Article published In:
Australian Review of Applied LinguisticsVol. 27:2 (2004) ► pp.1–17
Languages taken at school and languages spoken in the community – a comparative perspective
This paper compares two sets of data from the same year, 2001 – the numbers of students taking languages other than English at primary and secondary level, and census statistics for the home use of languages other than English. The data draws attention to languages that are taught principally in day schools and those taken mainly in after hours programs, and to variation between States and between education systems. While it is acknowledged that the strong presence of a language in the community is not the only reason for offering it in schools, the paper demonstrates that some important international languages are now among the major community languages and that some of them are marginal in the mainstream education systems in Australia. The presence of large numbers of speakers will facilitate the utilization of community resources in language teaching. Consideration needs to be given especially to Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Spanish, community languages with increasing numbers, the first two especially among the young.
References
Clyne, M.
(2003) Dynamics of language contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
Clyne, M. & Kipp, S.
(1999) Pluricentric languages in an immigrant context. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
(2002) Australia’s changing language demography. People and Place, 101, 29–35.
Clyne, M., Fernandez, S., Chen, I. & Summo-O’Connell, R.
(1997) Background speakers. Canberra: Language Australia.
Clyne, M., Isaaakidis, T., Liem, I., & Rossi Hunt, C.
in press) Developing and sharing community language resources. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 71.
Department of Employment, Education and Training
(1991) Australia s language: the Australian language and literacy policy. Canberra: AGPS.
Lo Bianco, J.
(1987) National policy on languages. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.
National Asian Languages and Cultures Working Group
(1994) Asian languages and Australia’s economic future. Brisbane: Queensland Government Printer.
Smolicz, J.J.
(1981) Core values and cultural identity. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 41, 75–90.
Cited by
Cited by 8 other publications
AVARA, Hayriye, Bruno MASCİTELLİ & Catherine BRYANT
2020. Teaching languages in a multicultural setting: Perspectives of a unique cohort of language teachers –at the Victorian School of Languages. Dil ve Dilbilimi Çalışmaları Dergisi 16:3 ► pp. 1480 ff. 
Clyne, Michael George & Sue Fernandez
2008. Community Language Learning in Australia. In Encyclopedia of Language and Education, ► pp. 1267 ff.
Ghosh, Aditi
2019. Intercultural Communication in the Multilingual Urban Workplace. In The Wiley Handbook of Global Workplace Learning, ► pp. 301 ff.
Hatoss, Anikó
2006. Community-Level Approaches in Language Planning: The Case of Hungarian in Australia. Current Issues in Language Planning 7:2-3 ► pp. 287 ff.
Kipp, Sandra
2008. The Language Ecology of Australia's Community Languages. In Encyclopedia of Language and Education, ► pp. 2962 ff.
Rubino, Antonia
2010. Multilingualism in Australia. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 33:2 ► pp. 17.1 ff.
Scrimgeour, Andrew
2012. Understanding the nature of performance. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 35:3 ► pp. 312 ff.
Willoughby, Louisa
2014. Meeting the challenges of heritage language education: lessons from one school community. Current Issues in Language Planning 15:3 ► pp. 265 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.