One of the consequences of globalisation in recent years has been the unprecedented spread of English as the world's lingua franca. This has particular resonance in postcolonial countries, such as Pakistan and Australia, whose histories have been strongly shaped by English colonisers in contrasting ways. Written from the perspective of someone who…

In this paper, I narrate highlights of my long process of learning and teaching English as a foreign language in mainland China and Australia, presenting a picture of the practices of learning and teaching English in mainland China from the bottom up. Over the past 50 years, English learners in mainland China, as Gao Yihong has written, have…

Focuses on student involvement in determining course structure through journal writing. Successful student writers become highly skilled at directing the course of their own learning. The data in the journals inform teachers about what is occurring in learners' heads. Reflective journal writers are adopting a professional approach to their…

Charts the progress of a multimedia computer-assisted language-learning project provisionally called "CrossTalk." The goals of the project were to develop an application that would address the needs of overseas, nonnative speakers of English studying at a university in Australia and to develop explicit links between a theoretical base…

Compares course requirements and student reading practices in a selection of units in business, engineering, health science, and social science and the findings challenge prevailing ideas of what constitutes tertiary literacy in Australian universities. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Japan and describes Charles Fries' influence in the field, the teaching methods used, and the preservice and continuing education of EFL teachers there. The article expresses the hope that this experience will improve cross-cultural understanding between Australian educators and…

Discusses on-line learning and whether it will become popular in Australia. Focuses on the availability of on-line courses, interaction in the virtual classroom, the need for direct contact, flexible learning, and learning outcomes. (Author/VWL)

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…

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)

In this paper, I argue for a response to the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse students that is both high challenge and high support. In elaborating this argument I draw on an English literature programme that was designed for a year 7 boys' class (the first year of high school) in an Australian public school. The students in the…

Examines foreign language teaching methodologies developed in various parts of the United Kingdom, and then looks at implications for Australian classrooms. The establishment of a framework for adult language learning is stressed, based upon the language needs of the learner and the linguistic operations required in order to function effectively…

This paper looks at the role of languages in multicultural education in Australia. Despite numerous supportive statements, the reality is shown to be that the teaching of community languages has not significantly increased Australia-wide and that the language teaching system has not significantly changed to meet the new needs. It is shown that…

Premature discontinuation rates among second language students in New Zealand are higher than for most other subjects in secondary schools, although this phenomenon has not given rise to a great deal of debate within the NZ language teaching community. In a recent study into premature discontinuation in Christchurch, NZ, the most frequently cited…

This article deals with part of a project set up to investigate the assumptions and beliefs about communicative language teaching of a group of primary language teachers in the Darling Downs Region of Queensland, Australia. The project was conducted by a questionnaire, interviewing six randomly-selected teachers, and videotaping the six teachers'…

Explains how education is essentially about expanding students' literacies by developing sets of social practices that help them understand and participate in different social worlds, describing how to expand literacies through a Hispanic influence across the curriculum and how to increase the Hispanic influence through structural variations in…