Immigration, technology and literacy: key challenges for language policy in a changing Japan. Australia needs a sophisticated understanding of social and cultural dynamics in a regional partner with whom we have substantial economic, political and cultural relations. This project will problematise current language policy in Japan to take account of important recent areas of social transformation and associated key cultural beliefs about language. It will produce a body of significant individual ....Immigration, technology and literacy: key challenges for language policy in a changing Japan. Australia needs a sophisticated understanding of social and cultural dynamics in a regional partner with whom we have substantial economic, political and cultural relations. This project will problematise current language policy in Japan to take account of important recent areas of social transformation and associated key cultural beliefs about language. It will produce a body of significant individual research and policy recommendations; will bring together high profile international researchers and Japanese policy makers and educators in two collaborative exercises which will strengthen links between the two countries at both academic and government levels; and will launch the research career of a postgraduate student. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100013
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$600,000.00
Summary
Nyingarn: a platform for primary sources in Australian Indigenous languages. This project aims to build Nyingarn, an online platform of digital text versions of early Australian Indigenous language manuscripts with images of the original documents. There are over a thousand such documents that are foundational to understanding Australia's languages, and Nyingarn makes textual versions, accessions, and navigates such documents, with a means for adding more in future. Expected outcomes of this pro ....Nyingarn: a platform for primary sources in Australian Indigenous languages. This project aims to build Nyingarn, an online platform of digital text versions of early Australian Indigenous language manuscripts with images of the original documents. There are over a thousand such documents that are foundational to understanding Australia's languages, and Nyingarn makes textual versions, accessions, and navigates such documents, with a means for adding more in future. Expected outcomes of this project are accessible sources useful for educational materials, and for understanding the local language, its history, and its relationship to other languages. Nyingarn will provide cutting-edge methods for ingesting, analysing, and presenting these historical materials, both for research and for the general public.Read moreRead less
Pop Cultures in Indonesia: a New Asian Politics of Pleasure and Identity. The study addresses one of National Research Priorities (Goal 4 'Safeguarding Australia'), by better 'understanding our region and the world', and boosting Australia's 'soft power'. Recent changes in Indonesia render much of our knowledge about that society outdated. The study will deliver a significant contribution to the urgent revitalisation of Indonesian and cultural studies. It will hopefully elevate the quality of ou ....Pop Cultures in Indonesia: a New Asian Politics of Pleasure and Identity. The study addresses one of National Research Priorities (Goal 4 'Safeguarding Australia'), by better 'understanding our region and the world', and boosting Australia's 'soft power'. Recent changes in Indonesia render much of our knowledge about that society outdated. The study will deliver a significant contribution to the urgent revitalisation of Indonesian and cultural studies. It will hopefully elevate the quality of our public debate about the world's largest Muslim populated country and Australia's neighbour, by paying serious and overdue attention to the brightest sides of contemporary Indonesia that have occupied the minds of one hundred millions or so ordinary people there.Read moreRead less
Reclamation of Victorian Indigenous languages: Using ICT to enable effective exchange between academics, educators and the Indigenous community. The project will exploit online technologies to provide centralised resources for the Indigenous languages of Victoria. The use of modern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to present a non-threatening and personalised interface to the resources will connect people and materials, and breathe new life into these ancient languages of such cont ....Reclamation of Victorian Indigenous languages: Using ICT to enable effective exchange between academics, educators and the Indigenous community. The project will exploit online technologies to provide centralised resources for the Indigenous languages of Victoria. The use of modern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to present a non-threatening and personalised interface to the resources will connect people and materials, and breathe new life into these ancient languages of such contemporary, social and cultural significance. This 'living system' of language information and exchange, built on pure linguistic research will have wide value. It will be of crucial benefit in rural and regional areas. The project will also encourage intergenerational communication within Indigenous families and will improve awareness and appreciation of Indigenous languages.Read moreRead less
The Old Zhuang Script: a Vernacular Character Script from Southern China. The Zhuang are a Tai-speaking people and the most populous of China's minority peoples. Traditionally they used a modified version of the Chinese character script. The aim of this project is to provide the wherewithal for a decipherment of the old Zhuang character script, to present evidence for the age of the script, and to describe the social and political conditions that gave it birth and influenced its development.
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200646
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$280,510.00
Summary
Understanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language ecologies. The project aims to advance understandings of Indigenous languages across Australia by investigating which languages are used where (‘language ecologies’), and how they impact on people's lives. With Indigenous co-researchers, the project plans to illuminate present and historical features of language ecologies. Its significance is in bridging a chasm between Indigenous people's understandings of languages, and a lack of goo ....Understanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language ecologies. The project aims to advance understandings of Indigenous languages across Australia by investigating which languages are used where (‘language ecologies’), and how they impact on people's lives. With Indigenous co-researchers, the project plans to illuminate present and historical features of language ecologies. Its significance is in bridging a chasm between Indigenous people's understandings of languages, and a lack of good data on this for policy-makers. Expected outcomes are better empirical data on language use and new methods for identifying language ecologies. Intended benefits include increased appreciation of the rich history of Indigenous language use, leading to new capacity for policy-makers to distinguish language ecologies.Read moreRead less
Stories around a sand space: multimodal interaction in Central Australian Aboriginal sand drawing narratives. Central Australian Aboriginal sand stories are a unique form of storytelling that incorporates speech, song, gesture, signs and drawn graphic symbols. This project will enhance our understandings of these narrative traditions and provide insights into the complexities of multimodal communicative systems as they are used in day-to-day interactions.
The Ancient Today: Living Traditions of Classical Language Education. This project aims to compare, for the first time, ancient language education across world cultures with ‘classical’ literatures. It expects to illumine the purpose and value of classical language education in Chinese, Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit historically and within global education systems today by comparing pedagogic ideals and practices across times and cultures. It aims to test the potential of inclusive classical langua ....The Ancient Today: Living Traditions of Classical Language Education. This project aims to compare, for the first time, ancient language education across world cultures with ‘classical’ literatures. It expects to illumine the purpose and value of classical language education in Chinese, Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit historically and within global education systems today by comparing pedagogic ideals and practices across times and cultures. It aims to test the potential of inclusive classical language learning to boost educational outcomes for disadvantaged students. Other expected outcomes include two books, scholarly articles, education policy reports, and PhD student training. This should strengthen intercultural understanding and benefit school students, educators, policy makers and the wider public.Read moreRead less
Intercultural Approaches to Teaching Chinese: A basis for pedagogical innovation. The nation in general will benefit by having a better prepared and more competent population of Chinese teachers, learners and professionals, whose exposure to Chinese language and culture will encompass the multiplicity of identities in a contemporary, multicultural society. This research will establish Australia as a major innovator in Chinese language pedagogy and will equip Australians to better understand our ....Intercultural Approaches to Teaching Chinese: A basis for pedagogical innovation. The nation in general will benefit by having a better prepared and more competent population of Chinese teachers, learners and professionals, whose exposure to Chinese language and culture will encompass the multiplicity of identities in a contemporary, multicultural society. This research will establish Australia as a major innovator in Chinese language pedagogy and will equip Australians to better understand our region and our world. A unique feature of the project is the provision for assessment of cultural awareness derived from study of language, ensuring that students who do not persevere with Chinese language will have a 'surrender value' declaration, recording competency in knowledge of Chinese culture.Read moreRead less
Words from the sand: A lexical analysis of early Greek papyri from Egypt. The project's central outcomes will be a more systematic knowledge of the development of one of the world's three oldest continually-recorded languages, and insight into the dynamics of lexical usage in different speech communities within a multicultural context. These outcomes will maintain Australia's prominent international role in investigating the history of the Greek language over three millennia, and offer social be ....Words from the sand: A lexical analysis of early Greek papyri from Egypt. The project's central outcomes will be a more systematic knowledge of the development of one of the world's three oldest continually-recorded languages, and insight into the dynamics of lexical usage in different speech communities within a multicultural context. These outcomes will maintain Australia's prominent international role in investigating the history of the Greek language over three millennia, and offer social benefits through study of the interaction of language and social dynamics in Diaspora speech communities and multilingual societies, addressing the National Research Priority Goal of 'Understanding our region and the world' by enhancing Australia's capacity to interpret and engage with its global environment.Read moreRead less