Faye Parkhill

This investigation attempts to identify what literacy practices are perceived as contributing to success by Year 6–8 Pasifika students who are achieving at their age levels or above in reading and writing in English. It explores the Pasifika community's perceptions of the relationship between home–school partnerships and success as a literacy learner.

How do students from minority groups develop effective literacy skills? The perceptions of two groups of Pasifika students—one achieving and one underachieving in literacy learning—are compared. They identify pedagogical practices and family or community factors as influential on their literacy learning.

Years 7–8 Asian students identified preferred follow-up activities to guided reading and a preference for reading fiction. Barriers to their engagement and achievement included compulsory reading aloud, inappropriate choices for reading aloud, read-aloud techniques, worksheets, and buddy reading with younger students.

Audio Visual Achievement in Literacy, Language and Learning (AVAILLL), an innovative reading programme that supplements normal classroom literacy programmes, has proved to be extremely effective in classrooms within selected schools in Christchurch. Surprisingly, the AVAILLL programme uses popular movies to engage students with quality literature. Struggling readers from both the United States and New Zealand produce similar dramatic gains in this reading programme in just six weeks.