Introducing LLEN’s very first newsletter!

NEWSLETTER #1 |WELCOME

Welcome to the first edition of the Language and Literacy in Education Network newsletter!

The aim of the Language and Literacy in Education Network (LLEN) is to create a community of teachers, teacher educators and researchers with a shared interest in the role of language in literacy and learning.

We want to provide a forum where members can work together on improving students’ literacy and learning outcomes.

Finally, we aim to provide an authoritative source of information for teachers, school executive, policy developers and curriculum designers regarding the teaching of language from the early years through to secondary and further education.

Included in the November 25 edition is news about LLEN and how it is taking shape in Australia; interesting developments in language and literacy education from around the nation; forthcoming professional learning relevant to Australian educators; and a spotlight on some of the dedicated team members who are helping to get LLEN off the ground.

Welcome to the LLEN community.

Bronwyn Parkin and Damon Thomas

Introducing our logo

One of our first actions was to establish our logo. The current version represents a network: a community of teachers, teacher educators and researchers working together. It also symbolises:

Three phases of language development: Protolanguage, Transition, and Into Language (Painter, 2009)
The three meaning metafunctions: Field, Tenor and Mode
The three elements of the clause: participants, processes, circumstances
The adage of ‘learning language, learning through language and learning about language’ (Halliday, M.A.K., 2004.)

Brian Dare’s blog on the LLEN website elaborates on the thinking behind the LLEN logo.

Introducing the LLEN team

Many educators in the SFL community are giving their time to support the important initiative of LLEN. Each edition of the newsletter will put a spotlight on one of our many contributors, beginning with the tireless Beverly Derewianka.

Beverly Derewianka (born 1946) is Emeritus Professor of linguistics at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She is a leading figure in educational linguistics and Sydney School genre pedagogy. Her major research contributions have been in the field of literacy education. Her research projects tracing students’ literacy development have had a direct and substantial impact on curriculum and syllabus development in Australia and internationally. She has (co-)authored 11 books and numerous book chapters and journal articles in the field of literacy education.

Why is LLEN important, why are you involved and in what capacity?

For me, LLEN brings together the wealth of expertise and practical application in language education that has built up over the decades. It provides a focal point where we can get together and share ideas, resources, activities, research and just good company.

My involvement has been in helping to get LLEN off the ground and providing support to the various working parties. It has been gratifying to see the enthusiasm with which members have undertaken the variety of roles that keep LLEN flourishing.

What’s your greatest concern about language and literacy education right now?

In my opinion, the simplistic remedies offered by proponents of the Science of Reading/Science of Learning have drowned out other perspectives on learning. While cognitive science does have valuable insights to contribute (beyond the ‘teacher tips’ that currently dominate practice), it says nothing about the integral role of language in learning. It is for this reason that LLEN can play a vital part in providing support for teachers and teacher educators as well as offering an authoritative source of information for policy makers and curriculum designers.

Is there one positive sign you can see in education?

In terms of language, there is a resurgence of traditional grammar in the form of a theory-free collection of bits and pieces. However, there is still evidence of teachers (and whole schools) successfully implementing a functional model of language in innovative ways that make a difference to student outcomes. At the level of policy, there are a number of curriculum documents that can form the basis of a productive argument for implementing a coherent, functionally-oriented model of language. Again, an important role that LLEN can take on.

Introducing the LLEN website

The LLEN website was launched at the SFL conference in Glasgow in August 2025. It is now active and full of helpful resources for LLEN members. On the LLEN website you will find:

the underpinning theory and evidence on the LLEN approach;
an increasing number of resources for educators, including readings and professional learning;
news from around the world, and a number of stimulating; and
thought-provoking blogs written by LLEN members.

Have a browse!

Introducing the committees

The work of LLEN is divided into several committees, each taking on a more specific role in supporting the promotion of language and literacy in education.

In each newsletter, we will introduce and include news from the committees. In our first newsletter, we introduce the Professional Learning and Materials Publication Consortium.

The professional Learning and Materials Publication Consortium

The Consortium is convened by Dr Pauline Jones from the University of Wollongong, and Dr Kathy Rushton from the University of Sydney.

This Consortium has been productive from the start. They have been:

Identifying current SFL programs offered to educators within Australia and beyond
Collecting available materials which support the teaching of genre and language across the school years
Collecting and mapping existing classroom materials, teacher resources and organising them across year levels
Collecting available documents that describe the scope and sequence of genre and language across the years of schooling

Have a browse through their work on the LLEN website.

News from around Australia

This section is for you! If you have news relevant to the LLEN community, either personal achievements or publications, or news from your jurisdiction for us to consider, please email to bronwyn.parkin@outlook.com.au or damon.thomas@uq.edu.au.

English student proficiency assessment App developed in South Australia

Bev White is an experienced EALD educator, and currently Assistant Director, Literacy and Numeracy Policy for the South Australian Department for Education. Bronwyn Custance is a freelance literacy consultant.

Together they have had key roles in developing an App for teachers of EALD students. It has been a collaborative effort drawing expertise from many staff in both Curriculum and ICT. The App aims to support teachers in assessing the English proficiency of EALD students in the South Australian Department for Education.

For many years, the department has been using the Learning English: Achievement and Proficiency (LEAP) tool to assess Standard Australian English (SAE) and design learning that accelerates students’ language development. The LEAP Levelling process determines needs-based funding allocations to support eligible EALD students to accelerate SAE proficiency. This requires a significant amount of time and increases teacher workload.

The department decided to explore how AI might reduce this pressure, using their newly developed AI tool EdChat. They developed a LEAP App, which was launched in March 2025. Student writing samples are uploaded into the App. It produces a report providing a level against 7 grammatical aspects, an overall level, a description of what the student has achieved, and goals for improvement.

The App has been very successful in achieving its intended outcomes of reducing teacher workload, underpinned by the accurate descriptions of language development within the existing LEAP tool. The App does not replace teacher judgment and moderation processes. These are still needed in response to the information provided by the app, to make sure that appropriate levels of funding are allocated and subsequent teaching meets student needs.

Links to the LEAP tool (but not the App), and other versions of language scope and sequences can be found on the LLEN website.

Forthcoming professional development and conferences relevant to Australian members

The annual Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association conference SFL in Dialogue for a Dynamic Future is to be held in Adelaide, South Australia, from 3-5 December, at the University of South Australia, City West Campus. The first day, Wednesday 3rd is Teachers’ Day, with a great line up of speakers and symposia, including several presented by LLEN members. Registrations are still available. Please note it will not be streamed.

New publications

Language and Literacy: Essential knowledge for all teachers

Michael Carey, Vinh To, Xuesong Gao (Cambridge University Press 2025)

Literacy is important foundational knowledge for all teaching areas and classroom settings. Language and Literacy covers the building blocks of literacy, as well as the developmental skills all pre-service and in-service teachers need to teach effectively and meaningfully across the Australian curriculum. Part one moves chronologically from the early years to the secondary years, covering phonological, phonemic and morphological awareness, word and sentence-level grammar, language use in social contexts, and a discussion on English language diversity and change. Part two introduces the metalanguage, content knowledge and teaching methods required to develop students' competence in vocabulary, text types and grammar, as well as oracy, reading, writing and critical literacy. Each chapter includes discussion points and further resources to engage students, with key terms linked to the comprehensive glossary. Written by experienced educators, Language and Literacy is an essential resource, offering a focused exploration of language and literacy knowledge for pre-service and in-service teachers.

Contents

Part 1 - Language and literacy fundamentals

Chapter 1 - Phonological awareness
Chapter 2 - Phonemic awareness
Chapter 3 - Morphological awareness
Chapter 4 - Grammar
Chapter 5 - Social use of language

Part 2 - Developing language and literacy

Chapter 7 - Developing vocabulary
Chapter 8 - Teaching text types and grammar
Chapter 9 - Developing oracy
Chapter 10 - Developing reading
Chapter 11 - Developing writing
Chapter 12 - Developing critical literacy

Building a language toolkit for teachers: A functional Approach

Sally Humphrey, Ruslana Westerlund, Olga Malin (Routledge 2026)

This book is designed for pre-service teachers and K-8 educators seeking to develop their knowledge of how language works. Grounded in Systemic Functional Linguistics, it serves as a practical language toolkit, offering supportive task cycles with exercises that help teachers identify, analyze, and apply language features to support student learning. This book is essential for those looking to develop their pedagogical language knowledge (PLK) to support multilingual students. Through accessible, targeted, task-based resources for pre-service teachers, this guide supports teachers to apply a functional approach for disciplinary purposes of narrating, informing, explaining and arguing in elementary and middle grade level instruction.

Contents

The Functional Language Toolkit
Language for Disciplinary Learning
School genres and their structures
Cohesion of language
Density of language
Grammatical complexity
Precision of language

PETAA Black Friday book sale

The PETAA Black Friday Book Pack brings together 10 language-focused books, many written by LLEN members, that will be of interest. The pack is only $99.99 (down from $468.65 RRP). They can be bought individually for $9.99 per title. Until November 28th.

How you can be involved

LLEN has had a great start, and we are excited that there is so much enthusiasm and affirmation. The network is a work in progress. The committees are currently working on ways to involve the wider community, including network memberships. This newsletter will keep you up to date.