This paper forwards the notion that languages are an important resource for sustainable development for modern societies. Informed by theories from both sociolinguistics and language economics on the value of language skills, it is suggested that language(s) have different kinds of value in multilingual societies. Sociolinguists often emphasize…

As the final phase of the translation process, self-revision has traditionally been a relatively neglected component despite it being widely acknowledged as critical to achieving high-quality translation and in translator training. To identify effective educational interventions for self-revision, the current paper reports on a study that…

Since its inception in 1990, the Language Testing Research Centre (LTRC) at the University of Melbourne has earned an international reputation for its work in the areas of language assessment and testing as well as program evaluation. The mission of the centre is: (1) to carry out and promote research and development in language testing; (2) to…

Much is known about immigrants' majority language proficiency in the first (immigrant) generation. Less is understood of differences in linguistic shift compared with heritage language retention in subsequent generations. Focusing on Sydney, Australia's largest "EthniCity," we build on Clyne and Kipp's (1999. "Pluricentric Languages…

Drawing on ethnographic interview data informed by international students in Australia, this study aims to expand the notion of 'linguistic racism' through two main traits -- 'ethnic accent bullying' and 'linguistic stereotyping.' 'Ethnic accent bullying' refers to bullying in the forms of 'laughing' and 'joking' towards ethnically and…

This paper reports on the ground-breaking research in the study of languages in doctoral education. It argues for democratizing the production and dissemination of original contributions to knowledge through activating and mobilizing multilingual Higher Degree Researchers' (HDRs) capabilities for theorizing through them using their full linguistic…

The global middle class (GMC) is a theoretical construct that seeks to globalise a set of attributes identified in studies of school choice in the global north, and to a lesser extent in developing nations in Asia. As theorised by Ball a mobile middle class with cosmopolitan sensibilities drives international education options in global cities.…

In this paper, we first explore the trends in the maintenance of migrant community languages among the first generation migrants and then the socio-economic variation in the shift in use of community languages. Our analysis showed that language shift to English among first generation migrants has not been uniform, with some migrant groups adopting…

In a context of the internationalisation of Higher Education (HE) driven by the high mobility of international Higher Degree Research candidates (HDRs), it is important to consider the value of HDRs' multilingual capabilities for their learning and making of original contributions to knowledge. This article reports on a literature study regarding…

The place of foreign language learning in education has a rich and diverse history since the introduction of compulsory schooling, with some countries including the learning of a foreign language as a compulsory part of the curriculum, whilst in others foreign language learning is seen as an optional subject suited for more academically minded…

Motivational characteristics of students learning Japanese as a foreign language at universities in Australia were investigated to find out what affecting factors are closely related to their intentions for continuing/discontinuing their study. The results showed that students' cultural/linguistic backgrounds have a significant impact on their…

Research into the acquisition of L2 German word order has provided strong evidence for a sequence of incremental stages of development. Studies of the acquisition of German verb morphology so far have focused on establishing a correlation between the acquisition of word order and of verb morphology, neglecting the question how verb morphology per…

In this article, the author gives a short account of her own perceptions about teaching and learning a second language in Australian schools. She emphasises that these are her own observations, which have been coloured by her conversations with language teaching colleagues and students over many years. In this respect her views differ from those…

This compilation represents the second installment of reports on second language and multicultural issues. Six of the 13 international reports received in response to the questionnaire were published in "Reading Research Quarterly," volume 42, number 3. These seven reports were filed by International Research Correspondents (IRC) and are…

Examines the external motivation for and attitudes toward acquiring a second language. Coming from the community at large, this type of motivation is not from the classroomand, thus, out of the hands of individual teachers. Rather, vocational usefulnes is one of the key reasons students pursue foreign language study. (SL)