Associate Professor Helen Harper

Biography

Helen Harper is a member of the English, Literacies and Language Education team in the School of Education. Previously she has worked as a teacher of English as an Additional Language in France, in Australian universities, and in remote Northern Territory settings. She was awarded a PhD in anthropological linguistics in 2001, and completed a primary teaching qualification in 2005. Her teaching and research are informed by more than two decades working in northern Australia. She has participated in multi-disciplinary research teams at Charles Darwin University and at the Menzies School of Health Research, with a focus on literacy interventions in remote schools, and inter-relationships between education and health. She has a strong interest in teaching approaches that benefit marginalised students, including those with high levels of socio-economic disadvantage, Indigenous students and English language learners from refugee backgrounds. Today, in working with preservice and in-service teaches, Helen brings her linguistic knowledge to rigorous but engaging approaches to working with literature.

Qualifications

PhD (Qld)
Grad Dip Primary Teaching (CDU)
Dip TEFLA (RSA)
D.E.A. Linguistics (Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris III)
BA Hons (Qld)

Research Interests

Research interests include:

Literacy education across curriculum
Classroom interactions and discourse analysis
Educational linguistics
Remote schooling
Theories of learning
How teachers learn to teach

In 2016 Helen was a co-recipient of the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia (PETAA) Research Grant.

Publications

Selected Publications

Refereed journal articles

Robinson, G., Leckning, B., Midford, R., Harper, H., Silburn, S., Gannaway, J., et al. (2016). Developing a school-based preventative life skills program for youth in a remote Indigenous community in north Australia. Health Education 116(5), 510-523.

Moss, B., Harper, H., & Silburn, S. (2015). Strengthening Aboriginal child development in Central Australia through a universal preschool readiness program. The Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC), 40(4), 13-20.

Wolgemuth, J. R., Abrami, P. C., Helmer, J., Savage, R., Harper, H., & Lea, T. (2014). Examining the Impact of ABRACADABRA on Early Literacy in Northern Australia: An Implementation Fidelity Analysis. The Journal of Educational Research, 107(4), 299-311.

Helmer, J., Harper, H., Lea, T., Wolgemuth, J. R., & Chalkiti, K. (2014). Challenges of conducting systematic research in Australia’s Northern Territory. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 41(1), 36-48.

Wolgemuth, J. R., Harper, H., Hernandez, P. R., & Helmer, J. (2013). Cultural validity of the group reading assessment and diagnostic evaluation level K phonological awareness scale for indigenous Australians. International Journal of Quantitative Research in Education, 1(3), 229–250.

Wolgemuth, J., Savage, R., Helmer, J., Harper, H., Lea, T., Abrami, P., Kirby, A., Chalkiti, K. Morris, P., Carapetis, J., & Louden, W. (2013). ABRACADABRA Aids Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Early Literacy in Australia: Evidence from a Multisite Randomized Controlled Trial. Computers and Education, 67, 250-264.

Harper, H. (2012). Teachers’ emotional responses to new pedagogical tools in high challenge settings: Illustrations from the Northern Territory. The Australian Educational Researcher, 39(4), 447-461.

Harper, H., Helmer, J., Lea, T., Chalkiti, K., Emmett, S., & Wolgemuth, J. R. (2012). ABRACADABRA for magic under which conditions? Case studies of a web-based literacy intervention in the Northern Territory. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 35(1), 33-50.

Wolgemuth, J., Savage, R., Helmer, J., Lea, T., Harper, H., Chalkiti, K., et al. (2011). Using computer-based instruction to improve Indigenous early literacy in Northern Australia: A quasi-experimental study. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 27(4), 727-750.

Harper, H., & Rennie, J. (2009). 'I Had to Go Out and Get Myself a Book on Grammar': A Study of Pre-service Teachers' Knowledge about Language. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 32(1), 22-37.

Book chapters

Harper, H. (2016). The story of Old Man Frank: A narrative response to questions about language shift in northern Cape York Peninsula. In J.-C. Verstraete & D. Hafner (Eds.), Land and Language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country. (pp. 409-431). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Harper, H. (2007). "Try look that yellow book": The legacy of Terry Crowley's work in Cape York Peninsula. In J. Siegel, J. Lynch & D. Eades (Eds.), Language Description, History and Development: Linguistic indulgence in memory of Terry Crowley (pp. 9-12). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Recent presentations

Harper, H. (2017) Powerful language for educationally marginalised students : Developing a subversive pedagogy for the language and literacy of science. People Policy Place seminar series, September 2017, Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University. https://vimeo.com/241796246

Parkin, B. & Harper, H. (2017). Handing over the power : Scaffolding academic language with marginalised students. 44th International Systemic Functional Linguistics Conference, July 2017, Wollongong.

Harper, H., Robinson, G., Franck, L., Gore, C. (2016). Pedagogical issues in designing a social and emotional learning program for Australian Indigenous youth in remote communities. Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, December 2016, Melbourne.

Harper, H., and Corke, D. (2016). Developing a set of observational criteria to evaluate whole-class dialogue with secondary school science classes in a disadvantaged setting. Annual Conference of theAustralian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association, September 2016, Sydney.

Harper, H. & Parkin, B. (2014). The ‘So What’ Factor: Beyond the Verb. Paper presented at the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association Annual Conference, July 2014, Darwin.

Thesis

Harper, H. (2001). The gun and the trousers spoke English: Language shift on Northern Cape York Peninsula. Unpublished PhD, University of Queensland, Brisbane.

Memberships

Australian Literacy Educators’ Association
Primary English Teaching Association of Australia
Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association
Accelerated Literacy Practitioners’ Association Australia
Australian Association for Research in Education

External Profiles

• Google Scholar Profile
• ResearchGate Profile
• ORCid Profile
• LinkedIn Profile