The SFL Stream Shines at ALEA 2026 - Lighting the Way with Literacy
11–12 July 2026 | Fremantle, Western Australia
The Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA) National conference was held from 11-12 July 2026 in Fremantle, Western Australia. The conference had a vibrant Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) stream which brought together leading researchers and educators to explore and share innovative SFL educational approaches for literacy teaching and learning from across Australia.
The SFL stream featured eight sessions spanning critical topics:
Genre Analysis of Vietnam EFL Textbooks by Dr Vinh To
Professional Learning on Functional Grammar and Genre Pedagogy for Vietnamese Teachers: Findings & Implications by Dr Vinh To
What to say when someone says it’s OK to have bad grammar by Professor Beryl Exley
Assessing students’ NAPLAN narrative writing by Dr Nathan Lowien
Multimodal Reading Interpretation and Picturebook Plot Twists by Dr Nathan Lowien and Dr Jill Colton
Picturebooks as Gateways to Grammar by Ms Libby Baker
Engagement in Research Article Conclusions: Exploring Dialogic Space Across Disciplines by Aisha Sultana
Designing Dialogic Writing Pedagogies: SFL in Action Through Texts, Talk and Scaffolding by Frankie Roberts & Lauren Haggis
Looking Ahead: AJLL Special Issue
The momentum extends into 2027 with the call for contributions to a Special Issue of The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy marked for publication in December 2027. The titled of the Special Issue is Teaching Grammar as Meaning: Applications of Systemic Functional Linguistics in Classrooms and Initial Teacher Education
Edited by Professor Beryl Exley, Dr Vinh To, Dr Nathan Lowien, and Associate Professor David Caldwell, this special issue critically examines how SFL-informed pedagogies are enacted across early years, primary, secondary, and initial teacher education settings.
Call for Papers (Due 1 February 2027)
The issue welcomes submissions across five themes: classroom enactment of SFL, multimodality and expanding notions of grammar, initial teacher education, curriculum and policy contexts, and methodological contributions.
The special issue welcomes submissions across five key themes:
Classroom Enactment of SFL – Teaching grammar as meaning-making across year levels and curriculum areas, including support for EAL/D and CALD learners
Multimodality and Expanding Notions of Grammar – Visual grammar, multimodal texts, digital literacies, videogames, and AI-generated texts
Initial Teacher Education & In-Service Teacher Education – Building preservice teachers' metalinguistic knowledge and pedagogies for teaching SFL
Curriculum and Policy Contexts – The place of SFL in the Australian Curriculum, curriculum design, and barriers to implementation
Methodological and Theoretical Contributions – Innovative research methods and extensions of SFL for contemporary education
Timeline:
Papers due: 1 February 2027
Reviews completed: 1 April 2027
Resubmissions due: 1 July 2027
Ready for typesetting: 1 September 2027
Published: 1 December 2027
Manuscripts can be submitted through The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy (AJLL) Springer Website. AJLL is a Q1, double-blind peer-reviewed journal. Further information about AJLL can be found at the following link:
