Policy Challenges for Bilingual and Immersion Education in Australia: Literacy and Language Choices for Users of Aboriginal Languages, Auslan and Italian

Multilingual Matters, Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall, Victoria Road, Clevedon, UK BS21 7HH. Tel: +44 1275-876519; Fax: +44 1275-871673; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.multilingual-matters.com/multi/journals.asp.

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20

Foreign Countries; Sociolinguistics; Politics of Education; Italian; Bilingualism; Immersion Programs; Bilingual Education; Deafness; Educational Policy; Literacy Education; Language Usage; Indigenous Populations

1367-0050

This paper deals with the author's recent work on political, sociolinguistic and educational aspects of bilingual and immersion education in Australia. Among the cases considered are: the development of a professional position statement on bilingual and immersion education, to be disseminated to policy makers; advising on an Auslan (Australian language of the Deaf) bilingual programme; and a proposed investigation of why there are no Italian late immersion programmes in Victoria, despite the importance of Italian as a community language of long standing. Several aspects of heritage/community language education in Australia will be discussed: political issues of programme staffing and funding; the impact of sociolinguistic factors, relating to a particular community language and how it is viewed by its own and other communities, on the types of programmes that will be undertaken; and the effect of educational decisions taken by school administrators on the language learning experiences of children in immersion programmes.

Author

2006

EJ728448