Early Language Education in Australia

Abstract

While Australia is a highly linguistically diverse country, its educational policy is strongly dominated by a monolingual mindset, and thus languages other than English find little institutional support. A few selected languages, considered of vital importance to the country, are taught as foreign languages, but there is little provision for home or foreign languages at the preschool level. Using Chua and Baldauf’s (Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning. Routledge, New York, 2011) model of language policy and planning as the analytical framework, the chapter explores formal and non-formal activities to foster the development of languages in young children at preschool level. These initiatives range from macro-level planning, targeting mostly English-speaking children acquiring a small number of languages, to micro-level planning, aimed at supporting home language maintenance and development. Micro-level initiatives can be parent-initiated, e.g., playgroups for diverse languages, family day care in the relevant languages, or sojourning to the parents’ home countries, or include more formal programs, usually developed and run by communities, such as supplementary schooling (e.g., community language schools). The chapter shows that, despite a societal monolingual orientation, communities can be creative in developing initiatives. Not every community is active in pursuing language maintenance, however, and the overview suggests that some languages are better placed for intergenerational transmission than others.