It came as a surprise to me, after an extensive Google search and reading of numerous policies, that English, and more specifically Standard Australian English, is not the official language of Australia (ACARA, 2016c; Lo Bianco, 1987). There are examples cited by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1999) that state, 'English is regarded as…

The history and current state of Chinese teaching in Australia has largely been determined by two key factors: first, the country's policy on languages, and in particular its policy regarding foreign language education; and second, its immigrants and overseas students from Chinese-speaking countries and regions. Beginning in the 1980s, Chinese…

The late nineteenth-century expansion of public schooling in Australia from an initial focus on the elementary phase to post-primary provision, and then to a more systematic secondary education over the early to mid-twentieth century, went hand in hand with the emergence of new populations of children and young people--a new constituency. In turn,…

English language proficiency and how it can be improved have been keenly debated issues in Australian universities. The debate has become more intense in the context of the marketing of international education and Australia's increasing share of international students. One reaction has been to raise the minimum English language levels for…

Although language policy in New Zealand is emerging piecemeal, without any clear central planning and without much of the data needed for sound policy development, political pressure from indigenous, community, and other language interest groups is interacting positively with government values and may still lead to a coherent national policy. (39…

Reviews European Community and Australian language policies. Considers cultural-economic interface in Australia with respect to current interest in teaching Asian languages for trade purposes. Discusses Australia's growing acceptance of languages other than English and its affect on Aboriginal people. Urges the better utilization of the country's…

The basic task of the National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools (NALSAS) strategy has been to resource and promote the teaching and learning of Asian languages and studies of Asia in Australian schools. NALSAS focuses on four Asian languages: Chinese (Mandarin), Indonesian, Japanese, and Korean. The studies of Asia are broader,…

Discusses the teaching of European languages and less commonly taught languages at all educational levels in Australia. Reference is made to multilingualism and language instruction in other countries. (AM)

The aims of this paper are to: (1) emphasize the need for language planning in efforts to solve the sociolinguistic problems of bidialectal and bilingual indegenous peoples in Australia, (2) demonstrate that these problems are not confined to Australia, and (3) show that methods of language planning and research in language attitudes developed in…

This book focuses on the minority languages of Europe, those other than the national languages of European Union member states, by looking at the demographic, sociolinguistic, and educational aspects of both regional and immigrant languages. Empirical evidence for the status of these other languages of multicultural Europe is brought together in a…

The present state of language programs in Australia, the lack of a coherent language policy, important considerations for developing a national language policy, and long-term outcomes of a language policy are considered. Australia needs to consider the role of languages in society and the society's need for language skills. Among the present…

This edited volume contains 15 chapters. Part one, "Language Teaching, Language Learning, and Literacy," has three chapters: "The Monolingual Teaching and Bilingual Learning of English" (Henry G. Widdowson); "Literacy: The Extension of Languages Through Other Means" (Ellen Bialystok); "Bilingual Processing…

Chapters in this volume include the following: "Co-Constructing School Safetime: Safetalk Practices in Peruvian and South African Classrooms" (Nancy H. Hornberger, J. Keith Chick); "Codeswitching and Collusion: Classroom Interaction in Botswana Primary Schools" (Jo Arthur); "Language and Educational Inequality in Primary…