Developing English Literacy Teaching in New Zaeland Secondary Schools

Academic language skills play a major role in school achievement. Research indicates that many problems students in New Zealand (NZ) face in different subject areas can be traced back to English literacy issues. Even though English is many students’ mother tongue in NZ, academic English still needs serious work to be mastered to be effectively used in learning different subjects. Students, nevertheless, do not seem to be receiving the kind of instruction or support they need to overcome their literacy weaknesses mainly because subject teachers, although knowledgeable in their own fields of expertise, lack the knowledge of or the appropriate attitude towards teaching English literacy. Providing an overview of NZ education system, the present paper briefly reviews the challenges of developing English across the curriculum and reports on a national project implemented recently to address the critical issue of literacy in NZ secondary schools.