School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications
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ItemVideoconferencing and the networked provision of language programs in regional and rural schools(Cambridge Core, 2019-05-01)The use of videoconferencing technology to support the delivery of language programs shows great potential in regional and rural settings where a lack of access to specialist teachers limits equitable access to education. In this article, we investigate the establishment of two regional and rural primary school networks in Australia for videoconferenced language learning. Adopting a perspective taken from the discipline of information systems called structuration theory, we examine how the technology they use both changes and is changed by its use in language learning, and how schools and teachers take control of technology and adapt their educational approaches. Case studies were carried out on the two networks using multiple data sources, including interviews and observation of language classes. The findings reveal that even with the same conceptual foundations and aims, divergent models of practice emerge as sustainable adaptations to localised factors. These differences are shaped by, among other things, an interplay between the quality of infrastructure, prior knowledge, and the "material properties" of the technology, including its functions, limits, and deployment in physical space. A closer look at these practices illustrates limitations and possibilities specifically for language education, but also more broadly illustrates how the success of these videoconferencing initiatives are influenced by a nuanced combination of social, educational, and technological factors.
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ItemDistance education for languages: the role of technology(Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Association (AFMLTA), 2019)Although distance models for languages programs have shifted in recent years from a marginalised practice to being regarded as innovative (White, 2017), questions persist about what knowledge schools and teachers need to deliver them successfully. In this article we explore these questions through a study of using videoconferencing to provide access to specialist language teachers in primary schools in regional and remote areas in Australia. To frame the issues, we draw on the ‘technological pedagogical content knowledge’ (TPACK) framework (Koehler & Mishra, 2005; Mishra, 2018) which places emphasis on understanding the relationship between three areas of teachers' knowledge: content, pedagogy, and technology. Based on our case study findings, we argue that a deeper understanding is needed of the relationship between technological and pedagogical knowledge, and that the understanding of technology needs to encompass the role of infrastructure and infrastructural planning (Garrett, 2009) in order to best attend to the specific nature of language learning and teaching.
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ItemLanguage programming in rural and regional Victoria: Making space for local viewpoints in policy development(John Benjamins Publishing, 2019-12-10)Despite decades of often ambitious policies in Australia, languages education is still characterized by intermittent commitment to the teaching of languages, with inequitable access particularly entrenched in rural and regional contexts. While research has focused on the practical and material constraints impacting on policy implementation, little research has investigated the role of the discursive terrain in shaping expectations and limitations around what seems achievable in schools, particularly, from the school principal perspective. Beginning with an overview of policy interventions and an analysis of contemporary challenges, we use Q methodology to identify and analyze viewpoints at work in similarly-positioned rural and regional schools. In doing so, we seek to determine what seems possible or impossible across settings; the role of principals in enabling and constraining pathways for the provision of school language programs, and the need for macro-level language policy to be informed by constraints specific to rural and regional contexts.