International Literacy Day

This past weekend the UN celebrated International Literacy Day. Since 1967, the annual celebrations of International Literacy Day (ILD) have taken place on 8 September around the world.

Celebrations remind policymakers, practitioners, and the public of the critical importance of literacy for creating more literate, just, peaceful, and sustainable society.

This year, ILD is held with the theme, ‘Promoting multilingual education: Literacy for mutual understanding and peace’. The celebration will include the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes, with the ceremony on 9 and 10 September in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

ACU researchers have a long history of investigation and contribution to a global understanding of literacies under a broad linguistic lens.

This 2020 article from Frontiers in Psychology examined the relation between home literacy environment and early literacy development across English, Dutch, German, and Greek orthographies.

‘Home literacy environment and early literacy development across languages varying in orthographic consistency’

ACU researchers have contributed to a greater appreciation of literacies for a many linguistic backgrounds amongst Australians. These two studies from 2020 and 2023 give us insight into international student experiences and the impacts their linguistic backgrounds have had.

‘Does Spanish knowledge contribute to accurate English word spelling in adult bilinguals?’

‘What does reflection look and feel like for international students? An exploration of reflective thinking, reflexivity and employability’

In a broader range of topics, ACU’s research in the sociology and education disciplines continue to expand the national understanding of student and teacher experiences at the intersection of educational efficacy and literacies in multilingual participants. In alignment with the ACU mission, student and teacher wellbeing and associated considerations for the modern educational landscape in Australia are illustrated in these recent Open Access articles.

‘Sources of teacher efficacy in teaching reading: success, sharing, and support’

‘Legitimising disciplinary literacy: Rewriting the rules of the literacy game and enhancing secondary teachers’ professional habitus’

‘Literacy for digital futures: Mind, body, text’

‘Many truths, many knowledges, many forms of reason : Understanding middle-school student approaches to sources of information on the internet’

Open access publications allow broader readership for ACU research. You can read these full texts and more of ACU’s research discussing literacy and language backgrounds in the institutional repository, ACU Research Bank.