Australian Literacies

Book excerpt: This book, which is intended to inform Australia's education community about various aspects of the national literacy debate and the policy development process, reviews the literature on literacy teaching in secondary and postsecondary education and the workplace and describes the sociocultural and educational context for development of literacy policy and programs in the 1990s. Among the topics discussed in the book's six parts are the following: part 1, broad context of literacy education (the powers of literacy; literacy levels among Australians; and citizenship, social equity, and competence); part 2, necessary content of a national policy on literacy (policy context; purpose and scope; definitions; considerations in defining literacy; teaching cycles); part 3, Australia's learners (Australian English speakers, language diversity and English literacy, indigenous Australians, special needs, socioeconomic disadvantage); part 4, school literacy education (the early years, the middle years, the later years, the postschooling sector); part 5, adult literacy, numeracy, English-as-a-Second-Language) education, and lifelong learning for all; and part 6, state and territory programs in literacy (literacy teaching and learning in department of education schools in South Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales, and the Northen Territory and literacy teaching and learning and current practices in literacy education in the Catholic and independent schools sectors). (Contains 162 references) (MN)