Language Education and Language Ideologies in Australian Print Media

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Mason ◽  
John Hajek

Abstract Across most predominantly English-speaking countries, classroom-based language education plays an important role in the internationalization of young citizens. However, the quality of language learning opportunities in many countries is less than ideal. The development of language education policy is influenced in part by broader societal perceptions of language, and these perceptions are often reflected and shaped by the media. The case of Australia is an interesting one for focus, because media and policy attention to the discipline is high, and yet to date there has been no comprehensive analysis of its representation. To fill this gap, the authors subject 261 news articles from Australian newspapers between 2007 and 2016 to mixed-methods content analysis, guided by Ruiz’s three orientations to language. The results show that language is positioned as a problem, and as an economic resource, but not as a social resource, nor as a right of everyday citizens. The ideological positioning of language in the press has implications for the perceptions of the role of language education, and for student uptake.

2018 ◽  
Vol 167 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
Philip Chubb ◽  
Stephanie Brookes ◽  
Margaret Simons

This Special Issue tackles increasing urgent questions about the role and performance of the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery, a unique and valuable institution central to Australian political journalism. These questions about the Press Gallery’s contribution to political life include: how might we understand the changing authority and effectiveness of the Press Gallery? Has Australia entered an era when media failures are damaging the country’s ability to affect reform? Are we witnessing a twin assault on the quality of Australian democracy from politicians and the media? The articles gathered here offer a variety of tools and perspectives useful for thought and action in this moment in history – when political reporting is fundamentally disrupted, and with it the democratic forms that have grown up in lockstep with mass media. They chart changes and longer-term trends, and particularise broader shifts in political journalism and communication, providing both information and theoretically engaged analysis.


Neofilolog ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 43-60
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Pamuła-Behrens ◽  
Katarzyna Morena

An increasing number of immigrant students pose new challenges for the Polish school. The immigrant groups consist of foreign children, but also Polish children who migrate with their parents. Their adaptation to a new place and integration are not always easy. These children do not only need professional support from the school and its staff, but also from Polish students. The key to succeeding in this complex process is to learn the language and culture of the country of settlement. Acquisition of this knowledge is conditioned by a motivation to face the Other, the language and culture. The purpose of the paper is to explore the role of motivation to learn the new language and culture of the country of settlement. In particular, we focus on determinants of motivation in the context of language learning and problems immigrant and refugee students are faced with in a new country. We also present the JES-PL Method which aims to support the development of language and communication skills within an immigrant family in the context of school language education (JES).


Author(s):  
Liudmila Vladimirovna Guseva ◽  
Evgenii Vladimirovich Plisov

The article defnes the role of digital means in foreign language learning, establishes the reasons for the effective use of digital means and digital technologies, identifes challenges in mastering a foreign language in an electronic environment, as well as the prospects for the digitalization of foreign language education. When studying the issues of emergency off-campus learning organization, the results of surveys of teachers and students conducted in April 2020 at Minin University were used. image/svg+xml


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-53
Author(s):  
Marlou Schrover ◽  
Tycho Walaardt

This article analyses newspaper coverage, government policies and policy practices during the 1956 Hungarian refugee crisis. There were surprisingly few differences between newspapers in the coverage of this refugee migration, and few changes over time. The role of the press was largely supportive of government policies, although the press did criticise the selection of refugees. According to official government guidelines, officials should not have selected, but in practice this is what they attempted to do. The refugees who arrived in the Netherlands did not live up to the image the press, in its supportive role, had created: there were too few freedom fighters, women and children. This article shows that the press had an influence because policy makers did make adjustments. However, in practice selection was not what the media assumed it was, and the corrections were not what the media had aimed for.


Probus ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Kanwit ◽  
Kimberly L. Geeslin ◽  
Stephen Fafulas

AbstractThe present study connects research on the L2 acquisition of variable structures to the ever-growing body of research on the role of study abroad in the language learning process. The data come from a group of 46 English-speaking learners of Spanish who participated in immersion programs in two distinct locations, Valencia, Spain and San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Simultaneously, we tested a group of native speakers from each region to create an appropriate target model for each learner group. Learners completed a written contextualized questionnaire at the beginning and end of their seven-week stay abroad. Our instrument examines three variable grammatical structures: (1) the copulas


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Liaquat A. Channa ◽  
Daniel Gilhooly ◽  
Charles A. Lynn ◽  
Syed A. Manan ◽  
Niaz Hussain Soomro

Abstract This theoretical review paper investigates the role of first language (L1) in the mainstream scholarship of second/foreign (L2/FL) language education in the context of language learning, teaching, and bilingual education. The term ‘mainstream’ refers here to the scholarship that is not informed by sociocultural theory in general and Vygotskian sociocultural theory in particular. The paper later explains a Vygotskian perspective on the use of L1 in L2/FL language education and discusses how the perspective may help content teachers in (a) employing L1 in teaching L2/FL content and (b) helping L2/FL students to become self-regulative users of the target language.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-118
Author(s):  
Fahri Haswani

In  response  to  an  appeal  from  Indonesia’s  Ministry  of  Education  and  Culture  to  all universities and colleges to improve the quality of tertiary  education toward regional and international standard, language institutions are making great efforts to further promote the  foreign  language  learning  process.  In  the  last  few  years  there  have  been  dramatic changes  in  the  ways  that  languages  are  taught  by communicative  approach  and  the introduction of technological tools. In recent years, the use of technological aids, especially those related to computers, has increasingly become  a common feature of the classroom. There is no doubt that computer based instruction will occupy a more central role in the foreign language classroom in the future. Information technology has drawn the interest of teachers of English as a second or foreign language in non-English speaking countries. The technology integration into  the curriculum is not a single concept which is generated from one  single  theory  nor  does  it  give  full  guidelines  for  the  implementation  in  practical situation. This issue constitutes ideas from many different theories. This paper  discusses the issue of technology contributions in EFL classroom. The question raised in this paper is how technology facilitates  the attainment of course goals.  The answer of the question will help  English  teachers  to  clarify  the  real  problems  of  the  initiative  so  that  the  innovation and possible changes can be aligned with the need of the students. However, this literature review  only  covers  limited  issues  related  with  the  role  of  technology  in  EFL  classroom. Further  discussion  from  other  different  points  of  view  is  still  needed  to  create  more complete description of conceptual foundation of the innovation.


Author(s):  
Lucie Herbočková ◽  
Vladimír Žítek

Marketing plans are one of the key strategic documents for the management of modern cities. If cities want to effectively use marketing tools to support the comprehensive development of their territory, it is necessary to design and implement their unique marketing strategy. A lot of European cities have been doing this for several decades, and their steps have already become an inspiration for many Czech cities. The quality of the document is determined not only by the sufficient depth of processing of individual parts but also by a detailed analysis of the target groups on which attention is to be focused. Only in this way is it possible to propose measures and activities that will fulfill the city's visions and goals. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the marketing strategies of selected Czech cities in the light of theoretical background and concepts. The paper focuses on three Czech towns that have a marketing plan, namely Hodonín, Břeclav and Trutnov. Hodonín's marketing plan is too general and has an analytical rather than a developmental character. On the other hand, Bruntál has a clear plan based on a precisely performed analysis stemming from the results of a questionnaire survey. All objectives and measures are clearly and comprehensibly defined, and measurable indicators enhance their achievement. The plan looks realistic and ambitious at the same time. Trutnov's marketing plan significantly focuses on the role of the media in the implementation of the communication strategy. Considerable emphasis is also placed on the specification of target groups.


2014 ◽  
pp. 1745-1764
Author(s):  
Billy Brick

This paper seeks to assess the potential for Social Networking Sites (SNSs) to play a role in language learning in the UK Higher Education (HE) sector. These sites are characterised by certain features including learning materials, synchronous and asynchronous video and text chat facilities, a peer review feature, and some sites also incorporate an award system, in the form of points (http://www.livemocha.com) or ‘berries' (http://www.busuu.com). This serves to motivate participants by rewarding them for their progress and for their peer review activities. In order to consider if, or how, to integrate SNSs into the UK HE curriculum it is important to consider the views of practitioners and learners towards such sites and whether they consider them to have a potential role in HE language education. The paper will report on the outcomes of two small research projects which have sought to establish the view of both practitioners and students towards SNSs in the HE context. When considered overall the practitioners were more positive about the site than the learners.


10.47908/9/1 ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 13-29
Author(s):  
David Little

In a number of publications (e.g., Little 2001, 2004, 2007) I have argued that the exercise and development of language learner autonomy depend on the operationalization of three interacting principles: learner involvement, learner reflection, and target language use. In this article I explore the theory and practice of language learner autonomy from the perspective of the third of these principles. I argue that the most successful language learning environments are those in which, from the beginning, the target language is the principal channel through which the learners’ agency flows: the communicative and metacognitive medium through which, individually and collaboratively, they plan, execute, monitor and evaluate their own learning. I describe in some detail the communicative and metacognitive dynamic that shapes target language discourse in the autonomy classroom at lower secondary level before suggesting ways of creating the same dynamic in other contexts of formal language learning. I conclude by briefly considering the implications of my argument for empirical research.


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