School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 10 of 17
-
ItemFrom the periphery to centre stage: The mainstreaming of Italian in the Australian education system (1960s to 1990s)(Cambridge University Press, 2022-11-11)This article examines the complex drivers of change in language education that have resulted in Australia having the highest number of students learning Italian in the world. An analysis of academic and non-academic literature, policy documents, and quantitative data helps trace the trajectory of the Italian language in the Australian education system, from the 1960s to the 1990s, illustrating the interaction of different variables that facilitated the shift in Italian's status from a largely immigrant language to one of the most widely studied languages in Australia. This research documents the factors behind the successful mainstreaming of Italian into schools, which, in addition to the active support it received from the Italian community and the Italian government, also included, notably, the ability of different Australian governments to address societal transformation and to respond to the emerging practical challenges in scaling up new language education initiatives in a detailed and comprehensive manner.
-
ItemCommunity languages and LOTE provision in Victorian primary schools: Mix or match?(John Benjamins Publishing, 2007)Primary school languages education continues to be a challenging issue for all states in Australia. In Victoria, LOTE study is provided at the primary level to address the needs of linguistically diverse communities, as well as to provide an enriching learning experience for monolingual speakers of English. The challenge remains to ensure that programs that are run are effective, address the needs of the community and are embraced as a valuable and enriching component of the school curriculum. This study looks at the provision of LOTE in 2003 in Victorian primary schools and in particular, through an analysis of the geographical location of community groups and primary LOTE programs, how effectively community needs are being met. We also analyse the nature of LOTE programs through an examination of teachers’ qualifications, time allotment and program type. Factors identified by some schools as impinging on LOTE study at the primary level, such as literacy concerns and multilingual diversity, will also be examined.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
ItemLanguages Provision in Victorian Government Schools, 2016(Department of Education and Training Victoria, 2017)The following analysis reviews Languages education in Victorian government primary and secondary schools over the last seven years. It provides an overview of the current state of Languages and highlights the differing patterns in the study of Languages at the primary and secondary levels.
-
ItemLanguages Provision in Victorian Government Schools, 2013(Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2013)
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableLanguages Education through Virtual conferencing: How to set up or participate in languages programs using virtual conferencing - A Manual for principals and teachers(Department of Education and Train, 2015)
-
ItemMainstreaming of Italian in Australian schools: The paradox of success?(Multilingual Matters, 2015)In Chapter 11, Yvette Slaughter and John Hajek examine the unintended outcome of the mainstreaming of migrant languages in schools by focusing on the path of Italian in the Australian education system. Although Australia is an English-dominant country, hundreds of languages are spoken in communities across the nation. The challenge for the Australian education system has been to cultivate the linguistic competence that already exists within Australian society, as well as fostering second language acquisition among all students (Lo Bianco & Slaughter, 2009). Australia’s Italian community has been particularly successful in achieving the widespread introduction of the Italian language as a subject within the nation’s primary and secondary education system. This chapter highlights some of the intricacies and effects of the relationship between language communities, maintenance and transmission, and the mainstreaming of languages in the school system. It points to a concomitant decline in the maintenance and development of bilingualism among Italian background speakers, and the disappointing performance of Italian in the upper years of secondary education. These trends, and the reasons for them, need to be carefully considered and addressed in order for Italian, and other community languages, to properly thrive through the entire school cycle in Australia. They clearly illustrate the need for ongoing advocacy and oversight for both the transmission of Italian as a second language in schools and as a community language.
-
ItemOn the relation between linguistic and social factors in migrant language contact(John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2015-06-15)With a rich migration history, the Australian context has provided a fascinating and fertile landscape through which to explore the patterns of linguistic and sociolinguistic variation which arise when languages and cultures are transplanted from earlier, often bilingual, environments to a new English-dominant one. Drawing on extensive research undertaken in the Australian context, this chapter explores a range of linguistic and sociolinguistic features relevant to understanding language contact in a migrant setting, including facilitation of code-switching; pragmatic effects, such as the use of modal particles and discourse markers and address patterns; standardization and codification; pluricentric languages; diglossia and the role of language as a core value. In a number of cases it considers the relative role of and possible interaction between linguistic and social (and cultural) factors in governing language phenomena in Australia. In addition to the possible effect of the linguistic characteristics of specific migrant languages, we also look at the effect of the pre- and post-migration sociolinguistic and cultural contexts and how these might explain patterns of bilingual behaviour and language maintenance in Australia.