<h1 id="site-title"><a href="http://yourlanguage.org/" title="Bilingualism and Multilingualism in NSW" rel="home">Bilingualism and Multilingualism in NSW</a></h1>
<h2 id="site-description">Should there be a state (and federal policy) for bilingualism and multilingualism education in Australia? </h2>
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<h1 class="post-title">Australia’s National Language Policies, 1987-2012?</h1>
<div id="attachment_196" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width:555px"><a href="http://www.leunig.com.au/index.php/recent-cartoons?start=9"><img class="size-full wp-image-196" title="AustrailainAsianCenturyWhite Paper" alt="" src="http://yourlanguagedotorg.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/austrailainasiancenturywhite-paper.jpg?w=545&h=385" height="385" width="545"></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
Australia in the Asian Century White Paper – Michael Leunig cartoon (printed 31 October 2012).</p></div>
<p>On 2 November (2012) I attended a lecture by Dr. Howard Nicholas the
Senior Lecturer in Language Education of La Trobe University in
Melbourne held at University of Technology Sydney. He outlined
Australia’s five national language policies:</p>
<ol start="1"><li>National Policy on Languages – 1987</li><li>Australia’s Language: The Australian Language and Literacy Policy – 1991</li><li>The National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools (NALSAS) – 1994</li>
<li>National Asian Languages and Studies in School Program (NALSSP) – 2005</li><li>(and the recently introduced) Australia in the Asian Century White Paper – 2012</li></ol>
<p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:18px">Dr.
Nicholas made clear the dilemma of where Australia and the states have
moved, and where the country has not moved with a language policy.</span></p>
<blockquote><p>“Australia has articulated a view of bilingualism that is
segmented and that is English for all. So there is no clear priority
structure for a language policy in Australia. Now with the <em>Australia in the Asian Century White Paper,</em> we see four key Asian languages being encouraged and this is not a good holistic view of bilingualism”.</p></blockquote>
<p>He makes the point learning a second language in primary or high
school offers a segmentation in learning two languages, this can become
complicated for the learner and can only encourage one language – namely
English over the other – when learning in Australia, as it is our
national language.</p>
<p>Dr. Nicholas encourages “bilingualism for everybody” with the view
that the national government establishes a language policy that does not
isolate languages as is the <em>Australia in the Asia Century White Paper, </em>and
for the state government’s to develop and support ‘actions groups’ that
run in conjunction and in accordance with the national policy. Thereby
bilingual programs become specific to the language or dialect spoken in a
particular demographic not only orally but also in written form,
assisted by the state government under national policy governance.</p><p><a href="http://yourlanguage.org/2012/11/21/australias-national-language-policies-1987-2012/">http://yourlanguage.org/2012/11/21/australias-national-language-policies-1987-2012/</a><br>
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