Learning Sciences Institute Australia
is pleased to invite you to our
LSIA International Symposium on Reading and Reading Engagement
10th and 11th July 2015
ACU Leadership Centre, Brisbane
Several significant challenges in advancing Australian education need urgent attention. One is the
persistent reading achievement gap evident in a range of test data. Despite past efforts to address
this, the reading gap persists. In Australia and other parts of the world, promoting and improving
reading education has been a top priority area of reform in the agenda for educational
improvement.
The LSIA International Reading Symposium is a timely international event taking a sharp focus on the
teaching and learning of reading, and reader engagement. The symposium will be of high interest
for educational researchers, school leaders, teachers and policy makers to rethink practices and
policies for promoting reading achievement and engagement, especially for disadvantaged students.
The world’s leading literacy researchers are coming, so join us to hear and meet:
Keynote presenter—Professor Barry McGaw, the former OECD Director responsible for
implementing PISA. Barry will share his international perspectives on the
testing of reading and its promotion from a global perspective.
Educational experts—20 experts from countries including Finland, Hong Kong and Singapore,
presenting their research findings and ongoing research work on reading.
Day One—Feature Abstract
Reading Engagement and Reading Literacy Performance:
Effective Policy and Practices in Hong Kong
Professor Esther S. C. HO & Associate Professor Dinky K.L. LAU
In PISA 2009, students’ engagement in reading was assessed by a comprehensive construct which provided an
understanding of how various aspects of home literacy environment, school climate and students’ reading
engagement related to their reading performance. This paper starts with a profile of students’ three indices of
reading engagement from the first cycle of PISA 2000+ to the fourth cycle of PISA 2009. We will examine to
what extent reading enjoyment and reading diversity have changed over the past 8 years in Hong Kong. We
will also explore student patterns of online reading, a new construct in PISA 2009, which is particularly relevant
to the information age. Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) is used to investigate the relative contribution of
different forms of reading engagement to students’ learning experience taking into consideration the family
socio-economic status and resources.
Day Two—Feature Abstract
Transforming literacy outcomes in high-poverty schools: An evidence-based approach
Dr Eithne Kennedy
Director ‘Write to Read’ Research Initiative
St Patrick’s College Dublin City University
While Ireland has performed well on PISA (with the exception of 2009) ranking among the top performing
countries in the world, and for the first time since 1972 has seen standards on national assessments rise
substantially (Shiel et al., 2015), like many highly-developed Western societies, there remains a sizeable gap in
achievement between children in low and high socio-economic status communities, despite the many policy
initiatives aimed at closing it. This paper reports on the ‘Write to Read’ research project, a collaborative
College, School and Community intervention with ten high-poverty schools in Dublin, Ireland. It is an up-scale of
an earlier successful pilot project with one school. Located within a transformative-emancipatory paradigm
(Tashakorrie & Teddlie, 2003; Mertens, 2003) it seeks to bring about not only a real change in achievement but
also a change in children’s motivation, engagement, confidence, and academic resilience.
Register online now: https://www.acu.edu.au/forms/lsia_international_symposium
This symposium offers a stimulating opportunity to engage in constructive dialogue with these
experts exploring new ideas for informing practices and policies to advance reading instruction.
If you have any question about registration, please email lsia@acu.edu.au
For more information about the LSIA Reading Symposium please visit: www.lsia.acu.edu.au
Thank you to all those already registered, we hope this invitation presents an opportunity for your
colleagues to join us as well!