title: The Routledge handbook of planning for health and well-being: shaping a sustainable and healthy future [Book Review]

authors: Mackness, Kate

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: This article reviews the book “The Routledge handbook of planning for health and well-being: shaping a sustainable and healthy future”, edited by Hugh Barton, Susan Thompson, Sarah Burgess and Marcus Grant, Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge, 2015, 617 pp.

text: The Routledge handbook of planning for health and well-being: shaping a sustainable and healthy future [Book Review] This article reviews the book “The Routledge handbook of planning for health and well-being: shaping a sustainable and healthy future”, edited by Hugh Barton, Susan Thompson, Sarah Burgess and Marcus Grant, Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge, 2015, 617 pp.

year: 2018

title: Exploring local perceptions on visual media representations of climate change and last chance tourism in Tuvalu

authors: Henry, Todd Marvel

subjects: Tuvalu

abstract: This thesis seeks to explore local Tuvaluan feelings and perceptions on the visual representation of Tuvalu in international climate change media stories in conjunction with the island nation’s growing status as a last chance tourism (LCT) destination. The study assesses, from a local Tuvaluan perspective, common visual themes that feature in international media stories on Tuvalu, while also investigating the potential connections between climate change imagery and the implications of Tuvalu being seen as a last chance tourism destination by foreign tourists. Using a qualitative research approach, with talanoa-informed interviews in Tuvalu and open-ended questionnaires for individuals who have visited Tuvalu as tourists, the study recorded the feedback of average Tuvaluan citizens representing a variety of educational, professional and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Findings from this research indicate that there are feelings of misrepresentation among local Tuvaluans in relation to visual imagery that features in media stories on climate change. Such imagery contributes to visual narratives that often portray Tuvaluans as powerless victims of climate change. In addition, there is evidence that misrepresentative media imagery, as perceived by local Tuvaluans, plays a role in encouraging last chance tourists to visit due to a perception that Tuvalu’s islands are rapidly disappearing, and the country’s very existence is under imminent threat.
Although last chance tourism is a potentially viable source of revenue for Tuvalu, locals appear divided as to whether or not it would be an ideal approach due to a range of possible long-term negative implications. Furthermore, interviews with tourists who have previously visited Tuvalu suggest that pre-travel low expectations for the country are generally not fulfilled once the unique culture and relaxed lifestyle of Tuvalu is experienced firsthand.

While visual media misrepresentations of Tuvalu are commonplace and should be avoided through improvements in professional photojournalistic practices, such imagery appears to be placing additional attention on the country and influencing foreign tourists to travel to Tuvalu. This research shows that these tourists often tend to arrive with expectations of witnessing abject environmental degradation and human suffering as is often portrayed in media imagery, only to discover the presence of a resilient local population who are dedicated to remaining on their islands despite the environmental challenges they face.

text: Exploring local perceptions on visual media representations of climate change and last chance tourism in Tuvalu This thesis seeks to explore local Tuvaluan feelings and perceptions on the visual representation of Tuvalu in international climate change media stories in conjunction with the island nation’s growing status as a last chance tourism (LCT) destination. The study assesses, from a local Tuvaluan perspective, common visual themes that feature in international media stories on Tuvalu, while also investigating the potential connections between climate change imagery and the implications of Tuvalu being seen as a last chance tourism destination by foreign tourists. Using a qualitative research approach, with talanoa-informed interviews in Tuvalu and open-ended questionnaires for individuals who have visited Tuvalu as tourists, the study recorded the feedback of average Tuvaluan citizens representing a variety of educational, professional and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Findings from this research indicate that there are feelings of misrepresentation among local Tuvaluans in relation to visual imagery that features in media stories on climate change. Such imagery contributes to visual narratives that often portray Tuvaluans as powerless victims of climate change. In addition, there is evidence that misrepresentative media imagery, as perceived by local Tuvaluans, plays a role in encouraging last chance tourists to visit due to a perception that Tuvalu’s islands are rapidly disappearing, and the country’s very existence is under imminent threat.
Although last chance tourism is a potentially viable source of revenue for Tuvalu, locals appear divided as to whether or not it would be an ideal approach due to a range of possible long-term negative implications. Furthermore, interviews with tourists who have previously visited Tuvalu suggest that pre-travel low expectations for the country are generally not fulfilled once the unique culture and relaxed lifestyle of Tuvalu is experienced firsthand.

While visual media misrepresentations of Tuvalu are commonplace and should be avoided through improvements in professional photojournalistic practices, such imagery appears to be placing additional attention on the country and influencing foreign tourists to travel to Tuvalu. This research shows that these tourists often tend to arrive with expectations of witnessing abject environmental degradation and human suffering as is often portrayed in media imagery, only to discover the presence of a resilient local population who are dedicated to remaining on their islands despite the environmental challenges they face.

year: 2019

title: The Effects of a Shared Reading Intervention on the English Reading Skills of Year One Students in a Level Two Māori-medium Educational Context

authors: Te Arihi, Kylie

subjects: English Reading Skills

abstract: One of the biggest challenges confronting literacy education in Aotearoa  New Zealand is accommodating the differences in English reading-related variables at school entry to produce equitable outcomes in later reading achievement (Wilkinson, Freebody, & Elkins, 2000).  English-medium schools in Aotearoa struggle to negotiate effective literacy practices that validate and cater for the cognitive, cultural, and linguistic differences children bring to the process of learning to read in English.  Whereas, the role of English reading instruction in Māori-medium schools has been an under-researched and controversial issue.  How to accommodate for these differences to achieve equitable English reading outcomes in a year 1 level 2 Māori-medium context is the theme that this research seeks to explore.
	This Masters thesis reports on a shared reading intervention that explicitly teaches phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to examine its effects on the English reading skills of year 1 students in a level 2 Māori-medium setting.  The research implemented a Kaupapa Māori framework and used interviews, surveys, reliable literacy measures, and research-based literacy instruction to explore reading acquisition for this particular cohort.  Thus, the purposes of the study were (a) to glean an in-depth understanding of the literacy and language practices that potentially shaped the participants English reading–related variables, (b) to examine the range of English reading-related skills for this cohort, and (c) to determine the effects of the intervention on their English reading skills.
	Eight students were divided and matched with a pair according to their reported pre-test phonemic awareness and alphabet knowledge scores, and then randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 4) or treatment control (n = 4) group.  The intervention programme was carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minute lessons that integrated phonological and alphabetic based decoding skills within the shared reading approach.  The duration of the treatment control programme was also carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minutes lessons that integrated semantic, syntactic, and visual graphophonic sources of information to recognise words.  The results indicated the breadth and depth of English reading skills in year 1 level 2 Māori-medium contexts are diverse and the children had a positive attitude and sense of efficacy towards reading.  A comparison of the test results between the intervention and treatment control group demonstrated that a shared reading intervention that focused explicitly on phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge is effective in raising letter-naming knowledge, pseudoword decoding, phonemic awareness, and invented spelling.  The results are discussed in light of theoretical assumptions about reading acquisition that underlie word-base and text-base approaches to word recognition.
	Overall, this study supports the development and reform of training and professional development opportunities in phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to better support, inform, and educate Aotearoa reading teachers.  This study contributes to the knowledge of English reading acquisition that validate the depth and breadth of early cognitive and linguistic differences to increase equitable English reading outcomes in level 2 Māori-medium contexts.

text: The Effects of a Shared Reading Intervention on the English Reading Skills of Year One Students in a Level Two Māori-medium Educational Context One of the biggest challenges confronting literacy education in Aotearoa  New Zealand is accommodating the differences in English reading-related variables at school entry to produce equitable outcomes in later reading achievement (Wilkinson, Freebody, & Elkins, 2000).  English-medium schools in Aotearoa struggle to negotiate effective literacy practices that validate and cater for the cognitive, cultural, and linguistic differences children bring to the process of learning to read in English.  Whereas, the role of English reading instruction in Māori-medium schools has been an under-researched and controversial issue.  How to accommodate for these differences to achieve equitable English reading outcomes in a year 1 level 2 Māori-medium context is the theme that this research seeks to explore.
	This Masters thesis reports on a shared reading intervention that explicitly teaches phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to examine its effects on the English reading skills of year 1 students in a level 2 Māori-medium setting.  The research implemented a Kaupapa Māori framework and used interviews, surveys, reliable literacy measures, and research-based literacy instruction to explore reading acquisition for this particular cohort.  Thus, the purposes of the study were (a) to glean an in-depth understanding of the literacy and language practices that potentially shaped the participants English reading–related variables, (b) to examine the range of English reading-related skills for this cohort, and (c) to determine the effects of the intervention on their English reading skills.
	Eight students were divided and matched with a pair according to their reported pre-test phonemic awareness and alphabet knowledge scores, and then randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 4) or treatment control (n = 4) group.  The intervention programme was carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minute lessons that integrated phonological and alphabetic based decoding skills within the shared reading approach.  The duration of the treatment control programme was also carried out over a six week period and comprised 12, 30 minutes lessons that integrated semantic, syntactic, and visual graphophonic sources of information to recognise words.  The results indicated the breadth and depth of English reading skills in year 1 level 2 Māori-medium contexts are diverse and the children had a positive attitude and sense of efficacy towards reading.  A comparison of the test results between the intervention and treatment control group demonstrated that a shared reading intervention that focused explicitly on phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge is effective in raising letter-naming knowledge, pseudoword decoding, phonemic awareness, and invented spelling.  The results are discussed in light of theoretical assumptions about reading acquisition that underlie word-base and text-base approaches to word recognition.
	Overall, this study supports the development and reform of training and professional development opportunities in phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge to better support, inform, and educate Aotearoa reading teachers.  This study contributes to the knowledge of English reading acquisition that validate the depth and breadth of early cognitive and linguistic differences to increase equitable English reading outcomes in level 2 Māori-medium contexts.

year: 2014