Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Languages Other Than English (LOTE)'

[Abstract]: Learner autonomy in language learning has been described as the ability to take charge of one’s own learning by determining the objectives, defining the contents and progressions, selecting methods and techniques to be used, monitoring the procedure of acquisition and evaluating what has been acquired (Holec, 1979). Few would doubt that learner autonomy in language learning is a positive thing and can lead to learners who are more proficient in the target language. These sentiments are echoed in many language programs, which have as their explicitly stated goal the development of autonomous, self-directed learners. This project is a pilot study with the aim of investigating one such program: the Languages Other Than English (LOTE) (Indonesian) program at a regional public high school.Taking a collective case study approach this investigation sought to determine two LOTE (Indonesian) learners’ and their teacher’s beliefs about roles and responsibilities in the language learning process and how these beliefs are translated into their teaching and learning behaviour. Prior to any interventions aimed at facilitating the transfer of responsibility for the management of the learning process from the teacher to the learner, it is essential to access learners’ and teachers’ beliefs and attitudes as these have a profound impact on their learning and teaching behaviour and erroneous beliefs may lead to less effective approaches to learning, ultimately impacting on learners’ success in language learning (Horwitz, 1987).The data, collected through structured interviews and classroom observations, suggest that the subjects simultaneously exhibit characteristics consistent with and in contradiction to the profiles of autonomous learners and of a teacher who engages in pedagogy aimed at the development of autonomous learners. The two LOTE learners’ beliefs, and their learning behaviour, suggest that they defer responsibility to the teacher for the technical aspects of their learning, such as identifying learning objectives and topics, selecting learning activities and resources. On the other hand, through their expressed beliefs, and from the observed lessons, it appears that the two learners accept some level responsibility for reflecting and evaluating their learning and fully accept responsibility for maintaining their interest and motivations in learning the LOTE. While the LOTE learners defer responsibility for the technical aspects of their learning to their LOTE teacher, the LOTE teacher herself defers responsibility to the LOTE syllabus. However, the LOTE teacher was observediiiworking with learners, helping them to evaluate and reflect upon their learning and maintaining their interest and motivation in learning the LOTE.Recommendations for pedagogy to promote the development of learner autonomy and further research are presented.

This study investigated the English language learning experiences of 12 children who were lone speakers of home languages other than English attending three English medium early childhood centres [ECCs] with different philosophies, programmes, and practices: a sessional kindergarten, and two all day care centres. The study focused on the interpersonal environments of the centres; specifically the participants 'interactions with teachers and peers, and how these were influenced by differences in aspects of the centres' temporal environments including the organisation and nature of free play activities, mat times, and lunch times. The longitudinal, mixed method design of the study incorporated observations, teacher and parental questionnaires, and the British Picture Vocabulary Scale [BPVS], a measure of the participants' receptive English language progress. Six observations of each participant over a nine month period provided a series of snap shots of the participants' productive language and language acquisition opportunities at the centres. Audio recordings and observer field notes provided data on the frequency and nature of interactions between the participants and their teachers and peers. The results showed that the participants at the sessional kindergarten participated in a greater frequency of extended reciprocal interactions with their teachers and more frequent interactions with peers than the participants at the day care centres. These interactions appeared to provide the kindergarten participants with more English language acquisition opportunities. Moreover, the kindergarten participants made greater progress on average, in receptive English language acquisition as shown by the BPVS results, and demonstrated greater English productive language abilities than the day care participants. The study findings suggest that differences in early childhood centres 'temporal environments influence the centres' interpersonal environments, and thus the English as a second language learners' English language acquisition opportunities. This thesis makes some tentative recommendations for practice and policy to help teachers to provide more optimal English language acquisition support for lone speakers of home languages other than English acquiring English at ECCs.

The dissertation describes the experiences of senior secondary students taking an online course for the first time to further their language education. The experiences are presented from the perspective of students, of supervising teachers and the 'virtual' teacher. Issues of importance with younger learners are identified and discussed and guidelines for the conduct of online courses at school level developed. It is proposed that online courses may have a worthwhile place in school education if specific learning needs can be met using this medium.

This thesis describes the lack of official support for the teaching and learning of languages other than English (LOTE) in Western Australian schools and gauges community attitudes towards LOTE as well as the degree of appreciation of their sociological and economic importance to Western Australia. LOTE’s socio-economic significance is explained from the perspectives of enhancing communicability and maximising understanding between English background Australians and non-English speaking people, and promoting Western Australia’s tourism, trade, industry, and international relations. Primary sources of information including reports, records and media articles concerning events and government policies are examined, and survey results and interviews are analysed to discover the extent of recognition of the value of LOTE. Historical accounts provide secondary material. The study demonstrates a proportional decline in LOTE enrolments in Western Australian schools. A certain residual xenophobia accounts for some of this deterioration but the major cause is official action which militates against the learning of LOTE. Such action includes the University of Western Australia abolishing its LOTE entry prerequisite, the Education Department of Western Australia implementing the Achievement Certificate and the Unit Curriculum, state government tardiness, federal government processes and an emphasis on vocational education. The attitudes of students, parents and teachers towards LOTE were surveyed to determine the degree of community support for learning LOTE. It was found that although the community recognises the importance of LOTE to this state and partly supports their compulsory study, students are deterred from learning LOTE by the difficulties inherent in the Unit Curriculum, and by the belief that studying a LOTE detracts from a high tertiary entrance score. This research found that the government effects no real measures to promote LOTE. The thesis concludes that languages other than English are a highly desirable part of education. Government commitment by way of appropriate funding to train and employ LOTE teachers, and to alleviate administrative problems, and official promotion of the benefits of LOTE study, are necessary to integrate LOTE into the curriculum and to increase student enrolments.

This thesis is concerned with the negative attitudes of the British towards foreign languages. Though such prejudice could perhaps be illustrated by statistical evidence from secondary schools, examination boards and social surveys, the emphasis of this work lies elsewhere. What will be the prime concern here is an examination of the broader cultural and even political implications for the British of their well-documented inability to be willing to learn foreign languages. I hope to be able to show that nationalism contains a specifically linguistic factor which is able, along with many other factors, to contribute towards the cohesion within British culture. I will examine the exclusivity and the need for selfaggrandisement within nationalism and argue that the British experience of imperialism deepened the potential for such sentiments. It is possible that the experience of being a British English speaker does bind British society in a very special way. It is also possible that this linguistic experience in part defines the British world view. This study will use the three opening chapters to establish a basis on which the evidence of the following five chapters may be judged In order to examine the extent to which such assertions are true a wide net will be cast to gather evidence to prove the hypothesis that the experience of speaking English has defined British culture more specifically than is often thought. Chapters 4 and 5 will examine the effect of certain colonial policy decisions concerning language, not on the societies of the Empire but upon the British themselves. I hope that such examples will illustrate the growing role of language, ironically a much neglected and often invisible partner in the political processes, which formed the views which the British had of themselves and their place in the world. I do not believe that there has ever existed a monolithic body of prejudice towards other languages among the British. Indeed, one of the purposes of this work is to illustrate that the role of the English language within British culture has been developed historically in such a way that any such prejudice often has all the unassailable strength of what appears to be common sense. Until the twentieth century in Britain, it would have been unreasonable to expect any but the ruling imperialist politicians or the colonial administrators to have had anything other than the dimmest appreciation of the existence of languages other than English. This provides a second reason for searching as widely as possible for different sources of evidence. If the development of prejudicial attitudes to foreign languages and their transmission through a society have constituteda long and complex process, then this process must be examined at contrasting periods and levels of society. The chapters on boys' comics and film in the 1930s will show the extent to which attitudes had developed and spread beyond a narrow colonial base. This period has been chosen because it represents the flowering of a truly broad and popular perception of British nationalism as magnified through the experience of imperialism. Immediately before the Second World War, this sense of the strength and worth of the British nation was, arguably, at its height. These chapters will indicate the centripetal role which perceptions of the English language, as contrasted with other languages, played in such a blossoming. Finally, I will present a chapter surveying the position of foreign languages in the British education system in the 1930s. This will provide a counter-balance to attitudes in the popular media of the previous two chapters. In case this thesis might be criticised for merely finding evidence for an already well-known phenomenon, I will attempt to view all such evidence from a special perspective. I will be searching not only for the ideas and attitudes underpinning any prejudice against foreign languages but also the social forces which lie behind them.

This study maps and profiles the existing pathways for the learning of languages other than English (LOTE) in the Australian context. The study was undertaken with a view to "testing" the Rudd Report (1994) hypothesis that continuous language learning from Year 3 to Year 12 with time beyond 1040 hours and using an immersion model, would provide a pathway to proficiency for the 2 per cent of Australian school learners targeted through the National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools (NALSAS) Strategy to achieve excellent language learning outcomes during their school years. The evidence for this research suggests, however, that attempts by Australian educational jurisdictions to provide second language learning pathways through continuous study from primary through to secondary education and beyond have been largely unsuccessful. Continuous learning has not equated with cumulative learning towards proficiency. Given this finding it is suggested that a pathway to proficiency may better be facilitated by focusing on enhancing language learning through the use of a number of interventions that can be applied at different phases of learning to speed and enrich the process of language acquisition. It is the contention of the researcher that this alternative notion of "pathway" is less likely to be compromised by bureaucracy and other external forces that militate against the process of language acquisition and the attainment of proficiency. In order to draw conclusions about proficiency potential and pathways to proficiency attainment, a Proficiency Potential Framework was developed for this study. This framework enables LOTE programs and their learners to be profiled in order to determine how well programs and their learners "fit into" their broader educational and community environments, and to assess how language is seen and used within these environments. The profiling process used in this study provided significant information about what is required for LOTE programs to support proficiency attainment and for language learners within these programs to become proficient. In addition to providing information about the proficiency potential offered to learners through Australian LOTE programs, the case study profiles also enabled the identification of patterns and trends associated with the teaching and learning of second or foreign languages in the Australian context. Beyond a critique of current Australian practices in the teaching and learning of second or foreign languages, information from this study suggests future directions for the development of a coordinated and broader approach to second language proficiency in Australian educational jurisdictions.

This descriptive study investigated the interaction of teachers and learners in ten primary and secondary school languages other than English (LOTE) classes in Western Australia, with the aim of providing a detailed picture of its nature and patterns. Teachers' and learners' perceptions of this interaction were also examined as part of the study, through interviews conducted with them.

The aim of this study was to investigate the communicative orientation of classroom interaction in Japanese language lessons that are conducted in the virtual environment of synchronous (real-time) telematics. Specifically, the study examined Japanese telematics classrooms in upper primary and junior secondary schools in Western Australia. This study focused on whether the interaction in the classes studied, evident in the virtual learning mode of telematics was facilitative of second language (L2) acquisition. The form of telematics used in this study was synchronous communication between teacher and students using telephone and computer links, sometimes also referred to as "audiographics". Telematics may also include the use of other communication technologies, such as live interactive television (LIT) however this was not available to all sites in the current study so it was not investigated. The aim of this study is articulated through the research questions: 1. What is the nature of the communicative orientation in upper primary and junior secondary Japanese language classrooms in telematics mode? 2. ls the interaction observed in Japanese language telematics classrooms of the type that promotes L2 acquisition? The first question seeks to identify the relative emphasis placed on interaction and form-focused interaction in the telematics classroom context. The second question identifies whether the features of interaction that SLA researchers suggest promote L2 acquisition are evident in the telematics context. This study uses the term interaction to refer to the type of human-human communicative interaction occurring in L2 telematics classes via the computer/technology that is facilitated by a number of key communicative features of interaction drawn from the second language acquisition (SLA) research. Interactivity on the other hand is used to refer to the human-computer engagement which is technologically facilitated. Subjects in the study were three telematics teachers, with distributed classes across several student receival sites. The study examined descriptive process data collected from Japanese telematics classes in Western Australia via audio and video recordings. The study engaged in a descriptive inquiry using Classroom-Centred Research (CCR) methodology. CCR as a methodology provides evidence about the nature and influence of language instruction and classroom interaction have on L2 acquisition. This study used multi-methods of data collection via four stages: teacher questionnaire, classroom observations of interactions, teacher focus group discussion and follow-up interviews conducted later in the study to confirm the findings. The major analytical tool used was the current version of the Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching (COLT) Observation (1995). The use of this scheme stems from its ability to bring together all of the communicative variables to capture features deemed theoretically and empirically relevant to the L2 classroom. The COLT Observation Scheme also provides a framework for comparing features of discourse in classrooms with features of natural language acquisition considered to be facilitative of L2 acquisition. In this way the extent to which an instructional treatment may be characterised as communicatively orientated can be measured. Both Part A and Part B of the scheme were used. The features and categories in Part A are primarily derived from pedagogical issues identified in the literature on communicative language teaching (CL T). Features and categories in Part B reflect issues in first and second language acquisition. The only modification was an additional investigation of how form was used in the telematics lessons. Although recent studies have recommended improvements to telematics delivery, no other known study has specifically investigated whether the interaction evident in the delivery of Japanese via telematics is of the type that promotes successful L2 acquisition. Through the use of the COLT Observation Scheme, this study was able to capture and measure features of L2 classroom interaction in these telematics environments. The results indicate that there were a number of internal and external variables that influenced the nature of the communicative orientation of telematics classes in this study. In terms of the communicative features of interaction identified in the COLT Observation Scheme as predictors of successful L2 acquisition, a number of these were not strongly evident in the results, for example, use of the target language, interaction in group work, use of extended text, use of authentic resources and student-made materials, reaction to message and clarification request. Pedagogic factors impinging on the communicative orientation of the telematics environment included the highly teacher-centred nature of the telematics context. The use of the computer as a controlling device and the only visual connection also moved teachers further towards a more directive delivery style and greater dependence on using the L 1. Given the recent support for the incorporation of some focus on form into a communicative curriculum, the supplementary focus on form data revealed how the electronic nature of telematics delivery influenced how form was taught and the overuse in some cases of vocabulary games, drilling, substitution and repetition. There was also little evidence of students initiating discourse, negotiating activities or requesting clarification. Students engaged in mainly minimal rather than extended text thus limiting opportunities to experiment with the L2. The communicative orientation of L2 telematics classes in this study was also impacted upon by a number of external factors, such as noise, technical breakdowns and inadequate learning environments at receival sites. The impact of the absence of a two-way human visual connection led to teachers using a more directive style of teaching where "silences" were often filled with teacher talk. Teachers identified this limitation as also limiting opportunities for students to obtain comprehensible input. However, teachers developed useful compensation strategies to overcome some of these limitations such as, using colour on the computer screen and tone of voice to highlight salient features. They also introduced games that promoted interaction between sites. Whilst this study has revealed that some of the communicative features of interaction are evident, a greater number of these features need to become more prominent or more communicative. As well as targeting the technological orientation of the delivery method by adding a human visual connection, this would also involve the careful incorporation of the features that are characteristic of a more communicative approach to L2 acquisition. This study has contributed to the fields of SLA and virtual delivery in a number of ways. It has added to the existing literature base through interfacing the SLA literature with the telematics literature. It has also contributed to a new methodology by taking an existing methodology and methods and applying them to the virtual L2 telematics classroom, in particular, the use of the COLT Observation Scheme in a virtual context. A contribution this study has made to language teaching through telematics lies in a mapping framework that has evolved from the study that aims to bring the type of interaction that occurs in SLA, communicative interaction and telematics closer together. Further research needs to determine how interaction can be more effectively promoted m the telematics and virtual learning environments. It is anticipated that this study will encourage other researchers to further investigate the benefits of a more communicatively orientated intervention which will ultimately lead to positive L2 learning outcomes for all students in telematics environments and the broader virtual learning contexts.

This thesis details research on the first phase of curriculum reform (1999–2004) in a government primary school in Western Australia. The purpose of the study was to examine what progress had been made with the implementation of the Curriculum Framework (1998). The research focussed on Music, Health and Physical Education, and Languages Other than English as specialist teachers working with the Curriculum Framework (1998). Teachers and school administrators, as frontline practitioners, considered their experiences and perceptions of daily practice and provided their perspectives on curriculum reform. The hypothesis formulated for the study was that with the introduction of the Curriculum Framework (1998) the delivery of these three subjects could be further improved. This study argues that successful curriculum performance of these three subjects traditionally considered “specialist programs” may be more fully supported by becoming aware of the forces influencing Australian curriculum discourse and delivery. Subject knowledge endorsement in this study refers to the transfer of valued knowledge in Western Australian educational systems. It is proposed that if teaching professionals articulated the substance of their educational beliefs and experiences with regard to subject knowledge meaning, place and value, curriculum delivery in primary schools may progress more effectively. Positive learning experiences for all students can be provided through the encouragement of communication and collegiality together with relevant and accessible professional development. These measures can also be supported by mounting whole-school primary programs that engage with beliefs about Music, Health and Physical Education, and Languages Other Than English through collaborative networks and learning communities. Accordingly, curriculum delivery can come within reach of the seamless curriculum anticipated by reform (Curriculum Framework, 1998:6–7). In this qualitative interview study, the frontline participants included generalist teachers, specialist teachers and school administrators. These educational practitioners were asked to participate in an in-depth, semi-structured discussion that explored their perceptions of specialist teaching and knowledge while employed at Deep Sea Primary School in 2002. They teachers also commented on how these perceptions may be linked to their experiences of socially constructed and established notions of valued knowledge. The findings of this study indicated that the progressive implementation of these three subjects or specialist’s areas were characterised by subtle historical, economic, political and social forces. This thesis suggests that, these largely obscured external forces together with individual yet, taken for granted perceptions of what is perceived as valuable knowledge work together to position curriculum rhetoric and curriculum enactment that reflect established perceptions of the knowledge hierarchy. Teachers and administrators at the school often operated within the structures and meanings of conventional teaching practice of subject knowledge as determined by dominant culture in Australia. The findings indicated that school culture in a time of reform re-traditionalised hierarchical patterns of subject knowledge organisation and evaluation. Accordingly, current subject knowledge endorsement in terms of specialist teaching often worked to the benefit of established power relationships typical of post-industrial market economy in Australia. The findings also indicated that issues pertaining to curriculum prioritisation were influenced by institutional, group and individual experiences of subject specialist knowledge. Poor perceptions of these three subjects could also be generated by experiencing inflexible and inadequate yet established funding and resource patterns in educational systems. Frontline teachers, their school-based roles and responsibilities attached to the teaching and learning of the three specialist areas were typified by rigid school organisation and job structures together with condensed teaching time and community backing. This thesis argues that progressive, outcomes education requires an articulate and supportive school culture, more funding and the genuine maintenance of quality Music, Health and Physical Education and Language Other Than English teachers. In addition, curriculum implementation would benefit from the promotion of constructivist-orientated student activities within specialist programs.

This thesis details research on the first phase of curriculum reform (1999-2004) in a government primary school in Western Australia. The purpose of the study was to examine what progress had been made with the implementation of the Curriculum Framework (1998). The research focussed on Music, Health and Physical Education, and Languages Other than English as specialist teachers working with the Curriculum Framework (1998). Teachers and school administrators, as frontline practitioners, considered their experiences and perceptions of daily practice and provided their perspectives on curriculum reform. The hypothesis formulated for the study was that with the introduction of the Curriculum Framework (1998) the delivery of these three subjects could be further improved. This study argues that successful curriculum performance of these three subjects traditionally considered 'specialist programs' may be more fully supported by becoming aware of the forces influencing Australian curriculum discourse and delivery. Subject knowledge endorsement in this study refers to the transfer of valued knowledge in Western Australian educational systems. It is proposed that if teaching professionals articulated the substance of their educational beliefs and experiences with regard to subject knowledge meaning, place and value, curriculum delivery in primary schools may progress more effectively. Positive learning experiences for all students can be provided through the encouragement of communication and collegiality together with relevant and accessible professional development. These measures can also be supported by mounting whole-school primary programs that engage with beliefs about Music, Health and Physical Education, and Languages Other Than English through collaborative networks and learning communities. Accordingly, curriculum delivery can come within reach of the seamless curriculum anticipated by reform (Curriculum Framework, 1998:6-7). In this qualitative interview study, the frontline participants included generalist teachers, specialist teachers and school administrators. These educational practitioners were asked to participate in an in-depth, semi-structured discussion that explored their perceptions of specialist teaching and knowledge while employed at Deep Sea Primary School in 2002. They teachers also commented on how these perceptions may be linked to their experiences of socially constructed and established notions of valued knowledge. The findings of this study indicated that the progressive implementation of these three subjects or specialist's areas were characterised by subtle historical, economic, political and social forces. This thesis suggests that, these largely obscured external forces together with individual yet, taken for granted perceptions of what is perceived as valuable knowledge work together to position curriculum rhetoric and curriculum enactment that reflect established perceptions of the knowledge hierarchy. Teachers and administrators at the school often operated within the structures and meanings of conventional teaching practice of subject knowledge as determined by dominant culture in Australia. The findings indicated that school culture in a time of reform re-traditionalised hierarchical patterns of subject knowledge organisation and evaluation. Accordingly, current subject knowledge endorsement in terms of specialist teaching often worked to the benefit of established power relationships typical of post-industrial market economy in Australia. The findings also indicated that issues pertaining to curriculum prioritisation were influenced by institutional, group and individual experiences of subject specialist knowledge. Poor perceptions of these three subjects could also be generated by experiencing inflexible and inadequate yet established funding and resource patterns in educational systems. Frontline teachers, their school-based roles and responsibilities attached to the teaching and learning of the three specialist areas were typified by rigid school organisation and job structures together with condensed teaching time and community backing. This thesis argues that progressive, outcomes education requires an articulate and supportive school culture, more funding and the genuine maintenance of quality Music, Health and Physical Education and Language Other Than English teachers. In addition, curriculum implementation would benefit from the promotion of constructivist-orientated student activities within specialist programs.

This thesis details research on the first phase of curriculum reform (1999-2004) in a government primary school in Western Australia. The purpose of the study was to examine what progress had been made with the implementation of the Curriculum Framework (1998). The research focussed on Music, Health and Physical Education, and Languages Other than English as specialist teachers working with the Curriculum Framework (1998). Teachers and school administrators, as frontline practitioners, considered their experiences and perceptions of daily practice and provided their perspectives on curriculum reform. The hypothesis formulated for the study was that with the introduction of the Curriculum Framework (1998) the delivery of these three subjects could be further improved. This study argues that successful curriculum performance of these three subjects traditionally considered 'specialist programs' may be more fully supported by becoming aware of the forces influencing Australian curriculum discourse and delivery. Subject knowledge endorsement in this study refers to the transfer of valued knowledge in Western Australian educational systems. It is proposed that if teaching professionals articulated the substance of their educational beliefs and experiences with regard to subject knowledge meaning, place and value, curriculum delivery in primary schools may progress more effectively. Positive learning experiences for all students can be provided through the encouragement of communication and collegiality together with relevant and accessible professional development. These measures can also be supported by mounting whole-school primary programs that engage with beliefs about Music, Health and Physical Education, and Languages Other Than English through collaborative networks and learning communities. Accordingly, curriculum delivery can come within reach of the seamless curriculum anticipated by reform (Curriculum Framework, 1998:6-7). In this qualitative interview study, the frontline participants included generalist teachers, specialist teachers and school administrators. These educational practitioners were asked to participate in an in-depth, semi-structured discussion that explored their perceptions of specialist teaching and knowledge while employed at Deep Sea Primary School in 2002. They teachers also commented on how these perceptions may be linked to their experiences of socially constructed and established notions of valued knowledge. The findings of this study indicated that the progressive implementation of these three subjects or specialist's areas were characterised by subtle historical, economic, political and social forces. This thesis suggests that, these largely obscured external forces together with individual yet, taken for granted perceptions of what is perceived as valuable knowledge work together to position curriculum rhetoric and curriculum enactment that reflect established perceptions of the knowledge hierarchy. Teachers and administrators at the school often operated within the structures and meanings of conventional teaching practice of subject knowledge as determined by dominant culture in Australia. The findings indicated that school culture in a time of reform re-traditionalised hierarchical patterns of subject knowledge organisation and evaluation. Accordingly, current subject knowledge endorsement in terms of specialist teaching often worked to the benefit of established power relationships typical of post-industrial market economy in Australia. The findings also indicated that issues pertaining to curriculum prioritisation were influenced by institutional, group and individual experiences of subject specialist knowledge. Poor perceptions of these three subjects could also be generated by experiencing inflexible and inadequate yet established funding and resource patterns in educational systems. Frontline teachers, their school-based roles and responsibilities attached to the teaching and learning of the three specialist areas were typified by rigid school organisation and job structures together with condensed teaching time and community backing. This thesis argues that progressive, outcomes education requires an articulate and supportive school culture, more funding and the genuine maintenance of quality Music, Health and Physical Education and Language Other Than English teachers. In addition, curriculum implementation would benefit from the promotion of constructivist-orientated student activities within specialist programs.

This is a thesis about curriculum change, focusing on Studies of Indonesia in Australian schools generally, Languages Other Than English (LOTE) - Indonesian - specifically'. It explores the possibilities for a socially critical approach to curriculum negotiation informed by research on critical pedagogies, immersion and postcolonialism and it applies a critical discourse analysis methodology to inform its proposed version of school programs in this field. Readings from Indonesian language sources are presented as sample contributors to an ongoing mediation and negotiation of Australian studies of Indonesia.

The expansion of the teaching of Languages Other Than English to smaller primary schools in country areas of Queensland has been hampered by the lack of suitably qualified teachers. Efforts to teach these languages using distance education technologies such as the teleconference phone have resulted in limited success. The use of live interactive television has been mooted as one possible solution to this problem.

This study investigates the nature and quality of teaching using one-way interactive television with two-way audio to two classes of Japanese in a small primary school in Central Queensland. It pays specific attention to the visual and interactive properties of the media used. The formative research methodology used is based on case study, ethnographic techniques relying on the collection of data through observation, videotape and interview. The analysis provides identification and detailed descriptions of instructional techniques within a theoretical framework encompassing learning theory, instructional design and distance teaching of Languages Other Than English. This study concludes with recommendations for action designed to build on the effective pedagogy identified here.

The aim of this research was to identify the personal and professional experiences of Turkish primary and secondary teachers, who are currently teaching, or have previously taught in Victorian schools. This research drew upon these teachers’ experiences to make recommendations for future teacher education, training, professional development and/or induction programs. These recommendations if implemented will support future Turkish teachers in adapting to the Victorian education system. The induction programs and facilities are expected to encourage overseas graduate teachers, who are currently not in the teaching system, to re-enter the workforce as teachers in Victoria.