What’s New at MRU?

Recent news from MRU includes:

  • A book containing a chapter by Dr Jennifer Buckingham, Dr Robyn Wheldall and Emeritus Professor Kevin Wheldall was awarded the 2019 Australian Educational Publishing Award for Reference Resource. The chapter, ‘Systematic and explicit phonics instruction: A scientific, evidence-based approach to teaching the alphabetic principle’ was included in The Alphabetic Principle and Beyond: Surveying the Landscape, edited by Robyn Cox, Susan Feez and Lorraine Beveridge, and published by the Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).
  • The MRU published an article on the Phonics Screening Check performances of Year 1 InitiaLit students. An advance online publication of the article has been released by the Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties.
  • Dr Jennifer Buckingham has joined the MRU team as Director of Strategy and Senior Research Fellow.
  • Dr Meree Reynolds and Dr Jennifer Buckingham recently participated in a forum held by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) for phonics experts to consult on ways to strengthen phonics and phonemic awareness in the Australian Curriculum: English.
  • To keep up with Professor Kevin Wheldall, see his blog, ‘Notes from Harefield: Reflections by Kevin Wheldall on reading, books, education, family, and life in general’ (www.kevinwheldall.com). You can also follow him on Twitter: @KevinWheldall.

Recent conference paper presentations:

Madelaine, A., McMurtrie, A., Reynolds, M., Arakelian, S., Wheldall, R., Wheldall, K., & Bell, N. (2019, April). Exemplary Initial Instruction in Reading Shortens the Tail of At-Risk Readers. Paper presented at Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation Language, Literacy and Learning Conference, Perth.

Madelaine, A., McMurtrie, A., Reynolds, M., Arakelian, S., Wheldall, R., & Wheldall, K. (2018, October). Effective initial instruction in reading: An Australian perspective. Paper presented at The Reading League 2nd Annual Conference, Syracuse, NY.

Kemp, C., & Wheldall, R. (2018, July). The role of the special educator in academic learning and engagement: Let’s get professional. Paper presented at the Australasian Association of Special Education National Conference, Cairns.

Recent journal articles published or in press:

Bell, N., Farrell-Whelan, M., & Wheldall, K. (2019). Use of early word-reading fluency measures to predict outcomes on the Phonics Screening Check. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Wheldall, K., Bell, N., Wheldall, R., Madelaine, A., Reynolds, M., & Arakelian, S. (in press). A small group intervention for older primary school-aged low-progress readers: Further evidence for efficacy. Australian Educational Developmental Psychologist. doi:10.1017/edp.2019.15

Wheldall, K., Bell, N., Wheldall, R., Madelaine, A., & Reynolds, M. (2019) Performance of Australian children on the English Phonics Screening Check following systematic synthetic phonics instruction in the first two years of schooling. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/19404158.2019.1635500.

Publications by members of the MultiLit Research Unit since 2006:

  • Academic journal articles [link to PDF]
  • Books, published reports and edited special issues of journals [link to PDF]
  • Chapters in edited books [link to PDF]
  • Conference papers [link to PDF]
  • Instructional materials [link to PDF]
  • Other public output [link to PDF]
  • Unpublished research reports [link to PDF]

Copies of most of the research articles are available on request from MultiLit Pty Ltd ([email protected]).

For a list of publications by members of the MRU from prior to 2006, click here.

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