Throughout the period 1980-2008 the influence of national and international theory and research in literacy is evident, in a variety of ways, in the policy and program responses of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. A review of Australian and international literature on the issue of literacy from 1980 to 2008 highlights the connections between policies and programs in the Victorian context and developments in theory and research in national and international contexts. This review covers the 25 years from 1980 to 2008, a period that has been characterised as a time when theory and research in the field of literacy expanded to draw on a range of scholarly disciplines, including cognitive psychology, linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, literary theory, and effective schooling. [In 'Literacy paper series 2006-08', pages 33-54. Melbourne : Department of Education and Early Childhood Development]