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| Shunko Muroya, Japanese Adviser, Victoria | ||||||||
| みなさん、こんにちは!
I’m Shunko Muroya, the Japanese Adviser for
Victoria. It’s been almost a year and half since I started working
in Melbourne and I’ve been keeping myself busy doing a lot of
different things. One of the works I’ve been giving high priority
to is updating and renewing my website, Nihongo Memo: http://snurl.com/yw9.
You might find something useful for your classes on the "Resources" "ネットで Now, let’s get on to the main subject of this article. About a year ago, the Victorian Department of Education & Training (DE&T) published a document titled Languages for Victoria’s Future - An analysis of languages in government schools (called LOTE Analysis for short), which has been having quite a strong impact on primary and secondary language teaching in Victoria. Miyake-san at the Sydney Language Centre recently asked me to talk about this LOTE Analysis from the Japanese teaching point of view. The document explains its purpose as follows: The purpose of the LOTE Analysis was to identify ways of strengthening the learning and teaching of languages and to improve student outcomes in terms of proficiency and language confidence. The LOTE Analysis has examined policy directions for languages, including a more appropriate accountability mechanism, increased choice, continuity of access, equity for metropolitan and regional students, and the enhanced delivery of language programs. It has considered whether the current recommended hours for language programs in schools is appropriate given the wide variety of settings. It also examined whether increased flexibility accompanied by much greater accountability for actual student outcomes will improve the delivery of languages. (LOTE Analysis, page 2) Based on the findings identified through the consultations and written submissions, the LOTE Analysis proposes 15 recommendations in a series of categories (some recommendations include several items). As the Japanese Adviser, I find some recommendations proposed in the document quite interesting. For example, Languages is one of the eight Key Learning Areas in Victoria. All schools receive LOTE funding, and are therefore expected to provide language programs as they do for English and Maths. However, for a number of reasons, some schools do not provide the recommended 150 minutes contact time per week, and this is one of the areas where the LOTE Analysis was seeking views. The LOTE Analysis recommends that the Government release a statement affirming the expectation that all students in the compulsory years of schooling (year P-10) learn a language other than English (Recommendation 1), and also recommends that schools should provide opportunities for all students in the Early, Middle and Later Years of schooling (Years P-10) to learn another language (Recommendation 3). To implement this, and also to promote language learning to those who regard languages as less important than other KLAs, the LOTE Analysis recommends that research findings on the benefits of learning languages, particularly for literacy in English, be disseminated through professional development for principals and school leadership teams and activities to re-engage Middle Years (Year 5-9) students, particularly boys, and to retain Year 10 students into the VCE (Recommendation 4). I find the part that mentions boys particularly interesting, as we all know that it is hard to get boys at that age engaged in language classes. I think it is a dream of all language teachers in Australia to have enough contact hours for any year level (especially primary teachers). The LOTE Analysis recommends that strategies and guidelines be developed, which address frequency and spread of classes, with at least two spread over the week, and contact time, including retaining 150 minutes per week as a recommended minimum (Recommendation 7). In terms of teaching pedagogy, it is pleasing that the LOTE Analysis repeatedly stressed the importance of the development of communication skills, which, although not a new concept in language teaching, is essential. It is mentioned three times in the 15 Recommendations (Recommendation 1, 7 and 8). The LOTE Analysis also points out the important role of ICT in language teaching. It recommends that a coordinated and systematic strategy for the development of ICT, online and multimedia materials for languages be developed, including building on the expertise in schools, the VSL and DE&T and taking into account developments at the national level (Recommendation 15). All in all, the LOTE Analysis strongly supports language learning and teaching in Victorian primary and secondary schools. It has been about one year since the LOTE Analysis was produced and there has already been some action taken by DE&T in order to respond to the recommendations pointed out in the LOTE Analysis. I’m sure the effort to build better language learning and teaching will continue. For those who are interested in this LOTE Analysis, the entire document is available at the following URL: http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/lem/lote/pdfs/language_report.pdf |
