Language Policy and Education in Australia Notes

Australia's Language Policy History

• Reflects linguistic demography and policy needs.
• Shaped by policies for language and education, plus interventions like prioritizing English literacy.
• Absence of national language policy weakens language rights and fragments program provision.

Key Language Categories in Australia

• English: National language, tool for integration and commerce.
• Indigenous communication: Includes original languages, remaining languages, and contact languages.
• Immigrant languages: Community languages with local and global connections.
• Second languages: Shift from European to Asian languages, reflecting geopolitical interests.

Aspirations of Language Policy

• Ensuring access to English for all residents.
• Maintaining minority languages through community efforts.
• Promoting second language acquisition, including Asian languages.

Historical Phases of Language Policy

• Comfortably British: Preference for British English norms.
• Assertively Australian: Assertion of Australian English norms and ambivalent towards multilingualism.
• Ambitiously multicultural: Advocacy for ESL and community languages.
• Energetically Asian: Priority for Asian languages tied to economic and strategic justifications.
• Fundamentally economic: Favoring market-based choices and English literacy standards.

Decisive Policies for Language Education

• Report on Post-Arrival Programs and Services for Migrants (Galbally 1978).
• National Policy on Languages (Lo Bianco 1987).
• Australian Language and Literacy Policy (Dawkins 1992).
• National Asian Languages Strategy (COAG 1994).
• Commonwealth Literacy Policy (since 1997).

Problems and Difficulties

• Absence of a national language policy.
• Cumbersome federal system with multiple education jurisdictions.
• Policies often compromise among competing demands.
• Loss of direction in language and literacy policy.

Future Developments

• Need for a collaborative policy environment.
• Policies need to be more nuanced, inclusive, and sociolinguistically informed.