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…

The historical development of written Japanese has resulted in an extremely complex system. Modern Japanese is usually written in logosyllabic script consisting of a combination of "kanji," the Chinese characters, and "kana," the Japanese syllables originally formed from them. There are two types of "kana," the…

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…

Presents some policy issues regarding Chinese language courses for students whose mother tongue is Chinese or a dialect of Chinese. (five references) (Author/CK)

States that the difficult Asian languages such as modern standard Chinese, Japanese and Korean, should not be taught in primary or lower secondary schools to non-background speakers of those languages, that is, those whose mother tongue is related to the language being learned. Maintains that time should be spent in primary and secondary schools…

Explores the language learning experiences of a class of adult learners of Chinese in Australia who were all teachers of English as a Second Language or a language other than English. The study examined the learners' response to their learning environment and their response to the target language. (nine references) (Author/CK)

Discusses views of former students of the faculty with respect to the Chinese language program at an Australian university, including their needs and expectations of the program, suggestions for improving the program and perceived successful features and views on how well the program prepares students for China-related business dealings and…

Presents a tongue-in-cheek monologue on the value of languages to the culture and economic life of Australia and its students. Touches on the number of languages spoken in Australia, the schools' role, languages other than English, student motivation, educational objectives, immigrants, and multiculturalism. (Author/CK)

Surveys earlier examples of course-based software and compares them with MacZi-known as Chinese Character Tutor in the Intel format, a program designed and produced at the University of New South Wales, Australia to teach students a basic vocabulary. Also reviews a student evaluation of the software's effectiveness and discusses how the program…

Describes the process of selecting and developing a debate team at the University of New South Wales (Australia) to compete in an international Modern Standard Chinese debating competition. Discusses issues in selecting team members, training needs and strategies (particularly self-directed learning), time pressure, and the success of the…

Examines the discrepancy between spoken and written vocabularies in modern standard Chinese (MSC) textbooks that contributes to slow vocabulary development, and outlines a teaching technique to extend students' vocabulary using the ideographic nature of MSC characters rather than phonetic learning to increase efficient use of vocabulary…

Discusses the use of Jiejing, a computer program that offers the learner several features that enhance both recognition and production skills in the learning of Chinese and Japanese in Australia. Students learn to produce common expressions and to discriminate the distinctive features of the new sound systems. (GLR)

Addresses problems posed by native speakers in Chinese courses and an Australian university's attempts to meet students' needs, including identifying and directing native speakers away from courses designed for nonnative speakers and a special purpose course for those native speakers who do not necessarily have a unified language experience. (CB)

Advocates national policy of multiculturalism and multilingualism, acquired through cohesive use of a common language (English) spoken by all Australians, yet retaining and incorporating the more than 20 major languages presently in use. Suggests provisions for efficient teaching of English and encouragement of all other community languages,…