For professional standards for language teachers to be valid they need to reflect what is valued by language teachers in their own professional practice. Standards need to reflect "current effective professional practice." In order to determine how the profession itself understands what characterises good language teaching and what "accomplished…

This study reports on the findings of a survey of preservice education provided for language teachers at a number of universities across Australia. The survey was undertaken as part of the development of Standards for Teachers of Indonesian Project, carried out by the AFMLTA and the Department of Education, Science, and Training. The survey…

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…

In this article, the author describes the genesis of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations (AFMLTA) and "Babel." With regard to the origin of the title of the journal, its name refers only indirectly to the Tower of Babel in Genesis. It comes in fact from the affectionate nickname that had been given to the building at…

This article reports on a cultural studies course about Switzerland conducted within the German Studies program at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 2005. It discusses the pluricentric concept of "Landeskunde" of the German-speaking region which informed the design of the course seminars and presents the main themes which were explored…

Information communication technology (ICT) outcomes have been incorporated into the current New South Wales (NSW) Teaching Standards document which informs all NSW teachers of the standards they are expected to meet in their schools. In order to qualify to teach and to meet these standards as graduates, preservice teachers must demonstrate a range…

Intercultural education is a familiar concept to many involved with education, as it underpins the school curriculum in an increasing number of countries in the world. Distinctly separate to intercultural education is intercultural language learning (IcLL), a specific set of principles currently at the fore of what is occurring with languages…

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…

This article is the second part of a report on research that examined immersion language teachers' strategies to modify their speech in order to maintain use of the target language. As described in the first part in "Babel," Volume 40, Number 2 (Veque, 2005), this classroom-based research, undertaken at Methodist Ladies College (MLC) in Melbourne,…

While Government commitments to supporting instruction in languages other than English have largely been honoured, bilingual education as a form of learning has not been widespread. Acknowledging the benefits of learning a language other than English, the most recent Australian national languages policy statement nonetheless makes no mention of…

In this article, the author gives a short account of her own perceptions about teaching and learning a second language in Australian schools. She emphasises that these are her own observations, which have been coloured by her conversations with language teaching colleagues and students over many years. In this respect her views differ from those…

This article describes how recent trends in improving literacy outcomes in the early years of schooling have provided the opportunity for Camberwell Primary School to identify the "best practice" that promotes high levels of achievement in English literacy and transfer this learning and knowledge to the French literacy program. The linguistic…

International Grammar School was founded twenty years ago on the belief in the benefits of immersion language learning for children. It offers immersion second language learning in German, Italian, French, and Japanese which continues through kindergarten into the high school years. With language as the medium and not the object of learning,…

Over a period of twenty years, Japanese language teaching has firmly established itself within primary school programs in most Australian States and Territories. Today the question is how to develop Japanese language education further in innovative ways suitable for learners' needs in the 21st century. In this report, the author examines the…

In this article, the author describes the French immersion program at Meriden Junior School, an Anglican school for girls from pre-Kindergarten to Year 12 in Sydney. Four teachers (one of whom is the coordinator) and three assistants are involved in the program. They include six French native speakers and one non-French-born teacher who speaks…