Investigating relationships between literacy research, policy and practice: a critical review of the related literature

This paper is driven by concern that the fields of literacy research, policy and practice do not interact with one another in ways that are congruent or productive, as evidenced in recent government literacy reports in Australia and overseas. This concern leads us to interrogate the nature of the relationship between literacy research, policy development and classroom practice. With a view to understanding how this relationship might be enhanced, this paper provides a literature review of the nexus between literacy research, policy and practice, the issues that arise therein, and directions for further investigation, including our ARC Discovery Nexus Project (Harris, Derewianka, Chen, Fitzsimmons, Kervin, Turbill, Cruickshank, McKenzie & Konza, 2007).