Cover not available
Article published In:
Corpus Linguistics and Education in Australia
Edited by Alexandra I. García, Peter Crosthwaite and Monika Bednarek
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 43:2] 2020
► pp. 117–144

Ten years of print media coverage of NAPLAN

A corpus-assisted assessment

| The University of Sydney
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) has been a key tenet of Australian education policy since its launch over a decade ago. Print media coverage of NAPLAN and myschool​.edu​.au,
which displays and compares NAPLAN results across Australia, has played a role in both reporting and shaping this aspect of education policy. This paper uses a corpus-assisted approach to map print media representations of NAPLAN over the first decade of the Program, from 2008 to 2018. Building on previous work on NAPLAN and the print media (Mockler, 2013, 2016), it draws on a corpus of almost 6,000 articles from the Australian national and capital city daily newspapers published between 2008 and 2018. It charts the discursive shifts that have taken place over this period as NAPLAN has transitioned in the public space from a diagnostic tool seen to be useful to educators, to a comparative tool seen to be useful to parents and the general public, and more recently to a contested tool seen to have narrow or limited utility.
Keywords: NAPLAN, corpus-assisted analysis, discourse analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Context and approach
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1The NAPLAN corpus
    • 3.2Analysis
  • 4.Keywords in the NAPLAN corpus
  • 5.Changing discourses of NAPLAN
    • 5.1Keywords and change over time
    • 5.2Diachronic keywords
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 3 July 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.19047.moc
References (77)
References
Altheide, D. L. (1997). The news media, the problem frame, and the production of fear. The Sociological Quarterly, 38(4), 647–668. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013). Media logic, social control, and fear. Communication Theory, 23(3), 223–238. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Angus, L. (2015). School choice: Neoliberal education policy and imagined futures. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36(3), 395–413. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anthony, L. (2018). AntConc (Version 3.5). Tokyo: Waseda University. Retrieved from [URL]
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2019). My school. Retrieved from [URL]
Baker, P. (2011). Times may change, but we will always have money: Diachronic variation in recent British English. Journal of English Linguistics, 39(1), 65–88. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baker, P., Gabrielatos, C., & McEnery, T. (2013). Discourse analysis and media attitudes: The representation of Islam in the British press. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baroutsis, A. (2016). Media accounts of school performance: Reinforcing dominant practices of accountability. Journal of Education Policy, 31(5), 567–582. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berliner, D. C. (2005). The near impossibility of testing for teacher quality. Journal of Teacher Education, 56(3), 205–213. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biesta, G. (2007). Why ‘what works’ won’t work: Evidence-based practice and the democratic deficit in educational research. Educational Theory, 57(1), 1–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bolton, R. (2018, August 15). MySchool decision delayed by doubts about results. Australian Financial Review, p. 6.Google Scholar
Bourke, T., Ryan, M., & Lloyd, M. (2016). The discursive positioning of graduating teachers in accreditation of teacher education programs. Teaching and Teacher Education, 531, 1–9. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carr, G. (2020). ‘Is this normal?’: Examining sex education in a corpus of magazine advice column. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 43(2). Advance Online Publication. [URL]
Chilcott, T. (2009a, August 8). Student results list a first. The Courier Mail, p. 20.Google Scholar
(2009b, August 10). Test may not be best – Principals resist ‘limited’ approach. The Courier Mail, p. 5.Google Scholar
(2010, May 10). NAPLAN boycott averted – Teachers strike deal. The Courier Mail, p. 17.Google Scholar
Clarke, M. (2012). Talkin’’bout a revolution: The social, political, and fantasmatic logics of education policy. Journal of Education Policy, 27(2), 173–191. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coelli, M., Foster, G., & Leigh, A. (2018). Do school principals respond to increased public scrutiny? New survey evidence from Australia. Economic Record, 94(S1), 73–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Commonwealth of Australia. (2008). Quality education: The case for an education revolution in our schools. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Commonwealth Parliament. (2013, July 26). Australian Education Act. No. 67. [URL]
Connell, R. W. (2009). Good teachers on dangerous ground: Towards a new view of teacher quality and professionalism. Critical Studies in Education, 50(3), 213–229. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013). Why do market ‘reforms’ persistently increase inequality? Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(2), 279–285. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Davies, M. (2013). Corpus of News on the Web (NOW): 3+ billion words from 20 countries, updated every day. Retrieved from [URL]
Doolan, J., & Blackmore, J. (2018). Principals’ talking back to mediatised education policies regarding school performance. Journal of Education Policy, 33(3), 818–839. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Education faces up to testing times. (2009, May 9). The Courier Mail, p. 22.Google Scholar
Egbert, J., & Biber, D. (2019). Incorporating text dispersion into keyword analyses. Corpora, 14(1), 77–104. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Forgasz, H. J., & Leder, G. C. (2011). Equity and quality of mathematics education: Research and media portrayals. In B. Atweh, M. Graven, W. Secada, & P. Valero (Eds.), Mapping equity and quality in mathematics education (pp. 205–222). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.Google Scholar
Gabrielatos, C. (2018). Keyness analysis. In C. Taylor & A. Marchi (Eds.), Corpus approaches to discourse: A critical review (pp. 225–258). London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gabrielatos, C., McEnery, T., Diggle, P., & Baker, P. (2012). The peaks and troughs of corpus-based contextual analysis. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 17(2), 151–175. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gillard, J. (2008). NAPLAN national report released [Press release]. Retrieved from [URL]
(2010, January 27). Now parents can learn about their kids’ schools. Daily Telegraph, p. 27.Google Scholar
Gonski, D., Arcus, T., Boston, K., Gould, V., Johnson, W., O’Brien, L., Perry, L., & Roberts, M. (2018). Through growth to achievement: Report of the review to achieve educational excellence in Australian schools. Retrieved from [URL]
Gonski, D., Boston, K., Greiner, K., Lawrence, C., Scales, B., & Tannock, P. (2011). Review of funding for schooling: Final report. Retrieved from [URL]
Gorur, R. (2013). My school, my market. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 341, 214–230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Groundwater-Smith, S., & Mockler, N. (2009). Teacher professional learning in an age of compliance: Mind the gap. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Hall, B. (2012, February 21). Two-tier system of winners, losers. Canberra Times, p. 4.Google Scholar
Hall, L. (2009, July 14). Strike threat over school rankings. The Australian, p. 5.Google Scholar
Hardie, A. (2014). CASS Blog: Log ratio – an informal introduction. Retrieved from [URL]
Hardy, K. (2016, December 7). Students going backwards: Education global testing alarm bells for ACT, nation. Canberra Times, pp. 1–2.Google Scholar
Hawkes, T. (2009, January 27). Ladder of opportunity rises above league tables. Sydney Morning Herald, p. 11.Google Scholar
Hiatt, B. (2008, December 8). WA kids will cram to improve test results. The West Australian, p. 12.Google Scholar
Howell, A. (2017). ‘Because then you could never ever get a job!’: Children’s constructions of NAPLAN as high-stakes. Journal of Education Policy, 1–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jacks, T., & Cook, H. (2017, March 17). Big improvers, coasters and strugglers. The Age, p. 8.Google Scholar
Keller, C. (2010, May 18). Two more SA teachers accused of NAPLAN misconduct: Test cheat claims grow. The Advertiser, p. 5.Google Scholar
Killick, D. (2009, August 7). Teacher threat on tests League tables protest. Hobart Mercury, pp. 1, 11.Google Scholar
Ladwig, J. (2018). On the limits to evidence-based learning of educational science. In G. E. Hall, D. M. Gollnick, & L. F. Quinn (Eds.), The Wiley handbook of teaching and learning. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lampert, J., Burnett, B., Comber, B., Ferguson, A., & Barnes, N. (2018). Quality teaching discourses: A contested terrain. In S. Gannon, R. Hattam, & W. Sawyer (Eds.), Resisting educational inequality (pp. 150–158). London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lingard, B. (2010). Policy borrowing, policy learning: testing times in Australian schooling. Critical Studies in Education, 51(2), 129–147. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lingard, B., Sellar, S., & Savage, G. (2014). Re-articulating social justice as equity in schooling policy: The effects of testing and data infrastructures. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 35(5), 710–730. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martin, A. (2017, August 3). Unanticipated consequences: Don’t deny struggling students a chance at the HSC. Sydney Morning Herald, p. 18.Google Scholar
McKnight, L., & Morgan, A. (2019). A broken paradigm? What education needs to learn from evidence-based medicine. Journal of Education Policy, 1–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Milburn, C. (2012, September 10). Lesson learnt: 13 years may not be enough. Sydney Morning Herald, p. 14.Google Scholar
Mockler, N. (2013). Reporting the ‘education revolution’: MySchool.edu.au in the print media. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(1), 1–16.Google Scholar
(2014). Simple solutions to complex problems: Moral panic and the fluid shift from ‘equity’ to ‘quality’ in education. Review of Education, 2(2), 115–143. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2016). NAPLAN and the problem frame: Exploring representations of NAPLAN in the print media, 2010 and 2013. In B. Lingard, S. Sellar, & G. Thompson (Eds.), National testing in schools: An Australian assessment (pp. 181–198). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
(2018). Discourses of teacher quality in the Australian print media 2014–2017: A corpus-assisted analysis. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 1–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mockler, N., & Groundwater-Smith, S. (2018). Questioning the language of improvement and reform in education: Reclaiming meaning. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moore, T. (2011, 12 March). After MySchool comes the real revolution. The Australian, p. 4.Google Scholar
NSW Education Standards Authority. (2018). Minimum standard online tests. Retrieved from [URL]
Polesel, J., Rice, S., & Dulfer, N. (2014). The impact of high-stakes testing on curriculum and pedagogy: A teacher perspective from Australia. Journal of Education Policy, 29(5), 640–657. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pyne, C. (2015). NAPLAN results to be delivered faster [Press release]. Retrieved from [URL]
Ragusa, A. T., & Bousfield, K. (2017). ‘It’s not the test, it’s how it’s used!’ Critical analysis of public response to NAPLAN and MySchool Senate Inquiry. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 38(3), 265–286. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Riddle, S. (2018). Resisting educational inequity and the ‘bracketing out’of disadvantage in contemporary schooling. In S. Gannon, R. Hattam, & W. Sawyer (Eds.), Resisting educational inequality (pp. 16–30). London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rose, J., Low-Choy, S., Singh, P., & Vasco, D. (2018). NAPLAN discourses: A systematic review after the first decade. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 1–16. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Savage, G. C. (2013). Tailored equities in the education market: Flexible policies and practices. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 34(2), 185–201.Google Scholar
Scott, M. (2010). Problems in investigating keyness, or clearing the undergrowth and marking out trails. In M. Bondi, & M. Scott (Eds.), Keyness in texts (pp. 43–58). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018). Wordsmith Tools (Version 7). Stroud, UK: Lexical Analysis Software.Google Scholar
Shine, K. (2015). Are Australian teachers making the grade? A study of news coverage of Naplan testing. Media International Australia, 154(1), 25–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. (2017, November 19). ‘Hothousing students is dishonest’. Sun Herald, p. 6.Google Scholar
Taylor, C. (2013). Searching for similarity using corpus-assisted discourse studies. Corpora, 8(1), 81–113. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Testing times when figures don’t add up. (2009, October 15). Daily Telegraph, p. 24.Google Scholar
Thompson, G., & Lasic, T. (2011, December). Doing something about it: Representations of NAPLAN in the public domain. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education, Grand Chancellor Hotel, Hobart.
Tomazin, F. (2009, September 5). Schools threaten testing boycott. The Age, p. 7.Google Scholar
Topsfield, J. (2012, December 12). Australia’s disaster in education. The Age, p. 1.Google Scholar
Why we are publishing a league table. (2010, January 29). Sydney Morning Herald, p. 14.Google Scholar
Wilson, A. (2013). Embracing Bayes factors for key item analysis in corpus linguistics. In M. Bieswanger & A. Koll-Stobbe (Eds.), New approaches to the study of linguistic variability: Language competence and language awareness in Europe (Vol. 41, pp. 3–11). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Wu, M. (2016). What can national testing data tell us? In B. Lingard, G. Thompson, & S. Sellar (Eds.), National testing in schools: An Australian assessment (pp. 19–29). Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Reyes, Vicente, Louise Phillips, M. Obaidul Hamid & Ian Hardy
2024. Navigating datascapes: mapping testing practices within and across national and global contexts. Learning, Media and Technology 49:1 ► pp. 109 ff. DOI logo
Satienchayakorn, Natakorn & Pattamawan Jimarkon
2024. An Analysis of Agency in Thai Education Policy: A Corpus- Driven Approach. rEFLections 31:1 ► pp. 139 ff. DOI logo
Camphuijsen, Marjolein K. & Antonina Levatino
2022. Schools in the media: framing national standardized testing in the Norwegian press, 2004–2018. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 43:4 ► pp. 601 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.