The paper examines the appropriateness of translation and interpreting tasks for language teaching. To this end, it analyses an advanced-level Japanese language subject taught at an Australian university, utilising the concept of intercultural language learning (ICLL) as a theoretical framework. The study also investigates the learning experience…

This study investigated the use of comics (Cary, 2004) in a guided writing experience in secondary school Italian language learning. The main focus of the peer group interaction task included the exploration of visual sequencing and visual integration (Bailey, O'Grady-Jones, & McGown, 1995) using image and text to create a comic strip narrative in…

This longitudinal qualitative study investigates how cultural experiences of staying in Japan may affect attitudes and self-directed learning of kanji among learners of Japanese as a foreign language. Six beginner learners pursued semester-long weekly kanji learning sessions and their diachronic behaviours were observed and recorded for attitudes…

For young bilingual students a feeling of connection to their background languages and cultures forms one important aspect of their developing identities. This paper addresses some of the findings from a larger study examining students' understandings of their identities as bilingual. The study involved students who are part of a bilingual program…

In a period of renewed efforts to encourage language study in Australia, with a particular view to increasing the number of students completing secondary school and studying a language, consideration of the reasons behind retention and attrition of students becomes paramount. In this preliminary study, which surveyed nearly 200 students entering…

This article investigates the role of film in language education based on a study of the 2009 "Melbourne International Film Festival" (MIFF). It is structured around a literature review and results from surveys of students and teachers who participated in the young people's section of the program, Next Gen. The article argues that film can provide…

Due to the global momentum of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), Anglophones may perceive that there is less urgency for them to learn other languages than for speakers of other languages to learn English. The monolingual expectations of English speakers are evidenced not only in Anglophone countries but also abroad. This study reports on the…

Despite research suggesting that teachers highly influence their students' knowledge and use of language learning resources such as dictionaries (Loucky, 2005; Yamane, 2006), it appears that dictionary selection and use is considered something to be dealt with outside the classroom. As a result, many students receive too little advice to be able…

This article reports on a case study conducted in 2006-2007 which explores boys' motivation for choosing Chinese Second Language (CSL) as an elective in secondary school. The purpose of the study was to find out what factors encouraged or discouraged junior secondary school boys in their choice to continue CSL. 133 boys aged thirteen-fourteen…

This paper reports on the findings of a small-scale study carried out in Adelaide. We asked secondary students who had decided to continue or discontinue their language study once it was no longer compulsory what had prompted their decision. We also asked them whether they considered knowing a second language to be important. While all the…

In recent years, teachers and schools in Australia have been struggling to keep boys engaged in language programs, especially beyond the years of compulsory language learning. This is a concern not just for Australian educators, as very similar concerns have been raised in other English-speaking countries. The clearest indicator (i.e. the one…

Research has found that literacy in the first language of a student of English as a second language (ESL) aids in the acquisition of English, but there has been little exploration of the processes that underlie this. This pilot project investigates children's experiences of literacy in their first language (Hebrew), instruction in strategies…

Carr (2002), in her investigation of boys' alienation from languages and language learning, addressed the question of an "appropriate curriculum" for boys and boys' understanding of masculinity. Boys reported in that research that they preferred physical activities so found the written text orientation of language learning to be "hard" and…

This article discusses a small-scale study that explored students', teachers', and university lecturers' beliefs about the value of studying English grammar in foreign and second language learning. A major debate in second language acquisition literature has been concerned with experiential (implicit) learning as opposed to analytical (explicit)…

The most central aims of language teaching are the development of language proficiency, the development of cultural knowledge and intercultural understanding, and the fostering of positive cross-cultural attitudes. The authors have examined the relationships between language learning and cross-cultural attitudes in projects in Australia (reported…