Australian Journal Research Articles

What counts as ‘evidence’ in literacy education?

A recent issue of the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy included an article reporting on a systematic narrative review of the research literature that indicated that there was insufficient evidence to conclude whether genre theory and systemic functional linguistics either ‘worked’ or ‘did not work’. The criteria used to evaluate these studies excluded any study that did not conform to the ‘gold standard’ associated with experimental research such as randomised controlled trials. In response to this provocative finding, a group of SFL researchers decided to examine just what counts as evidence of quality literacy research these days. In this paper, we question the overreliance on experimental research at the expense of other methods. We illustrate this with a sample of notable studies that do not meet experimental criteria, but which nevertheless have made a significant contribution to school literacy outcomes in Australia and elsewhere.

Resisting research evidence-base deficits: a comprehensive analysis of a leading English association journal over a decade

ABSTRACT This paper considers the research evidence-base informing teaching practice and policy in subject English in schools. We explore the Australian Journal of English Education, the flagship research publication from the Australian Association of Teachers of English, at a time when an evidence-base is in high demand. Our aim is to understand the research outputs that are valued by the authors, editors, reviewers and readers of this association journal. We analyse the research published from the release of the Australian Curriculum English in 2014, until the end of 2022. We deduce the particular topic contributions made in 139 research articles according to the message systems of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. We also consider the theories, methods and recommendations made in the light of increasingly recognised deficits in the research evidence base around knowledge, efficacy and application. Our findings indicate robust engagement with highly contextualised research making visible the transformative work of English teachers.

Editorial

We are pleased to bring you Volume 53 Issue 1 of The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. We wish to thank the authors, reviewers, and editorial board members for their contributions to this volume. Thanks also to the Indigenous Engagement Division at The University of Queensland and Informit for their financial support of the journal. We hope you enjoy this volume of AJIE.

Fairness, tika and political science in Aotearoa New Zealand: Some “inconvenient evidence”

This article is a rejoinder to Annie Te One and Maria Bargh’s article, published in the previous edition of The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, exploring whether the political science discipline in Aotearoa New Zealand is keeping pace with change with respect to Māori politics content in university political science programs, the number of Māori employed in the political science profession and the content of New Zealand's Political Science journal. While acknowledging the importance of their case, an assessment of the empirical evidence and further analysis of the data and the methods used by Te One and Bargh refutes their allegations in relation to all three issues. As one of the co-editors of Political Science, I note that, from 2012 to 2022, the acceptance rate of articles on Māori politics was 91.7% and that of Māori authors submitting on a Māori topic was 100%. Recognition and change are underway.

The Consensus Reporting Items for Studies in Primary Care (CRISP) checklist - the first research reporting guideline made by and for primary care.

sion="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> PY Australian Journal of Primary Health Aust. J. Prim. Health 1448-7527 1836-7399 CSIRO Publishing 36 Gardiner Road Clayton 3168 Victoria Australia PY24115 10.1071/PY24115 Letter The Consensus Reporting Items for Studies in Primary Care (CRISP) checklist - the first research reporting guideline made by and for primary care E. A. Sturgiss and W. R. Phillips Sturgiss Elizabeth A. A * Phillips William R. B School of Primary and Allied Health Care, Monash University , Melbourne , Vic , Australia . University of Washington , Seattle , WA , USA . * Correspondence to: Elizabeth A. Sturgiss School of Primary and Allied Health Care, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic, Australia Email: liz.sturgiss@monash.edu 30 August 2024 30 5 PY24115 28 July 2024 Received: 28 July 2024 10 August 2024 Accepted: 10 August 2024 30 August 2024 Published: 30 August 2024 © 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of La Trobe University 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Here, we present the Consensus Reporting Items for Studies in Primary Care (CRISP) checklist, the first research reporting guide developed by and for the primary care research community.

Considering Diversity in Educational Research that Explores School-Community Relationships

This special issue of the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education explores school-community relationships from a diversity perspective. The contributions originated in presentations delivered as part of the European Educational Research Association’s Network 14 sessions at the annual European Conference in Educational Research in August 2023. The papers present perspectives from a wide range of contexts: from Asia and Australia to Europe and South America.

Ctenotus rungulla sp. nov. (Scincidae; Sphenomorphinae), a new sandstone-associated skink that highlights reptile endemism in Queensland's Gregory Range

Cuckoo wasp strip.jpg Open-access, online, rapid taxonomy Australian Journal of Taxonomy AJT Home | Taxonomy Australia Home https://doi.org/10.54102/ajt Ctenotus rungulla sp. nov. (Scincidae; Sphenomorphinae), a new sandstone-associated skink that highlights reptile endemism in Queensland's Gregory Range Stephen M. Zozaya, Dylan W. Case, & Conrad J. Hoskin Author details ⏷ Abstract We describe a new sphenomorphine skink, Ctenotus rungulla sp. nov., currently known only from sandstone habitats in the Gregory Range of inland northern Queensland. Ctenotus rungulla sp. nov. would be identified as C. brevipes or C. terrareginae using keys available at the time of publication. The new species differs most obviously from the regionally sympatric C. brevipes in having 5–6 distinct ear lobules, which are entirely absent in C. brevipes. The new species differs from the allopatric C. terrareginae in being smaller and in various aspects of colour-pattern. Mitochondrial DNA sequence data, however, indicate that C. rungulla sp. nov. is most closely related to the allopatric C. ingrami, from which the new species differs in being smaller, lacking a vertebral stripe, possessing a red-orange flush on the hindbody, and in having a higher midbody scale row count. Ctenotus rungulla sp. nov. is now the fourth reptile species known to be endemic to the Gregory Range, highlighting the biodiversity values of this remote rocky region.

John Costa’s 35 Years of Contributions to this Telecommunications Journal

John Costa has retired from this Journal’s Board of Editors, after 35 years of active contribution. From 1990 to 1992, he was Executive Editor (and Editor-in-Chief), producing eight issues of the Telecommunication Journal of Australia (TJA), the name of this Journal up until 2013. Just as significant were the many subsequent issues of the Journal for which he was Guest Editor, from 1994 onwards. TJA evolved first into the Australian Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy (AJTDE: 2013–2018) and subsequently the more deliberately international Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy (JTDE: 2019– ). As an ongoing and popular member of the Editorial Advisory Board, John was noted for his skill in commissioning new papers from distinguished overseas authors, as well as the impetus he gave the Journal in its coverage of new forms of satellite and terrestrial radio communications.

Transdisciplinary perspectives on ‘the narrative’ and ‘the analytical’ for critical literacy

This paper reports on the design of a multimodal metalanguage developed by teacher education researchers to support pre-service teachers’ understandings of critical literacy and critical health literacies in a changing communication landscape. The design of metalanguage constitutes the first stage of an ongoing transdisciplinary project, Multiliteracies Across Teaching Areas (MATA), which aims to design and implement cohesive disciplinary multiliteracies pedagogies across teaching areas of an initial teacher education (ITE) programme. The focus on metalanguage design is motivated by concerns shared by critical literacy scholars and scholars in health literacy to balance deconstruction of texts with actionable response through the ‘deep moral grammar of narrative’ Kindenberg and Freebody (Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 44(2), 90-99, 2021). Such concerns also align with recent World Health Organisation calls for the use of solution-oriented literacies to empower communities. These sociocultural understandings of critical literacy and Kindenberg and Freebody’s (Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 44(2), 90-99, 2021) call to balance ‘the analytical’ and the narrative’ in critical literacy practice provide the starting point for designing metalanguage for transdisciplinary research in Health and Physical Education (HPE) and English. We firstly review relevant models of the critical informing both subject areas to establish synergous understandings and then analyse expectations of critical practice in descriptions and elaborations of the HPE and English curricula. We provide an overview of the semiotic resources available for transdisciplinary conversations within the English curriculum with clarifying ‘bridging’ terminology informed by social semiotic descriptions. Through close analysis of four representative texts selected for critical literacy practice by English and HPE teacher educators in the MATA project, we demonstrate how such metalanguage was shared to build understandings of both critical analysis and actionable response. Along with analytical features to build and analyse issues according to disciplinary criteria, we show how stories are used to build rapport with their diverse audiences and to motivate their peers to take positive health action.

Review of selected research in applied linguistics published in Australia (2015–2022)

Abstract This article provides a review of research in applied linguistics published in Australia in the period 2015–2022. Primarily, it is based on articles from Australian publications as material from other sources is more widely available to an international audience. The research has been published in such journals as the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Australian Review of Applied Linguistics (ARAL), BABEL, English in Australia, Papers in Language Testing and Assessment and TESOL in Context. Five key areas of research are discussed: First Nations peoples and their multilingualism, language and migration, language testing and assessment, language curricula and pedagogy, and teacher development, and their identity and pedagogical beliefs.

'On the inhalation of the vapour of Æther, with cases': The first paper on anaesthesia read before a medical society in Australia.

On 7 September 1847, in Melbourne in the Port Phillip District of the Colony of New South Wales, David John Thomas (1813-1871) presented a paper, 'On the inhalation of the vapour of Æther, with cases', at an ordinary monthly meeting of the Port Phillip Medical Association. This is the earliest known presentation of a paper on etherisation in Australia. The partial publication of the manuscript in October 1847 in the Australian Medical Journal may have led to it being returned to Thomas in Melbourne. The handwritten manuscript is now preserved in the Medical History Museum, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria. A transcript of the complete manuscript is now recorded with relevant historical notes.

BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF ENDOCROWN STUDIES PUBLISHED IN ENDODONTIC JOURNALS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF SCI-EXPANDED

Purpose: This study aimed to make a bibliometric analysis of endocrown studies published in the International Endodontic Journal (IEJ), Journal of Endodontic (JOE) and Australian Endodontic Journal (AEJ) within the scope of Science Citation Index Expanded (Sci-Exp). Methods: Studies published in IEJ, JOE and AEJ journals were determined using the keyword 'endocrown'. The article title, keywords and content of the articles were examined. The publications were recorded, including the journal, publication year, countries where the authors were located, type of publication, number of citations. Results: One abstract, three research articles, and four reviews, were retrieved. Five of these studies were published in the IEJ and the remaining three were in the JOE, any publication related to endocrowns could not be found in the AEJ. JOE was superior to IEJ in terms of the number of citations. The number of researchers participating in studies was the highest in Brazil. Conclusion: Limited number of articles were found on endocrowns in the endodontic journals within the scope of sci-expanded. All reviews and the abstract were included in IEJ whereas all of the research articles were published in JOE. The most cited publication was a research article in JOE.

What Does a Quality Education Look Like in Rural Schools?

This issue of the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education features articles that describe and critically analyse rural education, the common thread being 'What Does a Quality Education Look Like in Rural Schools?'. The education settings discussed include Australia, Czechia, Iraq, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, and the United States. The studies presented reflect the huge diversity of rural schooling and the many factors that work to support quality education. What does quality rural education look like? It looks like teachers who have a strong connection to place, with strategies for teaching that connect with students from the place. It looks like teachers who are flexible and open to learning. It looks like a supportive system. It looks attractive to parents. It looks like contextualised learning. It looks like parents and communities engaged in their children's learning at school. It is potentially transformative. It looks like a workforce that has good access to professional learning options. It looks like good governance, with local Elders and community leaders involved and driving a vision for education. It looks like strong peer relationships, and a culturally safe learning environment. It does not necessarily look like the narrowly defined metrics that are often used to define success or the deficits that are too often described in association with rural education.

The Australian Medical Journal, August 1846.

Medical journals started appearing formally in Europe in the 17th century and in North America in the 18th century. In Australia, the first issue of Australian Medical Journal (AMJ) was issued in Sydney, under the stewardship of a New South Wales (NSW) senior surgeon William Brooks working in Newcastle (NSW) in August 1846. This article refers to that issue of AMJ exploring its contents and context. In terms of original articles, only one on the surgical procedures carried out on two patients suffering strangulated hernias in the Parramatta-Public Hospital by Surgeon Thomas Robertson occurs. The other inclusions are précis from contemporary British medical journals. The AMJ appeared only for a year; why it ceased publication in 1847 is not clear. It was resurrected by the Medical Society of Victoria, Melbourne in 1856, issuing 40 annual volumes uninterruptedly until 1895. With the incorporation of other regional Australian medical journals, AMJ was re-named as the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) in 1914. As MJA, it continues to perform to-date. Natl Med J India 2023;36:263-8.

(Re)positioning Indigenous games in HPE: turning to criticality

ABSTRACT In 2011, the Australian national curriculum called for the inclusion of Indigenous histories, cultures and perspectives/knowledges, prompting Health and Physical Education (HPE) teachers in schools and academics within higher education have experimented with and reported upon different purposes and ways of teaching Indigenous Games. However, Australian schools remain sites of epistemic injustice, where the privileging of Western knowledges marginalises alternative voices and knowledge systems, maintaining disciplinary terra nullius [terra nullius means ‘empty land’ – it was a legal fiction, overturned by the High Court of Australia in 1992, used by British settler-colonisers to justify the invasion of Australia. In this context, we mean that Physical Education in Australia still assumes erroneously that Western knowledges are the only available knowledges]. Worryingly, experimentation with Indigenous games, by predominantly white educators with minimal understanding of Indigenous histories and cultures, has resulted in confusion and apprehension over their purpose and place in the curriculum, leading toward either omission or cultural appropriation, rather than deep, critical engagement with Indigenous Knowledges. Centring on the publication and implementation of Yulunga: Traditional Indigenous Games [Edwards, K., & Meston, T. (2009). Yulunga: Traditional indigenous games. Ausport. http://www.ausport.gov.au/participating/indigenous/resources/games_and_activities/full_resource], we reappraise the Australian approach toward Indigenous games, suggesting this work has occurred over three distinct time periods or ‘waves’. Conceptualising this work with the heuristic of ‘three waves’ provides a useful contribution to the field, revealing a lack of substantive progress in including Indigenous knowledges and perspectives in HPE. We argue HPE educators and researchers are complicit in the marginalisation and/or omission of Indigenous knowledges and perspectives and must shift current practice toward a ‘fourth wave’ of implementing Indigenous games with criticality. We call for a revisiting of Martin Nakata’s [(2002). Indigenous knowledge and the cultural interface: Underlying issues at the intersection of knowledge and information systems. IFLA Journal, 28(5-6), 281–291. https://do.org/10.1177/034003520202800513; Nakata, M. (2007). The cultural interface. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 36, 1–7. Nakata, M. (2011). Pathways for Indigenous education in the Australian curriculum framework. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 40(1), 1–8. https://do.org/10.1375/ajie.40.1] theory of the Cultural Interface – a theory of critique of knowledge systems. Nakata [(2002). Indigenous knowledge and the cultural interface: Underlying issues at the intersection of knowledge and information systems. IFLA Journal, 28(5-6), 281–291. https://do.org/10.1177/034003520202800513] cautioned that Indigenous knowledges and perspectives cannot be simply dropped into contested knowledge domains. Now more than ever, knowledge of critical frameworks like Nakata’s are required to disrupt the entrenched white disciplinary praxis of Australian HPE.

Enhancing Visual Perception in Children Ages 4-12 Years: A Systematic Review of Technology-based Interventions

Introduction: Visual perception plays a pivotal role in a child’s overall development and learning. Occupational therapists often employ interventions to support children in enhancing their visual perception skills, with technology-based approaches gaining prominence in recent years. This review intends to highlight the significance of visual perception interventions, especially those involving technology. Aim: To systematically synthesise the literature on the effectiveness of technology-based interventions on visual perception in children with disabilities aged 4-12 years. Materials and Methods: A comprehensive search of studies was conducted using electronic databases (Scopus, PubMed, ProQuest, and OTseeker). Additionally, studies were also considered through manual searches from printed journals (American Journal of Occupational Therapy, British Journal of Occupational Therapy, Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, and the Australian Journal of Occupational Therapy) to identify existing technology-based visual perception interventions in children aged 4-12 years. Risk of Bias was conducted through guidelines for systematic review by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). Data extraction was reported by tabulating author(s) and year, sample characteristics, outcome measures used, study design, intervention details (experimental, comparator, study setting, duration), and outcomes of the studies. Results: In the present review of 13 studies, two studies used iPad interventions, while 11 used computer-based interventions, targeting various clinical groups like developmental delays, dyslexia, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, down syndrome, hydrocephalus, and special needs. Occupational therapists led most studies, with some involving physiotherapists, educators, and multidisciplinary teams. iPad interventions focused on visual skills with structured apps, while computer methods included games and software like Microsoft Office and Computerised Visual Perception Training (CVPT) for visual training. Positive effects were seen on visual perception and motor skills across different conditions with these technology-based interventions. Conclusion: Visual perception interventions, particularly those incorporating technology, have become invaluable in the field of paediatric occupational therapy. As technology continues to evolve, occupational therapists must remain adaptive and innovative in their strategies to provide the best possible support for children with visual perception difficulties.

Editorial

We are pleased to bring you Volume 52 Issue 2 of The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. The journal celebrated its 50th anniversary this year and we held a special event with Elders, community members, editorial board members, staff and students from a number of universities. We also welcomed a new editorial board to AJIE this year and we thank them for their service to the journal.

Mapping the knowledge structure and trends in Australian Indigenous health and wellbeing research from 2003 to 2022: a scientometric analysis

The health and wellbeing of Australian Indigenous peoples is a nationally sanctioned priority, but despite this, few studies have comprehensively analyzed the features and characteristics of the research in the field. In this regard, a comprehensive scientometric analysis and knowledge mapping to systematically summarize and discuss the current state of research, research trends, and emerging areas of research were conducted. Original articles and reviews published between 2003 and 2022 were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace and VOSviewer software were used to perform scientometric analysis and knowledge mapping. An examination of document and citation trends, authors, institutions, countries/regions, journals, and keywords was untaken, while co-citation, co-occurrence, and burst analysis provide insights and future development in this area. A total of 2,468 documents in this field were retrieved. A gradual increase in the number of documents over the past two decades is observed, with the number of documents doubling every ~7.5 years. Author Thompson SC and Charles Darwin University published the most documents, and 85.6% were affiliated with only Australian-based researchers. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health is the most prominent journal publishing in the field. The most commonly co-occurring keyword was “health,” and the keyword “risk” had the longest citation burst. Five keyword clusters were identified; “cultural safety” was the largest. This study articulates the knowledge structure of the research, revealing a shift from population-level and data-driven studies to more applied research that informs Indigenous peoples health and wellbeing. Based on this review, we anticipate emergent research areas to (1) reflect a more comprehensive understanding of the multidimensional factors that shape Indigenous health and wellbeing; (2) move beyond a deficit-based perspective; (3) respect cultural protocols and protect the rights and privacy of Indigenous participants; (4) address racism and discrimination within the healthcare system; (5) foster respectful, equitable, and collaborative research practices with Indigenous peoples; (6) provide culturally appropriate and effective interventions for prevention, early intervention, and treatment; and (7) ensure equitable change in systems to enhance access, quality, and outcomes in health and wellbeing.

The Perennials and Trends of Rural Education

For over 30 years, the Journal of the Society for Provision of Education in Rural Australia has reported research and practice discourses associated with rural, regional and remote education, with the aim of impacting policy and practices relating to education in rural Australia. The journal, originally named Education in Rural Australia, commenced in 1991 and, with an increasingly international focus, changed to the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education in 2012. This article critically synthesises the content of the Journal, which includes 500 unique contributions. The articles were placed into an NVivo project and coded using themes derived from word frequency counts. The critical analysis identifies nine perennial themes that appear regularly throughout the 33 volumes: aspiration, success and achievement; community and relationships at the centre of rural education; curriculum, pedagogy and assessment; deficit discourses; equity, rights and justice; parents and family; resourcing and funding; rurality and place, and teacher preparation. In addition, the analysis identifies trending issues, which wax and wane over the Journal’s life. This article highlights the Journal’s important and sustained contribution to research evidence for rural education. From the perennial and trending issues, it is possible to see the interconnections and influences between themes, but also the absence of discourses in certain areas that calls for future research. The analysis has policy implications for education stakeholders, particularly given that some of the concerns raised by the articles in the Journal remain largely unanswered more than 30 years on. This article calls for change and challenges policy makers to address issues that we already know exist and have provided possible solutions.

Importance of Local Voices in Rural Communities

In this issue of the Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, our authors explore the importance of giving voice to people whose lives and learning journeys are entwined with ‘the rural’. The articles reflect the concerns of Australian First Nations students and researchers, of young people and medical students on a vocational pathway, and of Nigerian people navigating risks in post-secondary education. They also reflect the voices of researchers who have contributed to the Journal for over 30 years.