Issue 12, December 2021

We’re focusing on what works when it comes to literacy in this edition, and translating scientific evidence into practice both in the policy arena and on the ground in the classroom. Rosalie Martin, Nicola Bell, Jordana Hunter, Jennifer Buckingham, and James Chapman all share their perspectives on this issue.

In a similar vein, Mark Anderson shares how his thinking on the teaching of phonemic awareness has evolved, James Murphy does some myth-busting on the use of coloured papers and overlays in classrooms, and Tim Shanahan advises on how to make considered decisions when there is no research to turn to.

With some confusion in the education sphere about the respective roles of decodable and predictable texts in early reading, articles by Jennifer Buckingham and Simmone Pogorzelski, Susan Main and Janet Hunter provide some insights.

Elsewhere in this edition, Kevin and Robyn Wheldall explain the process behind the creation of assessment tools WARL and WARN, and Noel Pearson outlines his model for effective education in majority Indigenous schools, and how a similar approach could be applied for all disadvantaged students.

You can view a digital edition of Nomanis here, download a PDF of the whole edition here, or read the individual articles below:

• Editorial – A worm in my ear: Kevin Wheldall

• What we’ve been reading

• What if there is no reading research on an issue?: Tim Shanahan

• More WARs – The development of the WARL and the WARN: Kevin and Robyn Wheldall

• Papering over the reading gap: James Murphy

• On porcupines and predictable text – What are predictable texts and why are they a problem?: Jennifer Buckingham

• Following the evidence: Rosalie Martin

• I think I was wrong about phonemic awareness: Mark Anderson

• Threading together the sciences of reading: Nicola Bell

• Scaling up success in majority Indigenous schools: Noel Pearson

• Evidence and the real world: Jordana Hunter

• Decodable or predictable – Why reading curriculum developers must seize one: Simmone Pogorzelski, Susan Main, and Janet Hunter

• ‘Clarity’ leaves school leaders in the dark on the science of reading: Jennifer Buckingham

• Abandon our literacy myth: James Chapman

• Understanding research papers – A guide for teachers: Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel

Please share this issue with your friends and colleagues, and we would welcome your feedback.