Research

Research & policy updates

Produced by Asia Education Foundation, this digest shares recent research relevant to fostering the development of Asian languages and studies, and intercultural understanding in Australian schools.

Meeting the challenges of heritage language education: lessons from one school community

Willoughby, L. (2014). Meeting the challenges of heritage language education: lessons from one school community.Current Issues in Language Planning, 15(3), 265-281.

This article describes the approach to heritage language education at Ferndale Secondary College in Victoria and some of the barriers to boosting student numbers in heritage language classes in the senior years. It explores how top-down language education policies tend to favour some languages and types of speakers over others, and how programme content and timetabling can influence whether students choose to study, or not study, their heritage language in the senior years.

(Summary adapted from Willoughby, 2014)

Learning Chinese as a heritage language in Australia and beyond: the role of capital

Mu, G. M. (2014). Learning Chinese as a heritage language in Australia and beyond: the role of capital. Language and Education, 28(5), 477-492.

This article examines the commitment of Chinese heritage language learners to their language learning in Australia and how this contributes to their language proficiency. Findings from a quantitative survey of 230 Chinese Australian respondents and subsequent qualitative interviews indicate that cultural, social and symbolic capital significantly contributes to language proficiency and commitment to language learning.

(Summary adapted from Mu, 2014).

Learning Chinese in Diasporic Communities: Many pathways to being Chinese

Curdt-Christiansen, X. L., & Hancock, A. (eds.) (2014). Learning Chinese in Diasporic Communities: Many pathways to being Chinese. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

This edited volume explores new approaches to learning Chinese and bilingual education models from various international contexts (including Australia). It focuses on Chinese diasporic children, and looks at how different cultural, educational and linguistic contexts enable or prohibit them from acquiring the Chinese language. The chapters draw on detailed analyses of language learning, both formal and informal. They also explore the complex nature of language learning for background and first language learners, comprising attitudes, linguistic practices and identity formation.

(Summary adapted from publisher’s website)