Daffern, Tessa L.

Tessa's research is driven by her passion for English language education and for empowering teachers and undergraduate teacher education students to develop contemporary understandings that can inform their teaching of language and literacy. Tessa’s research in this field draws on both cognitive and sociocultural theories of learning. Her research is also informed by her ongoing work with classroom teachers, education advisors and policy makers as well as teacher education students. Tessa’s PhD adopted a mixed methods design to examine the teaching and learning of spelling and writing in Australian school contexts with almost 1400 students across 17 schools. In 2017, Tessa was the recipient of the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association Doctoral Thesis Award. Tessa has disseminated her research through national and international journals and conferences. Journals include the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, The Reading Teacher, Language and Education, Australian Journal of Education, Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, and Practical Literacy: The Early and Primary Years.

The Components of Spelling Manual, developed as a result of Tessa’s PhD, has become a valuable resource used by thousands of educators and children across Australia.

Currently, Tessa’s research includes:

• Examining spelling development in the early years
• Building the capacity of teachers to improve student spelling outcomes
• Exploring the teaching and learning of writing in the middle years
• Investigating spelling and spatial reasoning skills as predictors of performance in NAPLAN reading.