a broader
in science, history and mathematics to
address,
8, words andand images this ismeaning
a challenge
in a variety offor
ways.teachers who need to teach and report on each
cussed in chapter can make
picturebook has had a place in early years classroom learning since Meek espoused
The
context.
that ‘texts teachof these
what readers areas.
learn’ (1988,By structuring
p. 1). learning
However, the picturebook is not using an inquiry-based approach, teachers
can
use atintegrate
particular yearcontent areas andtopicconcentrate
just for Foundation to Year 3, it can be used throughout primary and secondary
schooling. Their levels will depend on the matter, the on important questions and issues, and
inquiry-based learning complexity of ideas,more anddeeply engage
the picturebook’s level oftheir
written students.
and visual language.
Some of these types of books are referred to as postmodern picturebooks and are
So,
an inquiry-based model ofdiscussed later in this what
chapter. The rabbits (Marsden,learning? Inquiry is an approach that starts with ques-
is inquiry-based
For example,
teaching that starts with 1998) uses a rather simplistic sentence structure throughout the
tions,
text, which may give the and through
impression research
it is easy reading and suit- and experimentation students gain new insights and
questions and through able for Foundation to Year 1. However, the ideas behind the text
are more complex.
research and experimentation understandings about
It is a partly allegorical tale topics.
that represents the An inquiry-based approach to learning underpins

students gain new insightsIt presents
understandings
426 Literacy in Australia
Graphic novels and manga cater to a wide range of age groups — for example,
Red Ted and the lost things (Rosen, 2009) is suitable for younger readers, whereas
other titles like the French classic The little prince (Sfar, 2010), Skeleton key: The
and the ACARA History, Science and Mathematics curriculums, and is fundamental to
topic of colonisation told from the viewpoint of the native animals.
consequences of the arrival of a group of rabbits
with unfamiliareffective
ways, and how teaching andimpacts
their colonisation learning.
upon Berghoff, Egawa, Harste, and Hoonan (2000) liken
the environment and these native animals.
Teachers will also consider the opportunities a picturebook
may offer to meet outcomes in the various sub-strands of the
Literature strand: Literature and context, Responding to literature,
Examining literature, and Creating literature. Literacy, language
and literary goals are compatible as suggested in the Australian
Curriculum (ACARA, 2013). Lehman (2009) offered that ‘learning
to read can (and should) be learned by learning to read literarily,
or what Beavis (2005) refers to as ‘literary literacy’’. In particular,
Lehman (2009) suggested there is a synergy between particular
literary understandings and literacy understandings, as shown
in table 10.1.

graphic novel (Johnston, 2009) and Vermonia (YoYo, 2011) appeal to older primary Table 10.1 Synergy between literary and literacy understandings

years readers. They also accommodate a wide range of genres, including fantasy, literary understandings Related literacy concepts
mystery-thriller, crime, historical narratives and drama. Graphic novels can also Sense of story Comprehension

address a wide range of themes, as evident in figure 10.2, which lists some other Plot of story Sequencing
The text presents a
examples of graphic novels that can be used in the classroom. Theme of story Main ideas of story
Language (e.g. sounds, images, word meanings) Vocabulary visually appealing
Beowulf (Hinds, 2007)
Teachers can use these synergies as they plan to develop student’s literary literacy,
recognising that ‘literacy can be taught in literary ways’ (Lehman, 2009, p. 198).
learning design with
Captain Mack series (Lomas-Bullivant, 2010)
Excalibur: The legend of King Arthur (Lee, 2011)
As language is central to literature, later in this chapter we will explore the types
examples of classic
Glister series (Watson, 2009)
Outlaw: The legend of Robin Hood (Lee. 2009)
children’s
369 literature
Chapter 10 Literature in the classroom

Red Ted and the lost things (Rosen, 2009)

Skeleton key: The graphic novel (Johnston, 2009)
through to cutting edge
Sticky burr (Lechner, 2008) multimodal texts.
Tagged (Crew, 1997)
The arrival (Tan, 2006)
Examples of The little prince (Sfar, 2010)
, comics and The watertower (Crew, 1994)

The impact of technology has meant that students are engaging with the internet
xviii How toanduse
and other information this book
communications technologies (ICTs) in their lives
outside school. Students are now experiencing opportunities to engage with other
types of literature, which has been termed electronic literature, or e-literature.
disregard the multimedia skills and knowledge that students possess. E-literature
can be defined as ‘a computer-based genre that merges literary arts with multimedia
design’ (Luce-Kapler, Dobson, Sumara, Iftody & Davis, 2006). But what does
e-literature include? Unsworth (2008, pp. 64–65) discussed three categories for
referring to literary materials: (1) electronically augmented literary texts,
(2) re-contextualised literary texts and (3) digitally originated literary texts. Elec-
tronically augmented literary texts refer to the availability of online resources that
supplement and ‘extend the storyworld of the book’ (Unsworth, 2008, p. 64).
Unsworth cites the Harry Potter (Rowling) series of
books as a classic example of this, where websites
play a key role in allowing students to discuss, inter-
pret, review and comment on the books.
The second category, electronically recontextual-
ised literary text, is literature that has been published
as a book and then recontextualised online in a
variety of ways (e.g. as text-based files, audio files or
as a CD-ROM). Some are more classic historical
texts, such as A book for kids (Dennis, 1935), while
others are more contemporary (e.g. works by Paul
Jennings, Andy Griffiths, Shaun Tan). They can take
a variety of forms — some have merely been trans-
ferred from page to screen, whereas others have
added in animations and other features. For example,
The paper bag princess (Munsch, 1994) and If I were FiguRe 10.3 Screenshot from the If I were you e-book
you (Hamilton, 2009) are available as animated ver- Source: Hamiliton (2011).
sions of the picturebook, offering the reader options
to hear the story read aloud, or to read silently at one’s own pace or
at the set pace of the e-book. The TumbleBookLibrary (www.
tumblebooks.com) resource is an ‘e-library for e-kids’ and offers a
variety of texts that are recontextualised into e-books and caters for
preschoolers, beginner readers and older independent readers.
Digitally originated literary texts are those stories that have been
published only in a digital format. These types of texts can include
linear e-narratives, e-narratives with interactive story contexts,
hypertext narratives (whose main focus is written text) and hyper-
media narratives (text and images) (Unsworth, 2008). Included in
the digitally originated literary text category are video or computer
games. While there are numerous genres of computer and video
games, those with particular literary value are ones that are narra-
tive in nature, and character/activity based. Unsworth (2006) makes
distinctions between two types of game narratives: story-focused
and games-focused.
Story-focused games are those that relate to a complete story
that has been published separately from the game, or has been
created with game activities embedded in the story. Examples, for
younger audiences, would include games like Alice’s adventures in
Chapter 10 Literature in the classroom 373
Table 10.5 identifies some of these narrative elements in Wombat stew (Vaughan,
1984), which is a story about a dingo who catches a wombat and plans to make a
‘gooey brewy, yummy, chewy, wombat stew’. However, his plans are thwarted when
Wombat’s friends come to his rescue.
Table 10.5 elements and examples from Wombat stew (Vaughn, 1984)
Narrative element examples
Setting • ‘One day’ (when)
• ‘On the banks of a billabong’ (where)
• ‘A very clever dingo’ (who)
• ‘Caught a wombat’ (what)
Characterisation • Dingo – very clever (character description)
• Emu – waltzing, graceful (character description)
Plot structure Traditional simple narrative structure — orientation,
complication, resolution
Subject matter The bush animals come to the aid of their friend,
Wombat, to defeat the villain, Dingo, who intends
to make a stew of his victim.
Point of view Third-person specific — the narrator is still removed
from the story. We see all characters but the focus
is on the dingo, who we are positioned to dislike.
The next section will look at the language devices used in literary texts
that allow the key elements of the narrative and poetry to come alive.
Literacy in context 10.8
Select a chapter book or a ballad (poem or song) that you are familiar with.
Construct a table that shows examples of narrative elements for this literary text.
Share your insights with the teacher and your classmates.
The language of literary texts
‘Literature famously uses language in ways over and above what is necessary for the
minimal creation of meaning’ (Beavis, 2005, p. 64). Talking about language and how
it is used in an explicit way ‘provides the metacognitive link between an author’s word
choice and the response of the reader’ (Scott & Nagy, 2009, p. 111). This can help stu-
dents develop word consciousness at the morphological (i.e. meaning) level or at the
syntactic level (i.e. relating to the arrangement of words) in written prose. Literary
texts, such as narratives and poetry, are often rich in literary devices such as figu-
rative language, evaluative language, imagery, rhyme, rhythm and repetition.
Figurative language and imagery
The term ‘figurative language’ covers a range of literary devices or tech-
niques that writers use — the most common being alliteration, onomatopoeia,
Chapter 10 Literature in the classroom 391
Historical, cultural and social contexts
All literature reflects a particular time period — whether they be historical through cultural beliefs today. The text also explores the impact of Chinese culture on
the passing of time (e.g. stories handed down over time, as in Dreaming stories), or the Vietnamese people who were struggling to retain their own cultural identity.
texts that are created with a particular time period in mind (e.g. historical narra-
In these Vietnamese folktales, animals are considered more than pets — they are
tives). The historical context encompasses objects, places, ways of thinking, beliefs
and values that reflect the society of that time period. Students explore texts that
regarded as friends and co-workers. The fates of the animals in these folktales often
tell stories that might be similar to their own stories (e.g. family life or the experi- tell an important lesson or moral. This is similar to the Dreaming stories of the
ence of being a child). In the late 1800s, Australian literature portrayed the real Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Other texts like Mirror (Baker, 2010)
life experiences of Australians and family life. One of the most successful books offer us a visual feast and compare life in Sydney, Australia, to life in southern
published in 1894 was Seven little Australians (Turner, 1894). The early twentieth Morocco. The peasant prince (Cunxin, 2007) depicts Li’s early experiences of life in
century saw other classic literature published — for example, The magic pud- north-east China and his later ones in America.
ding (Norman, 1917), Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (Gibbs, 1918), Blinky Bill (Wall,
1933) — that still enjoy popularity today. From Year 2, students can start to explore
the written text (character descriptions, dialogue) in narratives and poetry and
visual images to see how these reflect beliefs, traditions and customs. In the upper
primary years, students might look at poems such as My country (Mackellar, 1908)
to explore Mackellar’s perceptions of Australia. As we can see in the first few lines of
My country, the selection of language (coppice, lanes, woods) shows clear references
to the author’s homeland of England.
The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Texts also provide information about those histories that are valued at that
time, or those that may have been omitted. For example, a lot of the ‘timeless’ lit-
erature was written by white middle-class men. Poetry published around the time
of colonisation of Australia similarly reflects the views of the British — not those
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Students can use such texts to
explore gender roles; the social roles of men, women and children; and how these
are represented in culture.
Culture is a challenging term to define. Rogoff (2003) describes it as the values, Some children’s literature today continues to be a vehicle for cultural repro-
norms, customs and language — all aspects that characterise human activity. duction (O’Neil, 2010). Postmodern picturebooks, however, provide opportunities
Often, this reflects a particular geographic location, and the Australian Curriculum for readers to contemplate and reconsider
(ACARA, 2013) and its cross-curriculum priorities in particular focus on the cul- societal norms — including aspects of gender
tures of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as those roles, age, race, and family. O’Neil (2010)
drawing from Asian areas. In exploring the cultural context of a text, we look at
emphasises that postmodern picturebooks
what aspects of culture are portrayed, the cultural items referred to, the values, and
attitudes and beliefs of that cultural group. Texts themselves may also include nega- allow students to expand points of view
tive representations or stereotyping of particular cultural groups, as well as positive and notions of justice and equity, to resist
representations. stereotypes, and to develop a sense of agency.
For example, The wishing cupboard (Hathorn, 1999) is available as both a Picturebooks such as The paperbag princess
picturebook and an online e-book with game-like features. This book tells the story (also available in e-book) (Munsch, 1992) and
of Tan, who is waiting for his mother to return from Vietnam. The online version Princess Smartypants (Cole, 1986) question
allows the reader to explore different drawers in the wishing cupboard, linking to
expectations of girls in society. E-books such
Vietnamese folktales that Tan’s grandmother shares. These ancestral tales influence
as Ruby’s wish (Bridges, 2002), as shown in
figure 10.4, allow students to explore aspects
of Chinese culture, and question the role of
Chapter 10 Literature in the classroom 375
girls and their future potential (e.g. not being
FiguRe 10.4 Screenshot of Ruby’s wish able to go to university because education
Source: Hamilton (2009). for females is not prioritised).
376 Literacy in Australia
Another common rhyming pattern is an ABAB, as seen in Rudyard Kipling’s
If (1895):
If you can dream — and not make dreams your master; [a]
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim; [b]
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster [a]
And treat those two impostors just the same; [b]
There are also ABCB rhymes, as in Science verse (Scieszka, 2004):
Mary had a little worm. [a]
She thought it was a chigger. [b]
But everything that Mary ate, [c]
Only made it bigger. [b]
Rhythm is the beat of the language — it can emphasise what the poem is
trying to achieve, and create particular moods (Brian, 2008). For example, the
following Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s dairy (Dodd, 1983) excerpt creates a
frenzied mood after the dogs (Snitzel von Krumm, Bitzer Maloney, Muffin McLay,
Bottomley Potts, Hercules Morse and, of course, Hairy Maclary) encounter Scarface
Claw, the toughest male cat in town:
Off with a yowl
A wail and a howl,
A scatter of paws
And a clatter of claws
The text presents a visually appealing poetry,
Repetition of words or particular refrains also serves a key purpose in prose,
songs and chants. It can be used to create a particular effect, to highlight a
learning design with examples of classic Knowledge of how language functions to achieve particular effects is important
key point, to increase the tension, add humour, or create a character through habit.
children’s literature through to cutting not only when examining pieces of literature, but also when it comes to creating
edge multimodal texts.
394 Literacy in Australia
How to use this book xix
 Pedagogies for the
classroom activities are
Pedagogies for the classroom highly practical, real-
the order in which our words appear and the conventions used to make sense of Access the Learning
What’s your job?
world opportunities for
Federation’s ‘What’s your
the written text. As Halliday reminds us, we learn about language because we are
language users.
job?’ learning object
and explore stereotypes
pre-service teachers to
bring something they
with students by playing
this on an interactive
Pedagogies for the classroom whiteboard. Here,
children meet a range
of families with varying
cultural backgrounds and
have learned into the
Print search, developed by Wilson (2002), is an opportunity to assess what students
understand about language conventions and rules.
1. Select a passage from a familiar text.
structures — including
an extended family, a
single-parent family and
classroom and apply it to
2. Identify various conventions and punctuation marks in the passage. Write those on
one side of the column.
a family with a step-
parent. Children identify the children they will be
3. Have students write what they know about the rule or convention. In other words, which family members do particular household tasks such as cleaning, cooking and
why did the author choose to do what she or he did? washing. This can lead to rich discussion about assumptions of what goes on in
households. teaching.
The cultural and linguistic diversity in
most classrooms contributes to teachers’
growing knowledge about students in their
classroom. Developing curriculum that
draws upon the students’ lives should also

Increase of multiple languages in classroom settings

include thinking about the resources and
knowledge that families use to navigate
From theory to practice
Classrooms throughout the country are in a constant state of flux when it comes to
their daily lives. For example, in the opening
vignette Mr Brown uses his knowledge about features comprise end-of-
student demographics. The past 20 years or so have seen a tremendous increase of Allora’s home practices to invite Allora to
students entering school with languages other than English as their primary
language. The 2011 Census data reported that 19.3 per cent of the Australian popu-
take on the classroom responsibility of organ-
ising the writing centre. As a result, Allora
chapter critical thinking
began to take on more responsibilities in the
lation speak languages other than English (LOTE) at home (Australian Bureau of
Statistics [ABS], 2012). There are over 112 different dialects of Australian
classroom. questions that assess
Indigenous languages. In addition to Indigenous languages, over 200 languages are
spoken in Australia. After English, most common are Mandarin, Italian, Arabic,
Children learn many skills
from family and community
members.
Funds of knowledge
Moll, Amanti, Neff and Gonzalez (1992) developed the concept of funds of
student understanding of
Cantonese, Greek and Vietnamese (ABS, 2012).
In Australian schools, all subject areas are taught using Standard Australian
funds of knowledge
historically accumulated
knowledge to talk about the knowledge, resources and competencies that families
and community members have, and how people come to have this knowl- the chapter content, and
resources, knowledge and edge through life experiences. This knowledge is representative of a broad set of
English (SAE). It is acknowledged that one of the barriers for successful educational
outcomes for those who do not speak SAE
competencies that families and
community members have
activities that are important to maintaining households and communities. They
are developed in social networks, from parents to children, siblings to siblings,
align with the learning
as their first language
Kyleigh is example
and Tamera’s their limited English
of print search
proficiency. This affects a range of students in
neighbours to neighbours. Take, for example, a garage sale happening in a suburb.
outcomes from the
AustralianLearning
schools,through
including language
refugees, migrants
The thirdAustralian
and Indigenous componentstudents.
of Halliday’s model is learning through language. In this com-
Research 70 Literacy in Australia chapter opener.
indicates ponent, language
that it can take is seento
three as five
the tool
yearsto for
explore and expand one’s understanding of
the world. Language processes — such as reading, writing, talking and listening —
second language learners to gain proficiency
are the ways in which children come to learn ideas and concepts as well as how
in oral language use, but it can take from four
to do things in the world (Mills, O’Keefe & Jennings, 2004). For example, in
to seven literature
years todiscussion
gain academic
formats proficiency
children take opportunities to process information,
(Miller, Mitchell
form new&ideasBrown,
and2005). The thinking
share their increase as it relates to the central themes in the
of studentstext.with diverseexamples
Additional languageofexperiences
learning through language include literature logs,
and needs has left many teachers struggling to
provide adequate instruction and teaching prac-
tices. In addition, the varying styles of teaching
50 Literacy in Australia
and learning in Australian schools means stu-
dents from a non–English-speaking back-
ground struggle to keep up with their peers, and
have difficulties not just with learning English From theory to practice
but with all curriculum areas (Multicultural
Development Association, 2010). They often • What are literacy demands that you need to consider to have literacy capability
have little opportunity to improve their English in the content areas?
skills — particularly if they are still speaking in • Why do you think information and communications technologies (ICTs) are so
their first language at home. Figure 2.1 shows a important when learning about the content areas?
child beginning to navigate the two languages • What are the ICT capabilities that students need to demonstrate? How do these
through their writing at school. match with literacy skills?
Some schools with a large number of families • What are some reading and writing teaching strategies you can use in the
who speak languages other than English at home content areas?
translate school notes and newsletters so that key • What aspect of inquiry-based learning in the content areas will you find most
information is understood by parents and car- challenging? Why?
egivers. In addition, many government agencies • What are the key features of informative texts that you need to consider
(including departments of education) now trans- teaching students about?
late their key documents into major languages, FIgure 2.1 A Year 4 student • Which role of the four-resource model do you need to find out more about so
such as Chinese and Arabic, acknowledging that many Australians speak other beginning to navigate two that you can teach literate practices in the content area? Why?
languages more fluently than SAE. languages

References
Chapter 2 Oral language learning in and out of the classroom 35 Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011). Household use of information technology. Retrieved
October 13, 2012 from http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs%40.nsf/mf/8146.0
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] (2013a). Australian
Curriculum: English. Version 4.1. Sydney, NSW: ACARA.
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] (2013b). General

Children’s work examples appear Capabilities. Version 4.1. Sydney, NSW: ACARA.
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] (2013c). Australian
Curriculum: Science. Version 4.2. Sydney, NSW: ACARA.
throughout the text. Numerous photos, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2103d). Australian
Curriculum: History. Version 4.1. Sydney, NSW: ACARA.
tables, illustrations and examples of real- Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] (2012). National
Assessment Program — ICT Literacy Years 6 & 10 Report 2011. Sydney, NSW: ACARA.
world student work provide an important Applebee, A. N. (1981). Writing in the secondary school. Urbana, IL: National Council for the
Teaching of English.
visual component so that new teachers Bahktin, M. (1986). Speech genres and other late essays. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Beavis, C. (2010). English in the digital age: Making English digital. English in Australia. 45(2),

can see how the classroom might look, or pp. 21–30.

Berghoff, B., Egawa, K., Harste, J., & Hoonan, B. (2000). Beyond reading and writing: Inquiry,
curriculum, and multiple ways of knowing. Urbana, IL: National Council Teachers of English.
how a student may respond to a reading Bull, G., & Anstey, M. (2010). Evolving pedagogies: Reading and writing in a multimodal world.
Carlton, South Vic: Education Services Australia.
or writing assignment. Bybee, R. (ND). Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS).
Caswell, L. J., & Duke, N. K. (1998). Non-narrative as a catalyst for literacy development.
Language Arts, 75 (2), 108–117.
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2009). Multiliteracies: New literacies, new learning. Pedagogies: An
International Journal, 4, 164–195.
Department of Education and the Arts. (2006). Literacy: Key to learning. Framework for action
2006–2008. Brisbane: Author.
Department of Education, Queensland, (1994), Social investigators: An Approach to active and
informed citizenship for Years 8–10, Brisbane.

xx How to use this book

456 Literacy in Australia
Additional resources
For students
• iStudy Literacy is a digital study guide containing a wide range of interactive
modules, narration for oral language learning awareness and local videos to
enhance the understanding and application of key concepts.
• The Wiley Word Widget is a simple, online tool to enable pre-service teachers
to generate adaptive, individual word lists to plan assessment tasks.
• Wiley E-Text is a full electronic version of the text, available as a cheaper
alternative to the printed text. The E-Text runs on a wide range of devices,
including iPads, tablets and computers.

For instructors
Literacy in Australia: Pedagogies for Engagement is supported by a comprehensive
resource package that helps instructors to create a contemporary, dynamic and
­flexible learning environment, including:
• an instructor’s resource guide, offering suggested answers to all chapter
questions and boxed features, as well as interpretations/guidelines for the
practical class exercises and activities
• a comprehensive test bank, consisting of multiple-choice and essay questions
• a PowerPoint presentation outlining key concepts from each chapter and
containing media, art and colourful figures from the text. This presentation can
be customised or modified to suit the particular requirements of any instructor
• videos and accompanying cases and activities to highlight management theory
in practice
• learning management system resources for platforms such as BlackBoard and
Moodle, including an extensive range of media to facilitate online learning and
teaching. Instructors have the option of uploading additional material and/or
customising existing content to meet their needs.

Additional resources xxi

 Acknowledgements
We would like to extend a most sincere thank you to the scores of literacy academics
and classroom teachers whose invaluable advice helped shape our manuscript. We
would also like to thank our academic colleagues who authored the comprehensive
resources that accompany the text, namely:
• PowerPoint presentations — Joan Stewart (La Trobe University)
• Test bank and practice quizzes — Robyn Cox (Australian Catholic University)
• Instructor’s resource guide — Nicole Anae (University of South Australia)
• iStudy Literacy modules — Karen Gregory (Macquarie University)
Our appreciation goes to the John Wiley & Sons team for their contribution to
this book: Terry Burkitt (Publishing Editor), Dan Logovik (Content Editor), Shukla
Chakraborty (Managing Editor), Tara Seeto (Publishing Assistant), Christine Ko
(Copyright and Image Researcher), Delia Sala (Graphic Designer) and Jo Haw-
thorne (External Composition Coordinator). Thank you to the many teachers who
opened their classrooms to us in the development of the manuscript, and to all the
children who generously provided the work examples that add colour and life to
our book.
The authors and publisher would like to thank the following copyright holders,
organisations and individuals for their permission to reproduce copyright material
in this book.

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Acknowledgements xxiii
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 kingly favour. Alfonso XI. drew down upon himself the
1325–1350
wrath of pious Christians by employing Jewish
ministers in his treasury. Under this prince the Spanish Jews, indeed,
enjoyed what some writers have described as their Golden Age.
They were powerful at Court, and equally influential with the great
nobility, many Castilian magnates employing them as bailiffs and
advisers. Their wealth and their power cowed clerical and popular
fanaticism, and overawed the avaricious proclivities of impecunious
hidalgos. This prosperity lasted under Alfonso’s
1350–1369
successor, Don Pedro, or Peter the Cruel. Samuel
Levi, treasurer to the King and his victim, is reported to have left
behind him the princely fortune of 400,000 ducats; an affluence
which proved his undoing.
1333–1379 Nor was royal favour limited to one class of Jews,
any more than Jewish usefulness was limited to one
province of activity. Henry II. of Castile, the half-brother of Don
Pedro, and other Iberian sovereigns employed the talents of the
Jews in various capacities. Through their correspondence with their
brethren all over Europe and the East, the Jews were the best
agents for commercial and political negotiations. Their astronomical
science, and their skill in map-drawing and in the construction of
nautical instruments, recommended them to princes anxious to profit
by the exploration of new lands. Jewish pilots and navigators must
have been in great demand, for they subsequently helped Vasco da
Gama in his voyages; while Jewish capitalists and adventurers
participated in many of the great transatlantic expeditions of later
times. Jayme III., the last king of Mallorca, describes
1334
Juceff Faguin, a Jew of Barcelona, as a man who “had
navigated the whole of the then known world”; while Benjamin of
Tudela’s older Itinerary is a work of world-wide renown.
1404–1454
John II. of Castile, in the ensuing century, even sought
the assistance of Jews in the compilation of a national Cancionero,
for the Jews in Christian, as in Mohammedan, Spain attained high
distinction as troubadours. One of them, Santob de Carrion, who
flourished in Castile in the fourteenth century, produced a Spanish
Book of Maxims, which, thanks to its charming quaintness,
preserved its popularity far into the fifteenth. Not less important are
the contributions of Iberian Jews to the vernacular drama.
The Jew’s old aversion to the language of Titus, the destroyer of
the Temple, had also partially vanished from Spain, and many
Jewish politicians employed Latin in the diplomatic correspondence
which they conducted for their Christian masters, while the Spanish
language in the fourteenth century even bade fair to oust Hebrew,
the Book of Esther being, in some parts of the peninsula, read in the
vernacular on the Feast of Purim, for the benefit of the women, to
whom the sacred tongue was no longer intelligible. Naturally such
liberalism scandalised strait-laced pietists, who did their utmost to
prevent the profanation of Holy Writ. But the real check to the
gradual reconciliation between Jew and Gentile in Spain did not
proceed from the Jewish side, as we shall see.
1348 All this sunshine was already overshadowed by the
clouds which herald the storm. In the year of the Black
Death the charge of well-poisoning stirred up the mob of Barcelona
against the Jews, twenty of whom were slain and their houses
sacked, a wholesale massacre being averted only by the intervention
of the higher classes. A few days later a similar outbreak at Cervera
resulted in the murder of eighteen Jews and the flight of the rest.
Destruction threatened all the Jewish communities of Northern
Spain, and their members, panic-stricken, betook themselves to
prayer, fasting, and other precautions of a more practical character
against the impending attack, which, however, was prevented by the
nobility and by a Papal Bull, in which Clement VI.—who, though no
saint, was an accomplished gentleman and a broad-minded prince—
exposed the absurdity of the poison charge, and prohibited the
Christians from assaulting the Jews on pain of excommunication.
During the long civil war in Castile between Don Pedro and his
brother Don Henry, the heirs of Alfonso XI., the Jews had the
misfortune to back the losing side. They sustained heavy losses in
many a battle and siege, and suffered terribly at the hands of friend
and foe alike. The great community of Toledo was decimated out of
all recognition. Throughout Castile congregations once flourishing
were reduced to penury, and many of their members in sheer
despair embraced Christianity. The Jews of Burgos, even after Don
Pedro’s death, remained stubbornly loyal to his memory, and when
all Spain had recognised Don Henry’s rule they alone had the
courage to defy him—a constancy which moved the usurper’s
admiration, and secured to the besieged terms of submission
honourable to both sides alike. Peace was restored, but it brought
small comfort to Israel. Don Henry had always pretended that one of
the causes of his enmity to his brother was the latter’s partiality for
the Jews. The vanquished enemy’s favourites would now have been
made to suffer the extreme rigour of Henry’s vengeance but for the
financial straits in which the victor found himself. Instead of
annihilating, Don Henry preferred to exploit the Jews. But the King’s
forbearance roused the indignation of his followers, who felt
despoiled of the fruits of their victory. In 1371 the Cortes assembled
at Toro rebuked the King for employing the enemies of the faith at
Court, and for allowing them to farm the revenues of the Crown. The
representatives of the nation insisted that the Jews should be
excluded from State offices, confined within special quarters,
compelled to wear the badge, and forbidden to display their riches in
their apparel or equipages, or to bear Christian names. The King,
while dismissing most of these demands, thought it wise to concede
the last three, and he also decreed some measures intended to
restrain the rapacity of Jewish money-lenders. The clergy also, who
had sanctioned Don Henry’s usurpation of the throne, claimed a
reward in the shape of anti-Jewish legislation.
1375
Religious disputations were, therefore, revived, and
Jewish renegades were once more the protagonists in the sorry
farce.
At the same time the Church renewed its efforts to prevent the
Christians from mingling with the impure race. The necessity for this
persistent confirmation of anti-Jewish regulations shows that, though
the antipathy between Jew and Gentile was spontaneous, and
though both Church and Synagogue vied with each other in their
endeavours to keep the two elements in sempiternal alienation, yet
the social instinct which forms the strongest trait of human nature
often triumphed over the barriers set up by religious bigotry. But
human nature was allowed little opportunity for asserting itself. The
 Council of Palencia passed a decision forbidding
1388
Catholics to dwell within the quarters assigned to the
Jews and Moors, under penalty of excommunication.
1390
Two years later the Jews of Majorca were forbidden to
carry arms. Next year, thanks to the eloquence of the
1391
fanatical priest Martinez, a series of wholesale
massacres took place in Castile and Aragon, in which thousands of
Jews were sacrificed to priestly and popular rage, and the cities of
Seville, Toledo, Cordova, Catalonia, Barcelona, Valencia, as well as
the island of Majorca, were coloured red with Jewish blood; while
great numbers of the unfortunate people sought safety in half-
hearted apostasy. Efforts were made to confirm the hold upon these
captured infidels, popularly known as Marranos, or “the Damned,” by
ecclesiastical preferment and by the bestowal of municipal dignities;
while many impecunious aristocrats, anxious to restore their
declining fortunes, brought riches to themselves and a lasting
reproach to their posterity by courting the fair daughters of converted
Israel; so much so that many a noble Castilian pedigree to this day
can be traced to such an alliance. But neither ecclesiastical or civic
honours nor social advancement were sufficiently potent to keep the
“new Christians” in the faith. There were, of course, exceptions to the
rule—a truism which we are apt to overlook in dealing with the
history of the Jews. Some, no doubt, who had honestly outgrown the
racial and religious swathings of Judaism, were glad enough to
adopt Christianity. Unfettered by spiritual convictions, they preferred
the creed which entailed no social stigma. They deserve as little
blame as admiration. Others, however, there were who, setting
worldly advantages, or the gratification of private grudges, above
principle, found both profit and pleasure in the persecution or
vilification of their former brethren. But neither of these classes
represented the majority. Most of the neophytes, as soon as they
safely could, slipped the suffocating cloak, and came forth in their
true character, while others vacillated between Church and
Synagogue, trying to serve two masters, and by so doing increased
the animosity of the priests against the race; for the theologian does
not agree with the psychologist in holding that a feigned or fictitious
faith is better than none at all. As in the time of the Visigoth tyrants,
so now thousands of Jews and forced converts fled to Africa. Many
towns on the coast, from Algiers westward, were filled with the
unfortunate refugees from Spain and Majorca, who found the African
Berbers more humane than the European Christians.
The recent tribulations and the anticipation of worse sufferings in
the near future gave rise to a new Messianic frenzy. According to the
Scriptures, the advent of the Redeemer was to be preceded by
terrible persecution. Three Messiahs appeared to voice
1391
the convictions and to try the faith of the hunted
people: Abraham of Granada, Shem-Tob, and Moses Botarel. All
three were mystics, the last one also an impostor.
The fifteenth century adds fresh scenes to the tale of sorrow,
new “black-letter days” to the Jewish Calendar, and more dark pages
to the history of Europe. In 1408 the anti-Jewish statutes of Alfonso
the Wise were revived. Ruinous fines were imposed upon any
Christian who should confer, or Jew who should accept, municipal or
other office. Four years later the intercourse of the
1412
Jews with the Christians was restricted, and their
commercial and industrial activity hampered by numerous
prohibitions. They were forbidden to act as physicians, apothecaries,
and stewards to the nobility; as bakers, millers, or vintners. They
were debarred from selling oil or butter; from exercising the
handicrafts of smith, carpenter, tailor, or shoemaker, and, of course,
from farming or collecting the public revenues. It was further decreed
that no Jew should carry any kind of arms, or be addressed as Don;
that the unclean people should live in special quarters (Juderias)
provided with not more than one gate each, and that they should not
employ Christian servants. Thus the seclusion which was at first
granted to the Jews as a privilege and a protection was now
enforced as a means of oppression. Furthermore, they were stripped
of their gay apparel, and compelled to wear a peculiar garment of
coarse stuff and to display the hated badge, except such as could
pay for permission to discard it, especially on their journeys. Lastly,
they were forbidden to have their hair cut or their beards shaved.
Confiscation of goods and corporal chastisement were the penalties
inflicted for any breach of these and other regulations, the aim of
which was, by humiliating and impoverishing the race, to induce it to
embrace Christianity. A contemporary Jewish writer thus describes
the sad effects of this edict: “Inmates of palaces were driven into
wretched nooks, and dark and lowly huts. Instead of rustling apparel,
we were obliged to wear miserable clothes which drew contempt
upon us. Prohibited from shaving the beard, we had to appear like
mourners. The rich tax-farmers sank into want, for they knew no
trade by which they could gain a livelihood, and the handicraftsmen
found no custom. Starvation stared everyone in the face. Children
70
died on their mothers’ knees from hunger and exposure.”
In the midst of all this suffering the Church was not idle. The
chief of the apostles was Vincent Ferrer, a Dominican friar and
indefatigable winner of souls, afterwards canonised for his exertions.
This sincere, though forbidding saint, who called his bigotry religion
and his hatred of heretics love of God, rushed from synagogue to
synagogue, crucifix in hand, preaching the gospel of peace in a
voice of thunder, and endeavouring to persuade the infidels to
repentance by promises of comfort in this world and by threats of
everlasting damnation in the next. Ferrer was more than an orator.
His sermons were accompanied with exhibitions of the priest’s
dramatic genius and of the saint’s thaumaturgic powers. Impressive
processions and sacred hymns, banners, crucifices, and assaults
upon the Jews heightened the effect of his impassioned appeals.
Thousands of wretches succumbed to Ferrer’s eloquence, and many
synagogues were turned into churches. This result was by
contemporary piety attributed to the fiery exhortations addressed to
the Jews, and to the miracles performed for their benefit, by St.
Vincent; but a twentieth century heretic, while admitting the efficacy
of exhortation and miracle, may be pardoned for suspecting that the
systematic persecution on the part of the State and the spontaneous
fury of the mob had at least some influence in turning the hearts of
the infidels.
1413 From Castile the preacher and persecution
travelled to Aragon. The newly-elected King Ferdinand,
who owed his elevation to Ferrer’s influence, showed his gratitude by
placing his conscience in the saint’s keeping and the royal power at
his disposal. St. Vincent, thus armed with both necessaries of
success—enthusiasm and means—journeyed to and fro in the
country, denouncing, exhorting, threatening, and baptizing; and the
victims of his fervour in the two kingdoms are said to have exceeded
twenty thousand souls. Such is the persuasive power of theological
reasoning, when assisted by brute force. In the same year a
compulsory controversy between Hebrew renegades and Rabbis, on
the traditional lines, was begun in Tortosa.
No more splendid assembly ever met for the purpose of
enforcing the gospel of divine mercy by the gratification of human
vanity. The anti-pope Benedict XIII., clad in his pontifical robes, sat
on a lofty throne, surrounded by cardinals and prelates refulgent with
brocade of gold and gems. A thousand Spanish grandees thronged
behind this glorious group, while before it stood a small band of Jews
anxious to defend their faith, without imperilling their lives. The truth
of Christianity was beyond cavil. The falsity of Judaism, after the
advent of Christ, was equally clear. Does the Talmud recognise
Jesus as the Messiah or not? That was the question which was
debated in sixty-eight sittings extending over a period of twenty-one
months.
And so the ruin of the Jews was progressing satisfactorily. The
originators of the persecution passed away one after the other.
Benedict XIII. was deposed by the Council of Constance and
denounced by Vincent Ferrer as an “unfrocked and spurious Pope.”
The renegade Jew Geronimo vanished into his native obscurity. King
Ferdinand died in 1416, and St. Vincent was translated to heaven
three years later. But the tribulations of Israel did not cease. Pope
Martin V., indeed, surprised the world with a Bull of
1419
toleration, dictated, as one would gladly have believed,
by Christian charity; as documents prove, procured by bribery. But
the plant of anti-Judaism had taken too deep roots to be permanently
stunted by this tardy edict. Pope Eugenius IV.
1442
addressed another Bull to the Bishops of Castile and
Leon, withdrawing the indulgences granted to the Jews by his
predecessor, and he renewed all the old restrictions, adding that the
unclean people should be confined to their houses during Holy
Week. Autograph letters to the Castilian ecclesiastics exhorted them
to enforce the Pontiff’s orders without mercy. Pope
1447
Nicholas V. aggravated all these measures of
oppression.
The Spanish Jews were now regarded simply as outlaws. The
pious eschewed all dealings with them. Husbandmen deserted the
fields, and shepherds the flocks belonging to the proscribed people;
while the towns framed new regulations for their utter suppression.
King Henry IV. of Castile and Juan II. of Aragon, horror-struck at the
terrible cruelty of this treatment, or rather alarmed at its
consequences on the royal exchequer, endeavoured to mitigate the
sufferings of the Jews. But their efforts met with no success. The
campaign on the part of the Dominicans was carried on vigorously,
backsliders were scented out and punished, charges of child-murder
were preferred against the Jews, and the populace was stirred up to
acts of violence, which grew in ferocity and frequency as the years
rolled on. In 1468 a charge of this description led to a massacre at
Sepulveda. In the following year the Cortes of Ocaña
1469
insisted that the anti-Jewish edicts should be
stringently enforced. Despite Henry’s feeble protests, the Jews for
many years continued to be exposed to the utmost cruelty of the
priests and of the populace in an age when the priests and the
populace were most cruel. They were not members of the Church, of
the feudal aristocracy, or of the commercial and industrial
corporations. Though living among the Christians, they were not of
them. They were unpopular. They could not defend themselves; and
neither bishops, barons, nor burgesses would lift a finger in their
defence. They were, therefore, abandoned without reserve and
without remorse to the tender mercies of clerical and civic fanaticism.
The Marranos especially continued to be the pet aversion and
occupation of the Church.
A monastic writer of Andalusia, where the “new Christians” were
most numerous and now most miserable, quoted by Prescott,
summarises contemporary feeling regarding them in the following
eloquent lines: “This accursed race were either unwilling to bring
their children to be baptized, or, if they did, they washed away the
stain on returning home. They dressed their stews and other dishes
with oil, instead of lard; abstained from pork; kept the Passover; ate
meat in Lent; and sent oil to replenish the lamps of their synagogues;
with many other abominable ceremonies of their religion. They
entertained no respect for monastic life, and frequently profaned the
sanctity of religious houses by the violation or seduction of their
inmates. They were an exceedingly politic and ambitious people,
engrossing the most lucrative municipal offices, and preferred to gain
their livelihood by traffic, in which they made exorbitant gains, rather
than by manual labour or mechanical arts. They considered
themselves in the hands of the Egyptians, whom it was a merit to
deceive and plunder. By their wicked contrivances they amassed
great wealth, and they were often able to ally themselves by
marriage with noble Christian families.” Here we find all the old
sources of the Gentile’s hatred towards the Jew: antipathy due to
diversity of character—as manifested in occupation, daily diet, and
conduct; steeled by economic jealousy, and edged by religious
bigotry.
1469 Oct. 19 Such was the frame of the public mind, when
short-sighted statecraft, in the person of Ferdinand,
King of Aragon, was wedded to narrow piety in that of Isabella,
heiress to the Crown of Castile. The legitimate offspring of such a
union could be no other than persecution. But, even if the sovereigns
were enlightened and tolerant, it is doubtful whether they could have
stemmed the current. In 1473 the mob massacred the Constable of
Castile at Jaen, because he attempted to repress its fury, and, after
Isabella the Catholic’s accession to the throne, petitions poured in
from all sides clamouring for the extirpation of the “Jewish heresy.”
The bigots of Seville, headed by the Dominican prior of the
monastery of St. Paul, agitated for the introduction of the Inquisition
—a tribunal originally established during Innocent III.’s pontificate at
the beginning of the thirteenth century for the suppression of heresy
—and their demand was seconded by the Papal Nuncio. In 1477
Friar Philip de Barberi, Inquisitor for Sicily, arrived in Seville to
persuade the Spanish monarchs of the manifold virtues of his
remedy for infidelity. The prospect of plunder lured Ferdinand, while
Isabella’s feminine tenderness was assailed by the importunities and
the casuistry of her spiritual advisers. Torquemada, the narrow-
hearted Dominican of universal notoriety, had already poisoned the
Queen’s mind with his pernicious maxims of intolerance, when he
acted as the guardian of her conscience in early youth. In that
susceptible age he had extorted from his pupil the promise that she
would devote her life “to the extirpation of heresy, for the glory of
God and the exaltation of the Catholic faith.” He now reappears on
the scene to claim the fulfilment of the fatal vow. The young queen,
noble and generous though she was by nature, could not long
withstand the unanimous exhortations of persons whose sanctity her
religion taught her to revere, and the superiority of whose wisdom
her own modesty prompted her to accept without question. Much
less could she resist her own beloved husband’s solicitations. All that
was good or engaging in her conspired with all that was ignoble in
her counsellors to warp her judgment, to silence the voice of her
heart, and to force her to give her consent to one of the greatest
crimes of any time.
It required but little effort to induce Pope Sixtus IV. to allow the
establishment of the Holy Office in Castile for the detection and
punishment of backsliders to Judaism, and the necessary Bull was
issued on November 1st, 1478. But the Queen still hesitated to make
use of the dread weapon, while her husband was not without
misgivings regarding the absolute power claimed by the tribunal. As
a last resource, before proceeding to extremes, the monarchs
commanded Cardinal Mendoza, the Archbishop of Seville, to set
forth the doctrines of the Catholic faith in a short catechism, and to
cause his clergy to diffuse the light among the benighted Marranos
throughout his diocese. This worthy and humane ecclesiastic gladly
obeyed the royal command, and betook himself to the work of
friendly persuasion. But with little success. The Christians were
incited to acts of hostility by rumours of Jewish plots against the
Church and the State, and of Jewish crimes of the traditional type,
such as sacrifices of children and insults offered to the Host. The
Government, yielding to public clamour, expelled the Jews from
Seville and Cordova in 1478, and renewed the severe measures of
repression in 1480. Furthermore, an ill-advised Jew, by the
publication of a caustic criticism of Christianity at that inopportune
moment, threw oil into the fire, and precipitated a catastrophe which
perhaps no power on earth could have averted in any case. A people
whose inflexibility had triumphed over the temptations and the
persecutions of fifteen centuries was hardly likely to be bent by the
good Archbishop’s catechism; and, after two years’ fruitless
endeavour, a Commission appointed for the purpose returned a
highly disappointing report. The term of grace having expired, the
71
only remaining alternative was the Inquisition.
On September 17th, 1480, the tribunal was constituted of two
Dominicans and two other ecclesiastics appointed by the Crown, and
was ordered to commence operations at Seville without delay. The
civil authorities were instructed to lend the assistance of the secular
arm to the Judges; but, owing to the opposition which the latter at
first encountered on the part of the high-spirited Castilians, they were
obliged to confine their activity for a while within those districts of
Andalusia which depended directly from the Crown. However, limited
as the field at first was, it proved more than sufficient for the
purpose. The new year, 1481, was inaugurated with an edict,
published on January 2nd, bidding all true Catholics to aid the
tribunal in the fulfilment of its mission, by indicating any person that
might be known as, or suspected of, entertaining heretical opinions.
The result was a monster hunt with men for quarry and hounds, and
Satan for their master. Soon the number of victims grew to such an
extent that the court was obliged to exchange its seat in the
monastery of St. Paul, within the city of Seville, for the larger castle
of Triana, in the environs. There it established its headquarters and
blasphemed the Deity whom it professed to serve by the following
inscription, engraven over the portal: Exsurge, Domine; judica
causam tuam; capite nobis vulpes, “Arise, O Lord; judge thine own
cause; capture for us the foxes.”
Day after day the Satanic sport went on, and the number of
“foxes” increased apace. The Jews were not even allowed the
privilege accorded to the animal. Flight was forbidden under penalty
of death, and was prevented by guards posted at the gates of the
city. None the less, some of the victims succeeded in escaping to
Granada, France, Germany, and Italy, where they made an appeal to
the Holy See from the barbarity of the Holy Office. Sixtus IV.
contented himself with a gentle rebuke of his subalterns for their
excessive zeal, soon followed by a request for more strenuous
“purification,” addressed to Ferdinand and Isabella.
Never, perhaps, since the fall of the Roman Empire did the
detestable trade of the informer flourish so lustily as it did during the
ensuing years in Castile. Bigotry, malice, cupidity were all invited to
contribute to the havoc, and, as the accuser’s identity was
sedulously concealed from the accused, the last motive for self-
restraint was removed. A new coat or a clean shirt on Saturday
morning, a cold hearth on Friday evening, avoidance of food popular
among the Christians, or a taste for a kind of drink affected by the
Jews, a visit to a Jewish house,—these were some of the proofs of
Judaism accepted as conclusive evidence by this model court of
justice. The grave itself afforded no refuge from its clutches. A
person who was observed to turn his face to the wall when dying
was at once pounced upon, and his body shared the fate of living
heretics.
The Inquisition had been in existence for three days when six
wretches suffered at the stake. Seventeen more followed in March,
and at the end of ten months the “bag” had reached the number of
two hundred and ninety-eight, in Seville alone, in addition to many
effigies of those who had been fortunate enough to escape. The
plague which devastated Seville in that year of evil omen did not
interrupt the other plague. The Inquisition once more moved its
racks, and continued its infernal work in Aracena. Meanwhile, its
branch establishments carried on a brisk business in human lives in
other parts of Andalusia, and their diligence is proved by the fact,
which we owe to the Jesuit historian Mariana, that the net total of
victims for the year amounted to two thousand burnt alive, and
seventeen thousand sentenced to loss of property, loss of civil rights,
or incarceration—mercies which figured in the balance sheet under
the comprehensive euphemism “reconciliation.” In the
1483
third year Thomas de Torquemada was appointed by
Sixtus IV. Inquisitor-General of Castile and Aragon, invested with full
powers to draw up a new constitution for the Holy Office. His labours
resulted in the modern Inquisition, which for centuries after blasted
the Iberian Peninsula and supplied historians, novelists, and
dramatists with an inexhaustible mine of horrors. The Spaniards
were not pleased to see the extension of the grim tribunal’s
operations, and Pedro Arbués, the first Inquisitor who, in spite of
popular protests, ventured to make his appearance in Aragon, was
murdered in the Cathedral of Saragossa. But all
1485
opposition was soon silenced.
Year after year edicts were issued and read in every church on
the first two Sundays of Lent, spurring the faithful, on pain of eternal
damnation, to denounce their fellow-citizens, and often their nearest
and dearest; for loyalty to the cause cancelled all other bonds.
Neither friendship nor family affection was permitted to interfere with
the course of fanaticism, and the vilest crimes against nature and
morality were hallowed by the blessings of the Church. The
Marranos and their Jewish sympathisers and abettors, against whom
the terrible engine continued to be almost exclusively directed under
Torquemada’s management, were decimated, mulcted, and
mutilated at the average annual rate of six thousand roasted or
“reconciled,” not including an unknown number of orphaned children
doomed to starvation or vice by the confiscation of their patrimony.
None were spared, but the most exalted were the first to be laid
low; judges and municipal officers, noblemen, and even clergymen
suspected of Judaism were mysteriously snatched from their homes,
conveyed to the subterranean dungeons of the Inquisition, and there,
amid the terrors of darkness and solitude, were kept for a while in
strict ignorance of the specific crime with which they were charged.
When sufficiently bewildered in his lonely, cold, and lightless cell, the
prisoner was dragged before the court and asked to give straight and
lucid answers to crooked and vague questions. It was accepted as a
principle of judicial procedure that every prisoner was guilty until he
proved himself to be innocent, and that it was better that ten
innocents should suffer than one infidel escape. Denial of guilt was
visited with torture, persistence in denial with more torture, and
confession of sin—to obtain which was an essential element in the
Inquisitorial process—with sentence of death or confiscation of
goods, the greater part of which went to defray the expenses of the
prisoner’s trial and to fill the pockets of his judges, while the
remainder was swallowed up by the Royal Treasury.
Thus the martyrs, mangled by the rack, emaciated by privation,
and almost maddened by mental suffering, were led to the place of
execution. The spectacle partook of the pomp of a Roman pageant
and of the horror of a cannibal feast. Noble Castilians, arrayed in the
dark livery of the Holy Office, disdained not to act as banner-bearers
and body-guards to the monastic executioners. A brilliant throng of
gorgeously apparelled ecclesiastics added to the magnificence of the
procession and enhanced by contrast the humiliation of the convicts,
who, clad in coarse yellow frocks made hideous with a scarlet cross
and designs of demons and hell-flames, haggard and already half-
dead with torture and terror, tottered to the funeral pyre. This was
piled on the Quemadero—a spacious stone platform, with the
statues of the four major prophets erected at the four corners, to
which the victims were bound. The semi-decomposed bodies of
those convicted after death, torn out of their tombs, were placed
upon the pile, the fuel was ignited, and the same flames gradually
and slowly reduced the quick and the dead to ashes.
The havoc of war and the massacres due to sudden eruptions of
popular fury have frequently surpassed these hecatombs in number
of victims. But in sustained and cold-blooded ferocity authentic
history contains nothing, and feverish fiction little, that can compare
with one of them. And yet the Inquisitors were men—no doubt
honest, pious, and honourable men, most of them; some perhaps
amiable, nay even charitable men. Unfortunately they imagined
themselves to be something more—ministers of Heaven’s will on
earth. It was this fatal certainty of the righteousness of their cause
that turned the Inquisitors into monsters. Man would less often
become a fiend if he never mistook himself for an angel.
Torquemada himself, who has been execrated through the ages
as the red-handed protagonist of the appalling tragedy, hardly
deserves his great reputation. There is little originality in his crime.
He was not more cruel, but only more conscientious, courageous,
and consistent than millions of the men of his generation and creed.
When in the nineteenth century we find Cardinal Newman—an
English gentleman and scholar—preaching that “To spare a
heresiarch is a false and dangerous pity. It is to endanger the souls
72
of thousands, and it is uncharitable towards himself,” can we
wonder that a Spanish priest should have acted on that principle in
the fifteenth century? Strong convictions do not, of course, excuse
unscrupulous and unrelenting brutality, but they explain it. Given
such a conviction, persecution becomes a duty and toleration a sin.
If the persecutor cannot command our respect, he is at least entitled
to our compassion. Torquemada deserves our pity almost as much
as his victims. The drama in which he distinguished himself was an
example of that highest kind of tragedy which needs no villain. Faith
had spun the plot; chance supplied the actor.
Year after year the hunt went on. But, in spite of Torquemada’s
unremitting endeavours, few Israelites hesitated in the option
between the font and the stake offered to them. Few chose the first,
and, even with these, conversion was merely a device for escape
from death. Inquisitors come and Inquisitors go, but Israel endures
for ever; and the hope of a better future supplied an indomitable
patience with the present. Disappointment infuriated the persecutors,
but failed to increase the ranks of the proselytes. It was in vain that
ancient calumnies were revived, and fresh ones invented. It was in
vain that the spies redoubled their activity, and the judges strained
their murderous ingenuity. It was in vain that a tempest of execration
and derision raged round the children of Israel. Torquemada and his
accomplices were at last forced to recognise the fact that Judaism
could not be extirpated, save by the extirpation of the Jews. And
forthwith all his influence was brought to bear on persuading the
sovereigns to drive the unclean and accursed race out of the
country.
This was an unexpected blow for the wretched Jews, who feared
exile even more than execution. They had borne imprisonment,
ignominy, penury, and mutilation unflinchingly, in the hope that time
would soften the heart, or at least wear out the arm, of persecution.
But final banishment, with all the terrible perils of shipwreck, of
famine, of attack by pirates and of disease which a large and
unprotected crowd voyaging the high seas was certain to encounter
in those days, would mean irretrievable ruin for the whole race.
73
Moreover the Jews loved Spain with passionate devotion, as is
shown by the mediaeval Hebrew poetry which assumes some of its
most glowing eloquence in praise of Andalusia. So, in order to avoid
expatriation, the leading Jews offered thirty—some say three
hundred—thousand ducats to the sovereigns as a ransom for their
people.
Ferdinand and Isabella, intent on bringing their costly Moorish
campaign to a successful issue, were not disinclined to listen to a
proposal which promised a reinforcement of their military resources.
They received the Jewish deputy in audience, and there was every
prospect of the negotiations coming to a happy conclusion, when, at
the psychological moment, Torquemada, the sleepless and ruthless,
burst into the apartment of the palace where the interview was held,
and, lifting up a crucifix, which he drew forth from beneath his
cassock, thundered at the King and Queen: “Judas Iscariot sold his
master for thirty pieces of silver. Your Highnesses would sell Him
anew for thirty thousand; here He is, take Him and barter Him away.”
With these words the terrible actor cast the crucifix upon the table
and left the room.
The effect of the scene on the sovereigns’ minds was such as
the crafty priest had anticipated. His sudden and opportune
appearance, and his equally sudden disappearance, savoured of the
miraculous; his solemn warning seemed to issue from Heaven. The
same superstitious subservience to ghostly influence which had
induced Isabella more than a dozen years before to sanction the
persecution of the Jews, now induced her to order their expulsion.
Nor was there a voice to protest. The Castilians who would have
bitterly resented the arbitrary banishment of one of themselves,
heard with complacency a similar decision taken against a whole
nation. For Israel was a people apart. They had no share in its
interests; and it had no share in their rights.
1492 It was the month of March in 1492, a year of
incomparable moment for Spain, for Europe, and for
the world at large. That year witnessed the capitulation of Granada,
and the downfall of the Mohammedan Empire in the West; a victory
for the Cross which was received with hearty thanksgivings
throughout Christendom as a providential compensation for the loss
of Constantinople. The same year saw the departure of Christopher
Columbus, under the flag of the Spanish monarchs, on that
memorable voyage which was to result in a triumph wherein the
whole of mankind had reason to rejoice. The same hands which
signed those two glorious treaties now affixed their signatures to the
edict that banished the Jews from the land in which they had lived
longer than their persecutors, which they had loved as much, and
adorned more than they.
The end of July was fixed as the limit for their preparations. They
were permitted to liquidate their possessions and to carry away the
proceeds in bills of exchange, but not in gold or silver, for an existing
law forbade the exportation of precious metals from the country. The
consequence of the edict was that the Jews were forced to sell or
barter away some of their effects at a nominal price, and to leave the
greater portion behind them. If contemporary witnesses are to be
believed, a house was seen bartered for an ass, and a vineyard for a
suit of clothes. In Aragon the property of the Jews was sequestered
by the authorities for the benefit of their creditors, and the people
constantly reviled for their excessive wealth and usury were found to
owe more than they possessed!
The last months of the Jews’ sojourn in Spain were spent by the
priests in frantic efforts at conversion. But those who had opposed
an adamant firmness to temptation when they had much to lose,
could not be expected to yield when reduced to beggary. The
consciousness of suffering for the Idea brought with it an exaltation
that shed a halo over their misery. This affliction also was a fatherly
rod, to be borne with fortitude; an ordeal to be endured as a test of
faith; a humiliation that contained in it a promise of future glory. The
God of their fathers, who had led them out of the house of bondage
and fed them in the wilderness in the days of old, would not suffer
his children to perish. The waters would again be divided for them,
and the sea made dry land. This last expectation, confidently
encouraged by the Rabbis, proved vain when the exiles reached the
coast. But failure did not shake the faith of the children of Israel. The
severer the martyrdom, the greater the certainty of beatitude.
Scattered and scorned though they were, the day would dawn when
they would once more be gathered under Jehovah’s parent pinion.
The light of Zion still shone in the distance undimmed.
Thus, poor in worldly possessions, but rich in hope; defenceless,
yet strong in faith, they journeyed from all parts of the country to the
frontiers: the healthy and the sick, old men bending over their staffs,
little footsore children tottering by their fathers’ sides, and infants
clinging to their mothers’ breasts. Venerable Rabbis and scholars,
delicately nurtured maidens, young gentlemen, yesterday proud
cavaliers, to-day penniless and broken-spirited paupers—they all
dragged their weary limbs in various directions: some north, others
south; one group to the east and another to the west. Many a wet
eye followed the melancholy processions, and many a warm
Spanish heart melted to pity, but no hand was held out to the
wanderers, no word of comfort was addressed to them: the fear of
God restrained many; the fear of Torquemada more. The time of
year added to the sadness of the spectacle. Andalusia was bathing
in the exuberant beauty of a Spanish summer; the sky smiled blue
and bright overhead, the earth was spangled with flowers beneath,
the birds warbled blithely in the trees and bushes, the air was sweet
with the scent of orange blossoms; Nature seemed to hold a carnival
of joy in mockery of the misery and heartlessness of man.
The banishment of the Jews from England at the close of the
thirteenth century was mere child’s play compared with their
expulsion from Spain at the close of the fifteenth. The Jews who left
England had only been in the country for two centuries; those who
now left Spain had lived there more than twelve. The English exiles
had borne small part in England’s greatness; the Spanish Jews had
served the state in the highest capacities, had won universal fame in
art, science and literature, and had become to the rest of the world’s
Jewries an exemplar of that harmonious combination of piety with
culture which was nowhere, outside Spain, so prominent a feature of
mediaeval life. And in quantity as in quality the Spanish banishment
far surpassed its English prototype. The exiles from England
amounted at most to sixteen thousand; those from Spain were
computed at least as one hundred and sixty thousand. Some
accounts even raise them to five times that number. It was a
movement on a scale comparable only to that of the exodus of Israel
from Egypt, with the sole difference that, whereas the Jews had
dwelt in Egypt as strangers and bondsmen in the land, in Spain they
had become in many respects Spaniards. But the crime, augmented
by a similar crime against the Moors, brought its penalty with it. Even
accepting the lowest estimate as nearest the correct one, the price in
skill, industry and intelligence, which Spain—despite her recent
military achievements and her budding power beyond the seas—had
to pay for the gratification of her religious fanaticism cannot easily be
calculated; but it can be seen to this day. The same yoke which
crushed the alien and the infidel could not but cramp the native and
the Christian. Freedom of thought, speech, or action was dead.
Intellectual culture was soon to be succeeded by monasticism, and
material prosperity by mendicity. Meanwhile the value of Ferdinand
and Isabella’s Hebrew subjects could not but have been realised
immediately on their departure. The Spanish Government, prompted
by the Spanish Church, had said to the Jews: “Be baptized or be
gone!” The Jews went, and the life of Spain went with them. Stately
mansions fell into mossy decay, rich cornfields and vineyards were
turned into waste land, busy and populous cities were suddenly
silenced as by a magician’s black art. In return, Spain nursed the
cold comfort of having served the cause of the gloomy and
bloodthirsty monster that the age called God.
Nothing throws a clearer light on the spirit of the times than the
comments of contemporary writers on Ferdinand and Isabella’s
suicidal policy. The Spanish historians join in a chorus of
indiscriminate panegyric; the Spanish poets sing pæans to the
triumph of the Faith. Foreign spectators, while deprecating the
severity of the methods employed, have nothing but praise for the
motive. They all applaud the deed as a sacrifice of temporal to
spiritual interests. It is true that Ferdinand’s treasury was the richer
for the confiscated property of the Jews. But, though lust for plunder
may be regarded as the mainspring of his own policy, it was not the
primary motive of the Dominicans, nor had it any share in Isabella’s
conduct. This amiable princess has laid her soul bare in the
confession: “In the love of Christ and his maiden mother I have
caused great misery, and have depopulated towns and districts,
provinces and kingdoms.” The expulsion of the Jews, like the autos-
da-fé, was a crime committed principally por amor de Dios.