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
An investigation of meaning negotiation in electronic discourse. This project investigates the use of collaborative electronic exchanges between language students in Indonesian and Queensland schools to enhance language and inter-cultural development. The chief investigators will develop a new model of discourse appropriate to such asynchronous communication (e-mail and forums), as well as investigate developments in technological literacy. Other outcomes will include guidelines for creating pra ....An investigation of meaning negotiation in electronic discourse. This project investigates the use of collaborative electronic exchanges between language students in Indonesian and Queensland schools to enhance language and inter-cultural development. The chief investigators will develop a new model of discourse appropriate to such asynchronous communication (e-mail and forums), as well as investigate developments in technological literacy. Other outcomes will include guidelines for creating practical technology-mediated tasks, and protocols for establishing and maintaining electronic tandem exchanges with a developing country. Results will be reported to the Industry Partner and relevant educational authorities and published in national and international journals such as ARAL, Babel and CALL Journal.Read moreRead less
Understanding communication about advance care planning across the lifespan. This project aims to understand how people communicate about advance care planning for children, adolescents, and adults. This project expects to generate new knowledge by using leading social scientific and linguistic methods to analyse real-world advance care planning conversations and documents. Expected outcomes include detailed knowledge about challenges people encounter in these conversations and how to manage the ....Understanding communication about advance care planning across the lifespan. This project aims to understand how people communicate about advance care planning for children, adolescents, and adults. This project expects to generate new knowledge by using leading social scientific and linguistic methods to analyse real-world advance care planning conversations and documents. Expected outcomes include detailed knowledge about challenges people encounter in these conversations and how to manage these challenges. Over 170,000 Australians die each year, most from serious illness. This project should provide significant benefits to future initiatives for enhancing communication about advance care planning, especially in relation to young Australians, older Australians, and Australians with disabilities.Read moreRead less
Talking knowledge, doing learning: the early years. An enduring problem in Indigenous schooling is the discrepancy in outcomes compared to mainstream children, but little is known about one crucial factor: the role of Indigenous ways of speaking and their ways of engaging with knowledge and learning. This ground-breaking project aims to compare preparatory school students in two urban settings: a mainstream school and a school with high Indigenous enrolments. The project also seeks to examine le ....Talking knowledge, doing learning: the early years. An enduring problem in Indigenous schooling is the discrepancy in outcomes compared to mainstream children, but little is known about one crucial factor: the role of Indigenous ways of speaking and their ways of engaging with knowledge and learning. This ground-breaking project aims to compare preparatory school students in two urban settings: a mainstream school and a school with high Indigenous enrolments. The project also seeks to examine learning in children's homes to establish how the flow of knowledge is managed in Indigenous and mainstream families. By investigating these four settings, it is expected to provide important evidence for understanding how language and cultural ways of knowing contribute to the discrepancy in schooling outcomes.Read moreRead less
Are some languages better than others? It is important for the Australian community - speaking several hundred different indigenous and immigrant languages across the nation - to realise that each language has approximately (but not precisely) the same overall complexity as every other. One may have intricate word structure, while another has short words but elaborate rules for putting words together to make sentences. And, striding above 'political correctness', many people in Australia will be ....Are some languages better than others? It is important for the Australian community - speaking several hundred different indigenous and immigrant languages across the nation - to realise that each language has approximately (but not precisely) the same overall complexity as every other. One may have intricate word structure, while another has short words but elaborate rules for putting words together to make sentences. And, striding above 'political correctness', many people in Australia will be interested to know whether a certain language is a little more efficient than certain other languages for a particular purpose (for example, commercial business). Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL120100116
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,416,141.00
Summary
How gender shapes the world: a linguistic perspective. This project will seek to understand and explain gender roles in Australian society, and in nearby nations. Emphasis is placed on training researchers with an immigrant or minority background, working towards the empowerment of women researchers. This will enhance our nation's capacity to interpret and manage gender roles in multicultural contexts.
The status and conceptualisation of cultural knowledge in language-in-education policy for second/foreign language education. This project aims to develop a coherent understanding of approaches to issues of culture and interculturality in languages-in-education planning and policy for the teaching of second/foreign languages in Australia, Europe, North America and Asia. This will involve both a study of the ways in which culturally focused curriculum and content are included in language-in-educa ....The status and conceptualisation of cultural knowledge in language-in-education policy for second/foreign language education. This project aims to develop a coherent understanding of approaches to issues of culture and interculturality in languages-in-education planning and policy for the teaching of second/foreign languages in Australia, Europe, North America and Asia. This will involve both a study of the ways in which culturally focused curriculum and content are included in language-in-education plans and policies, and a study of the ways in which the cultural component of language education is conceptualised in such plans and policies. These studies will provide a basis for examining the consistency of treatment of culture in language-in-education planning and policy.Read moreRead less
The integration of language and society. This project aims to seek associations between social and life-style differences and language structure. All human societies show pervasive similarities and all languages share recurrent features. Viewing society and language as an integrated whole, the project will study related groups in contrasting physical and social environments in PNG, Africa, East Asia, Amazonia and Australia. Inductive generalisations about associations between societal and langua ....The integration of language and society. This project aims to seek associations between social and life-style differences and language structure. All human societies show pervasive similarities and all languages share recurrent features. Viewing society and language as an integrated whole, the project will study related groups in contrasting physical and social environments in PNG, Africa, East Asia, Amazonia and Australia. Inductive generalisations about associations between societal and language parameters (e.g. varying techniques of address relating to articulated kin systems and social hierarchy) aim to provide insight into the human dynamic. Findings should benefit programmes for cultural awareness, language teaching and revitalisation and understanding of multicultural situations.Read moreRead less
Singing the Dreaming: exploring the relationship between language and music in Arandic song-poetry. Positive interactions between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians are essential for our nation to grow. By assisting Arandic people maintain and promote their song-poetry, this project is a practical step towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Furthermore, performances of Arandic song-poetry play a major role in Promoting and Maintaining Good Health. These ....Singing the Dreaming: exploring the relationship between language and music in Arandic song-poetry. Positive interactions between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians are essential for our nation to grow. By assisting Arandic people maintain and promote their song-poetry, this project is a practical step towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Furthermore, performances of Arandic song-poetry play a major role in Promoting and Maintaining Good Health. These health-giving practices not only benefit Indigenous people, but may also reduce national health expenditure. Wider appreciation of Arandic song-poetry may lead to more performance opportunities, resulting in increased economic independence for Indigenous people, and assist in forging a national musical culture of international significance.Read moreRead less
Speaking Hmong in diaspora: language contact, resilience, and change. The project aims to investigate the how the Hmong language survives in the diaspora, with special focus on how the language transforms itself depending on the environment it finds itself in. We focus on the structure and maintenance of Hmong within the immigrant community in North Queensland across several generations of speakers, within the context of multilingual repertoires involving Australian English and Lao. The outcomes ....Speaking Hmong in diaspora: language contact, resilience, and change. The project aims to investigate the how the Hmong language survives in the diaspora, with special focus on how the language transforms itself depending on the environment it finds itself in. We focus on the structure and maintenance of Hmong within the immigrant community in North Queensland across several generations of speakers, within the context of multilingual repertoires involving Australian English and Lao. The outcomes will reveal the processes and results of language change such as the emergence of a new blend of Green and White Hmong. The project will provide significant benefits for the maintenance of diasporic Hmong within a larger context of multilingual immigrant communities.Read moreRead less