Research Projects

The focus of the LLANS project for the current year is on dissemination, research and development, and on planning for the collection of further longitudinal data, addressing a new set of key research questions with a new sample of children. The monograph on LLANS in Years 3-6 is under way, and will include full reports of the achievement distribution of students in the sample for literacy and numeracy, and a section on growth modelling. Further analysis of the LLANS data has provided insights into the distribution of student achievement for different kinds of assessment tasks related to critical aspects of literacy development. Papers based on this study will be presented at the 2008 BERA and ECER conferences in September, and at AARE in November. Further conference papers, articles for refereed journals, and a book chapter are in preparation.  A full summary has been prepared of the use of LLANS literacy assessments in four major research studies between 2000-2007. In each of these studies, the LLANS literacy tasks and scales have been used to gather information about student growth in literacy over time. The NT ELA project involves the collection of achievement data over three years, using LLANS Surveys 1-8. The recently published report, Teaching for Growth: Effective teaching of literacy and numeracy, (Louden, et al, 2008) University of WA, provides an account the use of LLANS assessments in the project. Further development of LLANS literacy assessments will be undertaken during the current year. A new form will be developed for use at school entry, and new modules for Surveys 2-5. This will update the assessment instruments for use in future research projects.