School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications

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    Language Education in Australian Primary Schools: Policy, Practice, Perceptions
    Mason, S ; Hajek, J ; Lanvers, U ; Thompson, AS ; East, M (Springer International Publishing, 2021)
    Despite considerable policy attention to language education in schools over several decades, the rate of students who continue studying a language in Australia post any compulsory period has remained low in comparison with other nations. Most language programmes begin during students’ primary school years, and as this is often the first experience of language learning for many monolingual Australian students, it is an important sector for investigation, particularly as most attention is placed on the secondary sector. This chapter provides an illustration and analysis of the state and nature of language education in Australian primary schools from three interconnected perspectives. First, we provide a detailed overview of the policies and programmes that have impacted primary school education in Australia. Next, we discuss the implementation of language teaching and learning at the classroom level, also drawing on research in the field to elicit the main challenges faced by students and teachers in modern classrooms. Finally, we discuss the public perceptions of the role and state of language education in the sector, particularly drawing on our recent studies of the representation of the discipline in the Australian press.
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    Language education in Australian primary schools: Policy, perceptions, practice
    Hajek, J ; Mason, S ; Lanvers, U ; East, M ; Thompson, AS (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021-01-18)
    This edited book focuses on the state of language learning in Anglophone countries and brings together international research from a wide range of educational settings.
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    Remembering Language Studies in Australian Universities: An Italian Case Study
    Hajek, J ; Baldwin, J ; Fornasiero, J ; Reed, SMA ; Amery, R ; Bouvet, E ; Enomoto, K ; Xu, HL (Springer Nature, 2020-11-01)
    Language studies in Australian universities have a long and complex history—that differs according to such things as language, institution, national imperative, etc… One essential but often overlooked part of the discipline of languages and cultures in our universities is recording and understanding precisely that history. Recording how and why specific language programs were established, for instance, is important for establishing a permanent record of historical continuity and for understanding the past and the present of language programs in the Australian tertiary sector, as well as their possible interconnections and differences. In this chapter we describe a pilot study exploring the beginnings of Italian language teaching and programs in tertiary institutions in Melbourne—and especially their somewhat inorganic expansion across the city from the late 1950s, into the 1980s and beyond. We are specifically interested in trying to understand how and why Italian language (and Italian Studies more generally) came to be taught in different universities in that city. While we present some of our early findings, including: (a) the effect of institutional type; and (b) the useful assistance of colleagues in other languages, at the same time we also have an interest in mapping out and reflecting on the methodology adopted and the challenges faced. It is hoped that our pilot study might in this way assist and encourage colleagues at other institutions to record the history of language studies in their individual institutions or cities, but who might wonder how to approach the issue in terms of possible data collection and analysis.
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    Double agent, double cross? Or how a suffix changes nature in an isolating language: dór in Tetun Dili
    Hajek, J ; WILLIAMS-VAN KLINKEN, C ; Schapper, A ; Gil, D (Benjamins - John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2020-12-15)
    This volume should be of interest not only to Austronesianists and historians of Insular Southeast Asia, but also to grammarians, typologists, historical linguists, creolists, and specialists in language contact.