Language and education

On the 7^th of October 2012 the Sydney Morning Herald released an article outlining the view of Education Minister Martin Dixon on language education. In the article he states his belief that the scene must be set in terms of “convincing the community about the importance of learning another language". With $6 million dollars being spent over the next 3 three years in the area of recruitment of language teachers, the article also explains how Ted Baillieu has promised a languages revival in which every Victorian student up to year 10 would be required to take on a language by 2025, starting with prep in 2015”. This intense revival of languages within Australian schools leads to questions regarding the implications the introduction of mandatory language classes will have on our students.

I will begin with noting that this article echoes one that was released just over a year ago by the BBC, where English Education Secretary Michael Gove stated that “every child aged five or over should learn a foreign language”. More specifically in terms of culture, Gove made the suggestion that  learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it, would be “one of the most useful ways in which to broaden the empathy and imaginative sympathy and cultural outlook of children”.

                                                                                      

In a globalised world, I feel as though this suggestion holds much merit. Globalisation relates to the escalation and quickening of the processes that promote global interdependence (Wadham 2007, p. 52). The educational implications of this in Australian society have displayed themselves in varying degrees, including changes to assessment, policy and practice, all of which can be driven by global competition to enter world markets, like those in the United States, Europe and Asia. The competition to locally and internationally succeed in these markets is something that can be achieved with the advantage of being bilingual or even trilingual. In this way, we see how the introduction of mandatory language in schools could develop future generations of students' understanding of a diverse range of cultures and in doing so, provide multiple possibilities for transnational partnerships.

In the circuit of culture, where the key elements of production, representation, regulation, identity and consumption all integrate, having knowledge of an additional language, as well as the culture that goes with it, as Gove earlier suggested,strengthens this practice.

References:

BBC, 1^st October, 2011, “Teach foreign languages from age five, says Gove”. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15135560>

Tomazin, F. 7^th October, 2012, “Minding your language a virtual reality”, <http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/minding-your-language-a-virtual-reality-20121006-27681.html>

Wadham, B. Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and education. Sydney: Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?