Griff Linc is the Griffith University “Literacy in Context” research group

Literacy in context refers to the application of language and literacy skills within real-world situations. The Literacy in Context approach underscores the importance of learning in ways that are directly relevant to learners' lives, and offer meaningful, authentic experiences that purposefully draw from the broad set of skills related to language and literacy. Literacy in Context highlights the importance of a balanced approach to learning to read, write, view, create, speak, listen and engage with multimodal texts.

About Griff Linc

Griff Linc Reading Tutors

We train volunteer tutors to provide free online sessions for tweens and teens who are not yet fluent independent readers. Tutors use AI to create short-form high-interest information texts specifically for the student. Students are scaffolded through a six-step reading strategy. Formal reading assessments are provided to track students’ progress. To register as a volunteer tutor, contact Professor Beryl Exley or Dr Frances Hoyte.

Griff Linc for Primary Teachers

Griff Linc for Primary Teachers provides collaboratories between Griffith University Researchers and Partner Researchers in other Universities (e.g. Manchester Metropolitan University) to work with primary school teachers and school leaders on literacy research and teacher professional learning. Contact Professor Parlo Singh.

Griff Linc for Languages Teachers

We provide Digital Badges for Languages teachers to refine their multilingual literacy skills by translating for their local communities. This is an example of why Languages education in school is vital for our multilingual communities and shows how multilingual literacy skills are applied. Language teachers of Chinese and Italian can contact Dr. Danielle Heinrichs Henry.

Griff Linc Dialogic

We provide resources and online workshops to teachers to support their understandings of classroom talk and interaction practices and ways that a dialogic sensibility promotes oral language, meaning making and communication practices among learners. To register your interest in attending a workshop, contact Professor Christine Edwards-Groves.

Griff Linc Critical Literacies

We provide resources, practical frameworks and academic literature for teachers to help make critical literacy accessible and achievable in classrooms with culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Interested teachers can contact Assoc Prof Jennifer Alford.

Griff Linc 2021 Summit

Griff Linc 2021 Quality Teaching of Reading in the Early Years Summit provides pre-readings, the summit communique and TEDx style presentations by Professor Donna Pendergast OM, Dr Cheryl Vardon AO, Professor Beryl Exley, Myra Geddes, Sarah Richardson, Dr Melinda Miller, Associate Professor Dr Misty Adoniou, Dr Paul Gardner, Associate Professor Jessica Mantei, Julie Shepherd, Dr Deb Brosseuk, Emma Gulliford, Wendy Doyle, Adele Amoresen, Kristy Cundell and Janteina Batt.

Leading positive change

Griff Linc’s mission is to transform lives and add to human knowledge in a way that creates engagement, motivation and a future that benefits all. In the field of literacy research, Griffith University has an established reputation for pioneering studies that advance understandings of language, literacy development, multilingualism, and learning and teaching for high-quality foundational and critical outcomes in diverse contexts. Griff Linc researchers collaborate with local, national and international industry partners and key researchers from other world-renowned institutions to ensure their research impacts the development of theory, research methods, educational practices and policies, and people’s life worlds.

Become a Griff Linc Higher Degree Research Student

We invite aspiring researchers to join our Griff Linc Higher Degree Research Education Programs, designed to advance language and literacy research and practice. You will be supervised by experts, engage in cutting-edge studies, and collaborate with world-renowned researchers. Choose between a Masters of Education and Professional Studies (AQF9), Doctor of Education (AQF10), or Doctor of Philosophy (AQF10). We are committed to providing a comprehensive research experience, ensuring you develop the skills needed to make a significant impact in the field of language and literacy research. For more information, review the research profiles below and contact one of the academic team members whose specialisation aligns with your area of interest.

Griff Linc staff

Professor Beryl Exley

English curriculum; Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking; Multimodal texts; Pedagogic Rights

Professor Parlo Singh

Pedagogic innovations; Primary schooling; Equity and social justice; Public schooling in high poverty, cultural and linguistically diverse communities, Enhancing literacy across the curriculum

Professor Christine Edwards-Groves

Primary English curriculum; Classroom talk; Dialogic pedagogies; Practice; Conversation analysis; Middle leading and action research to support teacher learning

A/Professor Jennifer Alford

Language and Literacy Education with immigrant EAL learners; Critical Literacies; Critical Discourse Analysis; English curriculum (secondary school)

Dr Danielle Heinrichs

Multilingualism; Translanguaging; Language acquisition; Languages curriculum (Secondary); Decoloniality; New materialisms; Crisis and disaster communication

Dr Frances Hoyte

Primary English curriculum and literacy; Early years language and literacy

Griff Linc Research Collaborators

National

Dr Kylie Bradfield, Lecturer, School of Curriculum Teaching and Inclusive Education, Monash University, Australia

Professor Georgina Barton, Professor Literacies and Pedagogy, School of Education, University of Southern Queensland

Dr Nathan Lowien, Senior Lecturer in English Literacies and Language Education, The University of New England

Associate Professor Christina Davidson, Associate Professor in Literacy Education, School of Education, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga

Dr Grant Webb, Adjunct Griffith Institute for Educational Research (GIER), Griffith University Australia

Mr Andrew Barnes, Principal, Eagleby South State School

International

Professor Cynthia Brock, Wyoming Excellence in Higher Education Endowed Chari in Literacy Education, Literacy Research Centre & Clinic, University of Wyoming, USA

Professor Dr Meike Munser-Kiefer, Chair of Primary Education (Diversity), University of Regensburg, Germany

Professor Jessica Zacher Pandya, Dean, College of Education, California State University, Dominguez Hills, California

Associate Professor Hj Uswatun Qoyyimah, Unipdu, Jombang, Indonesia

Dr Richard Böhme, Lecturer and Researcher, Primary Education and Pedagogy (Diversity Focus), University of Regensberg, Germany

Professor Philippe Vitale, Professor of Sociology, Aix-Marseille University, member of the Institute of Labour Economics and Sociology (LEST), France

Professor Gemma Moss, Professor of Literacy, and Director of the International Literacy Centre, University College London, Institute of Education, England, United Kingdom

Professor Gabrielle Ivinson, Professor of Education and Community,

Online Resources

For Teachers

The following online resources provide research-informed examples of the Literacy in Context approach:

For Parents and Carers

  • The Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA) has developed a series of modules to support parents and carers with activities that can be shared with children.  The activities have been designed with an emphasis on learning through collaborative play and shared discovery.
  • The Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA) has curated a selection of children's literature to help parents and children engage in meaningful conversations about respectful relationships.

Griff Linc Higher Degree Research Projects

Completed

Dr Deb Brosseuk - Doctor of Philosophy (2019) "LAUNCH-ing an Organic Pedagogy to Stimulate Text Production Among Learners in the Early Years"

Elizabeth Baker – Master of Education and Professional Studies Thesis (2022) “An inquiry into the development of critical text creators: Teaching grammar in the primary years“

Dr Zongqian Li - Doctor of Philosophy (2024) "Social Class Identity of EFL Academics in Higher Education Institutions in China"

Dr Nandini Dutta - Doctor of Philosophy (2023) "Nurturing Student Agency in Global Citizenship Education: Agentic Teachers and Powerful Pedagogies"

Dr Carla Tapia Parada - Doctor of Philosophy (2023) "Pedagogical Work: Teachers' Struggles for Educational Justice in Chile"

Dr Henry Kwok - Doctor of Philosophy (2023) "Pedagogic Mis-governance in Hong Kong"

Dr Daniela Vasco - Doctor of Philosophy (2022) "Statistical Modelling for Students in the Margins of Educational Testing"

Dr Yijun Hu - Doctor of Philosophy (2020) "Being and Becoming Academics: A Case Study of Chinese Returned Academics Working on Knowledge Recontextualisation"

Dr Ellen Larsen - Doctor of Philosophy (2019) "The influence of attribution styles on beginning teachers' professional learner identities"

Dr Hyacinth Udah - Doctor of Philosophy (2016) "Understanding the Experience of African Immigrants in South East Queensland"

Dr Lindsey Judd - Doctor of Education (2017) "School-based Professional Learning Communities: collaboratiion, conversation, and innovation for literacy improvement"

Dr Roberta Thompson - Doctor of Philosophy (2016) "Teen Girls Online Participation. An Australian Study"

Dr Sarah Standage - Doctor of Philosophy (2015) "Changing Stories, Developing Identities, Transforming Education. A narrative thematic study of cultural identity in refugee inclusive classrooms"

Current Studies

Fernanda Maziero Junqueira - Doctor of Philosophy (Candidate) "Participatory Curatorship with a Children's Art Gallery"

Evangeline Moran - Doctor of Philosophy (Candidate) "A multimodal discourse analysis on the constructive quality of early learning spaces"

Nicola Stewart - Doctor of Philosophy (Candidate) " Writing with passion: doctoral students' collaboratory explorations in academic writing"

Sally Ryan - Doctor of Philosophy (Candidate) "What is the function of echolalia for children with autism?"

Mingyang Cai - Master of Education and Professional Studies Thesis (Candidate) "Investigating the Influence of Different Bilingual Subtitles on L3 Learning"

Novy Dharmawan - Master of Education and Professional Studies Thesis (Candidate) "Leveraging Multilingual Parent Involvement in Supporting Kindergarten Children’s Language and Communication"

Sophia Takasu - Doctor of Philosophy (Candidate) "Supporting cultural diversity in Australian early childhood settings through multilingual learning"

David Poulus - Doctor of Philosophy (Candidate) "Critical literacy pedagogies with multilingual students in Elite International Schools"

Kristy Cundell - Master of Education and Professional Studies Thesis (Candidate) "An inquiry into the integration of phonics knowledge and skills within a shared experiences language pedagogy in the foundation year of school"

Megan Wood - Doctor of Philosophy (Candidate, Australian National University, External Supervision, Griffith University) "Murrinh niyith-niyith pumawathangime purru ‘We make stories together’:  Place-based literacy in the Murrinhpatha classroom"

Lauren Hinton - Doctor of Philosophy (Candidate) "The Social Accomplishment of Group Work in Primary English Lessons"

Damien Airey - Doctor of Philosophy (Candidate) "School Cultural Influences on Differentiated Practices by Secondary School English Teachers"

Qiuyang Li - Master of Education and Research Studies Thesis (Candidate) "Constructing the promise of international student interaction: A critical discourse analysis of course promotional materials from two Australian universities"