Associate Professor Susan Hill

Dr Susan Hill is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education. She is a noted author and researcher in her field with a special interest in early literacy and childrens' social worlds. She is author and co-author of a number of books for both teachers and children.

Dr Hill is Program Director for the Master of Education at the University of South Australia.

Dr Hill is currently involved in researching the effects of public library family literacy programs for children in the years prior to school.

She completed a report Mapping multiliteracies: Children of the new millennium which underpins the South Australian Department of Education early literacy professional development initiative. This project was funded by the Australian Research Council and investigated the use of new literacies by children aged 4-8 years.

SUSAN HILL - SELECTED LIST OF PUBLICATIONS (PDF 20kb)

• Early childhood education
• Literacy acquisition
• Early literacy development
• Electronic/multimodal literacies

International Reading Association

Australian Literacy Educators Association

International editorial board for the Journal of Reading, Writing and Literacy

• Dr Hill's research has generally been in the area of early literacy development acting as project director of two large longitudinal national DETYA funded projects 100 children go to school and 100 children turn 10.
• Dr Hill's current research involves the connection between oral language and learning to read and write. She is working on research investigating literacy at home in Indigeneous communities in the project: Hill, S., Glover, A., Badenoch, R. & Colbung, M. 2009, What do young Indigenous children want to read? University of South Australia, Division of Education, Arts and Social Science, Divisional Research Performance Fund.
• Dr Hill has also become interested in the communication and literacy development of babies, toddlers and preschoolers before school. Research reveals that singing, reading and playing action rhymes and songs with very young children helps them develop oral language, phonemic awareness, and increases their vocabulary
• Dr Hill was chief investigator on the Mapping multiliteracies: children of the new millennium project (2002-2005) and become fascinated by young childrens' uptake of technology and the way that many children, often those with difficulties with literacy, choose to use the screen rather than the book

See links above

I am able to provide media comment in the following areas of expertise:

Discipline: Early childhood, Language and Literacy

• Early literacy, reading, writing and phonics
• Children's books, parents and literacy and community literacy.