While many studies have investigated the effect of task complexity on L2 writing, little has been reported on the effects of intended task complexity manipulations on task-generated cognitive demands in L2 writing. This study, therefore, was designed to examine the relative effects of task complexity and cognitive demands on students’ L2 writing. Two argumentative writing tasks were manipulated with varying numbers of elements and reasoning demands to be distinguished either as a simple or complex writing task. Self-ratings and dual-task methodology were adopted to validate the manipulations of task complexity. Thirty-one L2 learners, in the single-task group, were asked to complete two writing tasks and a post-task questionnaire. Participants in the dual-task conditions (30 in Experimental 1 and 31 in Experimental 2) were required to simultaneously complete the primary writing tasks and the secondary tasks. Results from self-ratings and dual-task experiments supported the efficacy of the task complexity manipulations.

The Pasifika Early Literacy Project supports teachers to make space for the languages and cultures of Pacific children and families in early childhood settings in Aotearoa New Zealand. Dual‐language books in five Pacific languages and English validate Pacific children's languages, literacies, and identities. We highlight teacher practices following professional learning and development workshops. Teachers are invited to challenge dominant monocultural notions of language and literacy that perpetuate educational inequities. Illustrations of early childhood teachers' innovations with Pacific children (aged 2–6 years) demonstrate how dual‐language texts can be connected to families' embodied cultural literacies. Understandings of “literacy” and “reading” were expanded to include children's expressive modalities through oral and visual texts in heritage languages and English. This work highlights the role of teachers to connect, rather than replace, the worldviews, languages, and literacies of families with the pedagogical practices of early childhood settings.

A service-learning component was embedded as the centerpiece in the Culture of Disability Across the Lifespan course, designed for students’ exploration of issues related to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society. Participants included 19 university freshmen, 6 representatives of community agencies, and 3 consumers with disabilities. Data from focus-group discussions and interviews were triangulated with knowledge surveys, satisfaction questionnaires, reflections, and project artifacts of students. The four projects varied in their quality of implementation along four dominant themes: expectations, communication, impact, and logistics. Comparison of the students’ perceptions to those of the community partners was particularly robust. The results are illustrated by descriptions of the four projects along the dominant themes. Specific implications for future implementation of service learning in special education course work and research are outlined.

Transmission of skills and knowledge is a core message in dominant discourses surrounding early verbal and non‐verbal communication of babies. Narrow conceptualisations fail to place adequate emphasis on sociocultural elements of language and children’s sophisticated non‐verbal communication. Utilising Kaupapa Māori research methods, this study describes a critical reflective narrative of a community‐led parenting programme that makes space for whānau to re‐centre Indigenous linguistic and cultural practices. ‘He Awa Whiria/The Braided Rivers’ metaphor is used to illustrate three themes derived from the analysis: Ma te kotahitanga e whai kaha ai mātau/In unity we have strength, reciprocity/whakaututu, whānau ki te whānau and manaakitanga/love and compassion for others. Data sources included focus groups; interviews; and reflective researcher memos. The evolution of the collective‐agentive approach is illustrated within each theme with selected critical episodes. This study describes the parent‐coaches‐researchers journey to illustrate how a community’s rangatiratanga/sovereignty led to system transformation. The whānau collective journey represents an organic response of one ‘targeted’ community to lead the way in responding to deficit assumptions of parents and their children held by educators in the realm of early oral language. Indigeneous knowledge, ways of being and languaging are central and valid for the success of all tamariki/children.

This study investigated transition, or school leaving, as experienced by young adults living in Aotearoa New Zealand who had significant intellectual and developmental disabilities.To investigate t...