Transition or continuity in language learning from primary to secondary schooling did not become an issue for action until the early 1980s. This raises the question of a definition of continuity, a term used variously. A simplistic view is the continuity of learning the same language. A deeper interpretation is pragmatic continuity in the…

Language ecology, a term developed by Haugen (2001), describes the relationship between languages and the environment in which they exist; that is, how they grow, change, interact and adapt in a Darwinian-like quest for survival. Of the 6000 or so languages in existence today, some are spoken by vast numbers of people, but others are used by very…

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)…

One of the difficulties secondary non-Chinese-speaking background (NCSB) learners are facing is to remember the characters learned in order to recall them when necessary. The traditional way of teaching secondary NCSB learners to remember Chinese characters is through mere repetition, e.g. writing out each single character by following its stroke…

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…

How speaking turns are taken and allocated in the language classroom, who takes them, and in what sequence (Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1974), allows mundane talk to be heard as "intellectual quality" and "connectedness" within the "productive pedagogies" framework adopted over the past five years by Education Queensland (2001). This paper…

Recent research by Swain (2000a, 2000b, 1998, 1995), Swain and Lapkin (2001, 1998, 1995) and Kowal and Swain (1997, 1994) has examined the role of collaborative tasks in focusing immersion students' attention on the need for explicit knowledge of grammatical forms and lexical items in the production (especially written) of French texts. This is…

In addressing the theme of transition in learning languages, describes aspects of three projects. Data are drawn from the projects to highlight issues in context, culture, and communication and principles that support transition and continuity in learning languages. (Author/VWL)

Highlights strategies and processes implemented across two schools as part of the Languages Focus Schools project in Australia. The intention was to improve outcomes for student learning in Spanish through a streamlined approach to programming, assessment, and transition from the first year of primary school to Grade 9, with a focus on the middle…

Describes a collaborative project whose goal was to explore ways to improve transition for students who have been learning a language in primary school for up to 7 years and choose to continue with this language when they enter high school. (Author/VWL)

Discusses assessment of student language learning in relation to the transition from elementary to secondary level education in Australia. (Author/VWL)

Discusses transitioning students from primary to secondary language programs from a Tasmanian perspective. Identifies factors important in a smooth transition from the primary to secondary level, based on research, and outlines the Tasmanian issues and action plans and acknowledges the challenges that remain. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on what has been learned from the implementation and evaluation of the Australian Language and Continuity Initiative (LCI) in relation to addressing transition issues in language education. (Author/VWL)

Describes a personal journey in the teaching of languages other than english in the Australian tertiary context. Focuses on the approach known as independent deep learning and describes this in regard to the teaching of Modern Standard Chinese to non-Chinese speaking background learners. (Author/VWL)

Examines the experience of two young children learning Modern Standard Chinese (MSC) through playing in an unstructured home situation. Reports findings of their interaction with the software "The Language market." he research is the first phase of a longitudinal study of two young children learning MSC in a multimedia learning environment.…