Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemInteractions between first and second language writing skills in Macedonian bilingual children in Australia( 2009)The theoretical belief arising from the interdependence hypothesis suggests that there is a common underlying proficiency in bilingual literacy development, particularly with respect to literacy skills, strategies and knowledge transfer across different languages. According to this view a strong establishment in one language not only develops skills in that language, but also facilitates the development of a second language. The aim of this research was to look at the interactions between literacy in Macedonian and English and to analyse the role of the first language literacy in second language acquisition in two dissimilar languages. Although the research explored the relationships between first language (Macedonian) and second language (English) writing skills, strategies and knowledge, the influence of motivation and the performance in English were also discussed. Namely this research investigated the skills and strategies that Macedonian bilingual children use for writing in Macedonian script and whether these strategies have a positive or negative transfer to English literacy. This research also analysed the writing behaviours, and attitude towards the two languages and how they affect the transfer of literacy skills and strategies. To address the aim of this research and gain an in-depth understanding about bilingual children's language acquisition and development a qualitative case-study method was employed. The subjects for this research were six nine year old children from a Macedonian/ English bilingual school. They were asked to write recounts in both languages, Macedonian and English, in order to investigate the transfer of skills, strategies and knowledge across both languages. The think-aloud protocols were used to look into the writing process and to categorise the types of writing strategies that the children can transfer from Macedonian to English literacy. This method was used to observe children's writing processes while writing and simultaneously discussing what thoughts were going through their mind. The childrens' attitudes towards learning in two languages were discovered by using semistructured interviews. The official results from the literacy assessment conducted at the school were also analysed and compared. The discussion of findings from the six children focussed on the transferable skills and strategies and the relationship between Macedonian and English writing. This research confirms that writing behaviours and strategies that the children displayed were consistent across both languages, even though the languages have different writing systems. In fact this research provided a better understanding of children's biliteracy development from an early age in a bilingual setting. Results of the study indicated that there is an interdependent ability between the first language and the second language writing and that there is a positive transfer of skills, strategies and knowledge from Macedonian to English. Therefore the conclusion is that the development of the stronger language literacy (Macedonian) facilitates literacy development in the second language (English) and that access to two languages from an early age and the possibility of learning those languages can facilitate literacy development.
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ItemThe inclusion of linguistic diversity in early childhood settings( 2008)I begin this study by drawing upon theories of language development during early childhood (Goddard, 1974; Foss & Hakes, 1978; Raban & Ure, 2000; Clarke, 2005a; Fleer & Raban, 2005) and those theories that link language to one's cultural identity (Kramsch, 1998; Hinton, 2001). Australia had historically been a land of many languages (Pearson, 2005 cited in Van Tiggelen, 2005) and colonisation with the emphasis on monolingual discourse has taken away many of the 250 languages of Indigenous peoples (Nicholls, 2001; Clyne, 2005). The death of their language can be seen as the death of their culture and identity (Crystal, 1997). Although Australia's linguistic diversity is increasing with more than 248 languages currently being spoken (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2000 cited in Fleer & Raban, 2005), indigenous languages have been reduced to 48 languages and more are becoming extinct at the rate one every two years (Van Tiggelen, 2005). Yet, Australia's early childhood settings seem to be impoverished in reflecting the linguistic diversity present in our wider society (Makin et al., 1999 cited in Arthur, 2001; Lo Bianco & Freebody, 2001 cited in Fleer & Raban, 2005). Set within an interpretive paradigm, initially, my linear analysis aims to explore the understandings of early childhood practitioners in providing programs that reflected and included linguistic diversity. Then with the introduction of Postcolonial theoretical framework (Orientalism - Said, 1978; Critical whiteness theory, 1998) I begin to challenge the political language of 'Othering', 'Normalising' and 'Naturalising' to uncover the covert assertion of Colonial linguistic dominance. Moreover, by using Critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1995 cited in Locke, 2004) the paradigmatic shift, from interpretive to cultural studies becomes pivotal to my study, as I establish links between political discourse and discourses of individuals. Finally, by comparing the two types of analyses, I bring forth the relevance of using Postcolonial theories to unmask those socio-political discourses that aim to extinguish histories of Australia through the imposition of Colonial identity in the name of 'Nationalism' and 'National language'. Thus I challenge the invisible dominance of one language over languages, with an aim to create newer possibilities for a linguistically equitable Australia.
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ItemStudents' experiences of the transition from bilingual to mainstream instruction( 2007)The benefits and effectiveness of bilingual programs (immersion programs) have been widely recognized world-wide. Accordingly, the number of bilingual programs has been increasing, particularly in recent years. Although a number of researchers have reported positive outcomes from bilingual programs based on measurable evidence, evaluation of bilingual programs from the students' point of view has been very limited. This study aimed to provide a greater understanding of how the Japanese-English bilingual school graduates from different cultural and language backgrounds perceive their bilingual school experience and their present mainstream secondary school program. By comparing and contrasting these two programs, the students described what they appreciated and the advantages and disadvantages of the bilingual program for them. Moreover, they also expressed their experience of transition to a mainstream secondary school. This study has identified that the different cultural and language backgrounds of the students are not a big issue for the students and they described a number of advantages of bilingual schools. However, they also identified that sometimes the varied levels of Japanese competency among the students in the bilingual programs caused a lower motivation for some students. Although none of the students had any difficulty adapting to the mainstream secondary school, they are frustrated by their present LOTE classes as the content is not at an appropriate level for them and they are often treated as a "special" person in class due to their high level of Japanese skill.