Bilingualism in the bush: reconceptualising 'speech community' in immigrant family language maintenance in regional Australia. This project will investigate how immigrant families in regional Australian centres maintain their children's home language(s) in the absence of the critical mass of speakers, networks and resources found in metropolitan areas. It will establish how such families can best be supported through community and educational services to ensure that children grow up bilingual, w ....Bilingualism in the bush: reconceptualising 'speech community' in immigrant family language maintenance in regional Australia. This project will investigate how immigrant families in regional Australian centres maintain their children's home language(s) in the absence of the critical mass of speakers, networks and resources found in metropolitan areas. It will establish how such families can best be supported through community and educational services to ensure that children grow up bilingual, with the attendant benefits of improved cognitive, social and academic skills. The project will examine home practices and the interface between home and early childhood services. Outcomes will include a better understanding of successful family language planning practices in isolated regions and a reconceptualisation of 'speech community' through communications technologies.Read moreRead less
The building blocks of meaning: a linguistic approach. This project will investigate how complex meanings are built up from more basic building blocks, and to what extent basic meanings differ between different languages, cultures, and geographical zones. The project is expected to lead to significant advances in the scientific knowledge of language. Nothing comparable has been attempted before. Expected outcomes include a rich harvest of new knowledge, digital tools to assist with analysing and ....The building blocks of meaning: a linguistic approach. This project will investigate how complex meanings are built up from more basic building blocks, and to what extent basic meanings differ between different languages, cultures, and geographical zones. The project is expected to lead to significant advances in the scientific knowledge of language. Nothing comparable has been attempted before. Expected outcomes include a rich harvest of new knowledge, digital tools to assist with analysing and translating complex meanings, and ongoing international collaborations. This will provide significant benefits such as enabling messaging and communication in education, health care, service delivery and international affairs to be clearer, more accessible and more translatable.Read moreRead less
From little things, big things grow: how children learn a morphologically complex Australian indigenous language. This project investigates the acquisition of Murrinh-Patha, one of a small number of Australian indigenous languages still being learned by children. The results of this research will inform our understanding of the ways in which children learn grammatically complex languages, and facilitate the maintenance of this and other indigenous languages.
Teaching and testing second language pragmatic skills. This project aims to develop understanding of what it means to be communicatively proficient in English as a second language. Drawing on research in second language acquisition, pragmatics and language testing, the project will develop a set of language tests to assess learners’ ability to use English appropriately in everyday situations. The tests will then be used to evaluate the effectiveness of language instruction in developing this abi ....Teaching and testing second language pragmatic skills. This project aims to develop understanding of what it means to be communicatively proficient in English as a second language. Drawing on research in second language acquisition, pragmatics and language testing, the project will develop a set of language tests to assess learners’ ability to use English appropriately in everyday situations. The tests will then be used to evaluate the effectiveness of language instruction in developing this ability. Outcomes will include a set of novel language tests and valuable information about effective language instruction. The project will inform the extent to which migrants possess the pragmatic skills needed to live and work in Australia and how they can be helped to acquire these skills.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100118
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$387,882.00
Summary
Empowering vulnerable youth in Australia by combatting linguistic racism. This project aims to investigate how culturally and linguistically diverse young Australians experience discrimination in their daily lives because of how they speak.The project will generate new knowledge addressing the critical need to review the linguistic disparity experienced by bi/multilingual speakers. Major benefits are policy recommendations to improve health and welfare of the population.
Connecting younger second language learners and older bilinguals: Intergenerational, intercultural encounters and second language development. This project brings together upper secondary school learners of Chinese, German or Spanish and older speakers of the language, promoting mutually beneficial inter-cultural, intergenerational encounters. Valuable community language resources will be tapped to motivate and enhance the second language learning for the social, cultural and economic benefits. ....Connecting younger second language learners and older bilinguals: Intergenerational, intercultural encounters and second language development. This project brings together upper secondary school learners of Chinese, German or Spanish and older speakers of the language, promoting mutually beneficial inter-cultural, intergenerational encounters. Valuable community language resources will be tapped to motivate and enhance the second language learning for the social, cultural and economic benefits. The model promises to make senior secondary second language learning more effective. Australia's social fabric will be enhanced by interactions between cultures and between generations. The project addresses two important goals of the research Priority II --- It is strengthening the Australian social and economic fabric and ageing well, ageing productively.Read moreRead less
Towards improved quality of written patient records: language proficiency standards for non-native speaking health professionals. This project will focus on the quality and safety of healthcare in Australia by improving the screening of written communication of overseas trained non-native English speaking health professionals. This project will be achieved by investigating writing practices in hospitals and by setting more profession-oriented standards on the Occupational English Test.
Metrolingual language practices in four urban sites: talking in the city. Metrolingualism has recently been coined as a term to describe the use of multilingual resources in urban contexts. Through detailed analysis of language use in four urban sites, this project will develop our understanding of metrolingual language practices as well as our understanding of the ways in which urban spaces are managed linguistically.
Bridging the theory-practice gap in the teaching of sign languages. This project aims to improve our understanding of how to teach sign languages to adults as second and additional languages. Internationally, there is significant demand for sign language classes, but relatively little is known about the processes involved when hearing adults learn a sign language, or the similarities and differences to second language learning of spoken languages. This project aims to develop and test the effica ....Bridging the theory-practice gap in the teaching of sign languages. This project aims to improve our understanding of how to teach sign languages to adults as second and additional languages. Internationally, there is significant demand for sign language classes, but relatively little is known about the processes involved when hearing adults learn a sign language, or the similarities and differences to second language learning of spoken languages. This project aims to develop and test the efficacy of a range of innovative teaching materials and approaches, as well as create the first standardised Australian Sign Language (Auslan) test for adults. It aims to significantly improve the quality of Auslan teaching at the partner institution and provide a model of best practice internationally.Read moreRead less
Clearing the path towards literacy and numeracy: language for learning in Indigenous schooling. The Australian and State Governments are committed to halving the gap between Indigenous and other Australians, notably in education outcomes. This project will provide a platform for a better understanding of how language is used in Indigenous classrooms, and set foundations for improving practices for teaching these students, in particular for literacy and numeracy. The project will investigate how ....Clearing the path towards literacy and numeracy: language for learning in Indigenous schooling. The Australian and State Governments are committed to halving the gap between Indigenous and other Australians, notably in education outcomes. This project will provide a platform for a better understanding of how language is used in Indigenous classrooms, and set foundations for improving practices for teaching these students, in particular for literacy and numeracy. The project will investigate how children's language use differs from Standard Australian English. Where teachers are aware of such differences, and adapt their classroom communication styles, greater engagement from children can be expected. This will ultimately lead to improved retention rates and learning outcomes, giving Indigenous students a better start to life.Read moreRead less