Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915

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Author: search.filters.author.Denston ASubject: search.filters.subject.1303 Specialist Studies in Education

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    Teacher experiences and perceptions related to developing a culturally and linguistically responsive emergent bilingual literacy program in Aotearoa New Zealand: A collaborative case study
    (Cambridge University Press, 14/12/2022) Denston A; Martin R; Taite-Pitama M; Green A; Gough R; Gillon G
    In this article we discuss teachers’ perceptions and experiences of a collaborative case study to adapt a literacy approach originally designed for an Aotearoa New Zealand English-medium context. The approach was adapted to meet the needs of learners in a school offering differing levels of bilingual education. Our collaboration included a facilitating researcher, supported by two researchers at a University (of Ngāi Tahu, Kati Mamoe, and Waitaha descent) and two classroom teachers of Māori descent from a small rural Māori community in Aotearoa New Zealand. We report findings from qualitative data collected from the two classroom teachers as part of the research process, analysed using a wānanga approach. Findings suggested that developing a linguistically and culturally responsive literacy approach to foster emergent bilingual language development required Kaupapa Māori approaches. These included ako (acknowledging the experiences and knowledge of the teacher and learner within shared learning experiences), the development of trust and quality relationships between the teachers and the facilitating researcher, and the ability of teachers to be agentic when implementing the approach. Teachers viewed responsiveness to culture and language as integral to developing an emergent bilingual literacy approach for children, which underpinned connections between teachers, children, and families.
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    Teachers’ perspectives of social-emotional learning: Informing the development of a linguistically and culturally responsive framework for social-emotional wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2022) Denston A; Martin R; Fickel L; O'Toole V
    Teachers’ understandings of social-emotional wellbeing contribute to developing ways that teachers can engage with students to develop social-emotional skills. This collaborative research project adopted a critical participatory action research methodology, informed by Kaupapa Māori research principles. The perceptions of teachers were explored through wānanga (ethical spaces for research) to inform the development of a co-constructed culturally and linguistically sustaining framework for social-emotional wellbeing. Findings suggested that creating a framework requires being informed by indigenous models of wellbeing. Results suggest that developing such a framework requires teachers to develop understandings of their own social-emotional competencies, as well as their students.
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    The identification and classification of struggling readers based on the simple view of reading
    (John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2022-08) Sleeman M; Everatt J; Arrow A; Denston A
    The simple view of reading (SVR) predicts that reading difficulties can result from decoding difficulties, language comprehension difficulties, or a combination of these difficulties. However, classification studies have identified a fourth group of children whose reading difficulties are unexplained by the model. This may be due to the type of classification model used. The current research included 209 children in Grades 3–5 (8–10 years of age) from New Zealand. Children were classified using the traditional approach and a cluster analysis. In contrast to the traditional classification model, the cluster analysis approach eliminated the unexplained reading difficulties group, suggesting that poor readers can be accurately assigned to one of three groups, which are consistent with those predicted by the SVR. The second set of analyses compared the three poor reader groups across 14 measures of reading comprehension, decoding, language comprehension, phonological awareness, and rapid naming. All three groups demonstrated reading comprehension difficulties, but the dyslexia group showed particular weaknesses in word processing and phonological areas, the SCD group showed problems deriving meaning from oral language, and the mixed group showed general deficits in most measures. The findings suggest that the SVR does have the potential to determine reading profiles and differential intervention methods.