March-May 2012 summary

AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL FUTURE FELLOWSHIP UPDATE
‘Speaking my language: International speech acquisition in Australia’
Written by Kim Woodland, Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education for the May 2012 RIPPLE Update

Sharynne and Dr Yvonne Wren in Bathurst

Sharynne began March by speaking to over 400 parents and teachers from 30 rural and remote schools throughout New South Wales. Her presentation—Supporting children’s speech and language development—was part of RDE RELATE, a community education initiative from the Department of Education and Communities’ Country Areas Program which aims to support rural and remote communities by using videoconferencing to broadcast important speakers and issues. Work has also continued on the Early Years Education Collaborative Research Network (EYE CRN), including a two-day meeting in Albury where Sharynne worked with colleagues from three universities to analyse data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). She used the wealth of information from her Fellowship experience to focus on children speaking languages other than English. Dr Yvonne Wren from The University of the West of England visited in April, and they worked on a journal article, conference presentation and a grant submission. An international speech assessment project Sharynne has been supervising with Dr Martin Barrett, which involved Masters’ students from East Tennessee State University creating a prototype computer program for the International Speech Assessment, was wrapped up in early May with a final presentation. Sharynne has also continued publishing, with three co-authored journal articles on children's speech and language recently being released.

The RIPPLE Effect is published here: http://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/255163/The-RIPPLE-Effect-Issue-1-2012.pdf