A Guidebook for Teaching English: Foundation to Year 10, 1st edition
Published by Pearson (1 December 2026) © 2027
- Carol Smith University of Sunshine Coast
- A print text (hardcopy or paperback)
- Free shipping
Title overview
A ground-up Australian edition for proven literacy instruction
A Guidebook for Teaching English: Foundation to Year 10 equips primary and secondary teachers—both pre-service and practising—with proven techniques for teaching reading and writing to students across ages, levels and backgrounds. This Australia-specific text replaces Tompkins’ Literacy for the 21st Century.
Sections are organised by “What, How, and Who we teach in primary English classrooms,” with sub-sections aligned with ACv9e: English, current Australian teaching standards and the Early Years Framework. Several knowledge frameworks are integrated, including the 8 Ways Framework, Uncle Ernie’s Framework and Derewianka’s Teaching and Learning Cycle (2020).
Key features
Application activities
- Practical activities in select chapters offer hands-on applications students can take into the classroom.
- Real-life case studies illustrate the teaching strategies and challenges covered throughout the text.
- Trusted YouTube videos, available in the eTextbook, demonstrate real-world applications of the learning techniques discussed.
Highlighted concepts
- Teaching strategies boxes from the chapter are summarized in a list format. The bolded items in the list are represented with examples in Part D.
- Reflect boxes present questions encouraging students to reflect on what they’ve learned.
- Chapter review questions help gauge students’ comprehension of the material. Answers are provided at the end of the text.
Table of contents
PART A: WHAT WE TEACH IN ENGLISH – AN EVIDENCE-BASED AND BALANCED VIEW
- What do effective teachers in Years F-10 need to know to teach English?
- The English curriculum unpacked
PART B: UNDERSTANDING HOW TO TEACH THE CURRICULUM TO ACHIEVE LEARNING GOALS
- How do effective teachers teach the English curriculum?
- Teaching and Learning Cycles: Early Years
- Teaching and Learning Cycles – Middle and Upper Primary
- Teaching and Learning Cycles – Junior Secondary Years 7–10
PART C: UNDERSTANDING HOW TO TEACH THE RANGE OF LEARNERS IN CONTEMPORARY CLASSROOMS
- Who is the English learner?
- Who can I collaborate with to support the English learner?
PART D: PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL TEACHING STRATEGIES
- Instructional teaching strategies for oral language
- Instructional teaching strategies for reading
- Instructional teaching strategies for writing
END MATTER
Appendix: Lesson Plans
Answers to Review Questions
Author bios
About our author
Carol McCarthy Smith, PhD, has over 40 years’ experience in education, with an extensive career spanning secondary classroom teaching, English curriculum leadership, university research and lecturing across primary, secondary and postgraduate contexts.
She has worked closely with preservice and practising teachers through her roles as Program Coordinator of a Master of Education (Primary), lecturer and a Student and Teacher Mentor, and has held a range of influential educational roles, including consultant for Education Queensland, Assistant Chief Examiner for Senior English, assistant editor of the ALEA Journal Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, collaborator on education texts and current committee member of the Foundation for Learning and Literacy.
Carol has been a speaker at national and international literacy education conferences, where her presentations have been on preservice teacher education and effective English teaching practice. Across her career, she has worked alongside students, teachers, school leaders, administrators and researchers to strengthen English teaching, assessment, literacy intervention and curriculum design.
This is Carol’s third book in the field of English teaching and curriculum development. Her professional focus has consistently centred on helping primary and secondary students and their teachers develop both a love of language and literacy, and confidence and skill to use both with clarity, purpose and joy.
About our contributors
Savannah Vines is an experienced educator with a diverse professional background in education and business administration. Beginning her education career as a teacher aide and Early Years educator while completing a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood), Savannah has since taught across primary, secondary and tertiary settings, including a leadership role in a boarding school. Much of her teaching experience is in the areas of English and visual arts. Savannah’s future goals are to continue following her passion for education through further writing projects and curriculum development pursuits.
Peter Lawrence identifies as an Aboriginal man whose family is from the Rosewood Scrub on Yuggera speaking country. Peter has taught Australian history with Aboriginal focus for the past 25 years and taught Senior Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in the late 1990s. He has taught Senior Modern History for over 20 years and has presented at Queensland History Teachers State Conferences. Peter contributed a chapter to the Cambridge Press text, Senior Modern History, and to its second edition. He has been a researcher for the Ration Shed Museum, including the WW1 Black Diggers story – The Boys from Barambah. He has written for both Australians Together and for the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. He is a presenter of Crossing Cultures Hidden History, 8 Ways and Uncle Ernie Grant’s Holistic Framework, Black Diggers and the Frontier Wars.
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