Defines the notion of standards in education in the Australian context, discusses educational outcomes and their measurement, and examines the evaluation of language skills, cultural knowledge and understanding, and development of cross cultural attitudes. (Author/VWL)

The second part of an article that discussed official policies that foster favorable cross-cultural attitudes though language teaching and described a pilot project undertaken to see whether involvement in foreign language learning was an influential factor in cross-cultural attitudes presents results of the study. (Author/VWL)

While the notion that cross-cultural awareness is is considered important in foreign language education, there are few studies that provide information on how language teaching and learning can foster positive cross-cultural attitudes. Discusses a questionnaire that asked learners about their attitudes toward learning languages, migrants, other…

In this paper, the author looks back over some 43 years of involvement in language teaching and examines the progress educators have made as a profession. He also considers their present situation, given a Federal Government, which, at least until this year, has seemed antipathetic to languages education, and State and Territory Governments which,…

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…

Documents the strong connection existing between language and industry, in terms of both language and cultural proficiency. Outlines the corollaries of this connection for language learning and applied linguistics and traces the developments in perceptions of the importance of language education. (37 references) (Author/CK)

Discusses the value of a service called "Language Line" and its potential to attract and educate business about the benefits derived from hiring employees with language skills. Language Line provides a national telephone-based service that provides interpretation for speakers of different languages. The article makes a case for the use…

Progress in the adoption of language policies and programs in Australia is reviewed and the current lack of sufficient well-trained language teachers to implement new policies is discussed. The need to ensure that language programs develop student skills relevant to the needs of business and industry are discussed. (21 references) (LB)

Discusses the extent to which the Australian language policy "White Paper" meets the real needs of the Australian people, and the quality of Australia's on-going performance in and commitment to well-articulated language and language education policymaking relating to languages other than English. (GLR)