Australia has a reputation for sustained work in language policy and has had over 20 years of experience of language policy development. During these years, language policies have sought to increase and reshape languages education in Australian schools, but have had only limited success in achieving their objectives. This means that Australia’s extensive work in language policy has not yet guaranteed a secure place for languages within education. After a period of comparative neglect of languages and multiculturalism, Australia is now entering a new phase of activity in language policy and it is timely to consider critically what has and has not been achieved to date and the reasons why. The aim of this book is to examine the current state, nature, role and purposes of languages in Australian education as a basis for considering a viable, encompassing language education policy. The book is divided into four specific focus areas for discussion, each of which is based on a core theme in Australian languages education: engaging with diversity; the current state of policy and participation in languages education and languages teacher education; current orientations to languages education, and future possibilities and directions in languages education. Underlying the discussion is the recognition that at this particular juncture in languages education policy in Australia it is necessary to re-examine constructs, research, evidence and practice as the basis for renewal. The book presents a collection of papers dealing with each of the themes and aims to give greater focus to the contemporary debates around languages in education in Australia and more generally.

This book researches the study of languages other than English, and their place in the Australian tertiary sector. Languages are discussed in the context of the histories of Australian universities, and the series of reports and surveys about languages across the second half of the twentieth century. It demonstrates how changes in the ethnic mix of society are reflected in language offerings, and how policies on languages have changed as a result of societal influences. Also discussed is the extent to which influencing factors changed over time depending on social, cultural, political and economic contexts, and the extent to which governments prioritised the promotion and funding of languages because of their perceived contribution to the national interest. The book will give readers an understanding as to whether languages have mattered to Australia in a national and international sense and how Australia’s attention to languages has been reflected in its identity and its sense of place in the world.

Identifies factors provoking shift from implicit language policies such as denigration of Aboriginal languages to the development of an explicit language policy where bilingualism replaces English monolingualism.

This wide-ranging survey of issues in intercultural language teaching and learning covers everything from core concepts to program evaluation, and advocates a fluid, responsive approach to teaching language that reflects its central role in fostering intercultural understanding. Includes coverage of theoretical issues defining language, culture, and communication, as well as practice-driven issues such as classroom interactions, technologies, programs, and language assessment Examines systematically the components of language teaching: language itself, meaning, culture, learning, communicating, and assessments, and puts them in social and cultural context Features numerous examples throughout, drawn from various languages, international contexts, and frameworks Incorporates a decade of in-depth research and detailed documentation from the authors’ collaborative work with practicing teachers Provides a much-needed addition to the sparse literature on intercultural aspects of language education

In this second, fully revised edition, the 10 volume Encyclopedia of Language and Education offers the newest developments including two new volumes of research and scholarly content essential to the field of language teaching and learning in the age of globalization. In the selection of topics and contributors, the Encyclopedia reflects the depth of disciplinary knowledge, breadth of interdisciplinary perspective, and diversity of sociogeographic experience in the field. Throughout, there is an inclusion of contributions from non-English speaking and non-western parts of the world, providing truly global coverage.

A collaborative series with the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education highlighting leading-edge research across Teacher Education, International Education Reform and Language Education. Rethinking Heritage Language Education is an edited collection that brings together emerging and established researchers interested in the education field of Heritage Language Education to negotiate its concepts and practices, and investigate the correlation between culture and language from a pedagogic and cosmopolitical point of view. The scholars, who have contributed to the growth of Heritage Language Education as a discipline, reconsider and enrich their findings by drawing new lines across the boundaries of research and practice. It complements the previous work of these theorists, filling a void in the current literature around the question of Heritage Language Education.

Addressing a wide range of issues in applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, and multilingualism, this volume focuses on language users, the ‘people.’ Making creative connections between existing scholarship in language policy and contemporary theory and research in other social sciences, authors from around the world offer new critical perspectives for analyzing language phenomena and language theories, suggesting new meeting points among language users and language policy makers, norms, and traditions in diverse cultural, geographical, and historical contexts. Identifying and expanding on previously neglected aspects of language studies, the book is inspired by the work of Elana Shohamy, whose critical view and innovative work on a broad spectrum of key topics in applied linguistics has influenced many scholars in the field to think “out of the box” and to reconsider some basic commonly held understandings, specifically with regard to the impact of language and languaging on individual language users rather than on the masses.

The contributions to the volume examine in detail diverse aspects of second language education, ranging from a focus on the basic contributions of linguistic theory and research to our understanding of second language learning and teaching on the one hand, to a series of reviews of innovative language education practices in selected regions of the world on the other.

Plurilingual communication is common practice in most urban areas. Societal domains such as business and science nowadays see themselves as international, and plurilingual communication is the rule rather than the exception. But how do other players in critical domains of modern societies, and more specifically, in education react to this situation? This volume of the Hamburg Studies in Linguistic Diversity (HSLD) series explores this question along three major lines. One group of contributions sheds light on educational policies in Europe and beyond. A second group of contributions elucidates what interaction and communication practices develop in multilingual contexts. The focus is on school settings. Thirdly, we present articles that discuss the effects of plurilingual settings and plurilingual practices on language development. As a whole this volume shows how linguistic diversity shapes a central domain of our societies, namely education, and how it also impacts upon the development of the individuals interacting in this domain.

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. Taking a contextual perspective on the language learning crisis currently facing Anglophone countries, the authors examine systemic challenges, real-world practices, and broader cultural trends that have an impact on the uptake of modern foreign languages in different Anglophone settings. This book will be of interest to scholars working in applied linguistics and language education, particularly those with a focus on educational policy and Global English.