Associate ProfessorAlison Arrow

My research is broadly cross-disciplinary in nature and has two key areas. The first is an interrogation into what cognitive development in learners looks like, primarily the study of the development of literacy ability, and its component factors, from early childhood to adolescence. This includes exploring factors that influence development such as executive function, neurodiversity, wellbeing, learning difficulties, use of digital technologies, and home literacy practices. The second research area examines what the beliefs and practices of parents and of teachers looks like, and the implications for children. This includes what exploring what effective literacy instruction looks like in the use of explicit instruction, text use, the application of teacher knowledge and how to meet the needs of students. My research explores these areas in English learning but also examines literacy development and learning across languages.

My research has led to my involvment in the changes to literacy practices across the motu. I led the development of the Ready to Read Phonics Plus series and the Scope and Sequence underpinning the series for the Ministry of Education. I also contributed to the development of the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA). Other national level work for the Ministry of Education includes being a member of the Literacy and Communication Group that developed the unpublished Common Practice Model, being a member of the writing team for the redevelopment of the Year 0-6 English curriculum in Te Matāiaho, revising aspects of the PACT assessment tool, and contributing the the development of the Phonics Check assessment used in the first year of school.

Current research supervision (Masters and PhD) is available in the following areas:

• Factors related to learning to read and spell words in beginning readers and learners experiencing difficulties, including orthographic learning, the use of decodable texts, levels of explicit instruction, early literacy experiences
• Kaiako / teacher experiences, self-efficacy, knowledge, beliefs and practices in literacy across the educational sectors 
• Home literacy experiences and the relationship to literacy and langugage including well-being, self-efficiacy, bilingual learning, and literacy outcomes