Rhonda Oliver

Evidence of English language proficiency and academic achievement of non-English-speaking background students

The increasing number of international students enrolled in Australian universities over the last decade has met with a corresponding concern that many non-English-speaking background (NESB) students experience considerable difficulty in their courses. Consequently, concerns about admission procedures have been raised regarding how English language proficiency (ELP) is determined for NESB students (both domestic and international). In addition to standardised ELP tests, some universities accept other forms of evidence, such as the completion of English-medium courses. This large-scale quantitative study analysed data on 5675 undergraduate and postgraduate students available from one universitys database over a three-year period to ascertain if its ELP requirements were sufficient to ensure the academic progress of adequate numbers of these students. The best evidence for potential academic success was found to be standardised tests while students submitting other forms of ELP evidence tended to have more difficulties.

Teaching Australian Aboriginal Higher Education Students: What Should Universities Do?.

This paper reports findings from a recent study of Australian Aboriginal higher education student experience. Reported here are extracts from a set of case studies of staff, specifically those working in Indigenous Centres, involved with these students in both teaching and support capacities. These participants provided a rich set of qualitative data regarding their own experiences in the learning and teaching of Australian Aboriginal students. The paper raises important issues for the improvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university student experience and for increasing their representation in higher education, a strategy strongly supported by several current government initiatives. Best practice in the context of this paper not only includes teaching and learning, which in turn has implications for raising the awareness of university teaching staff, but also applies more broadly at the level of university-wide responsibility including policy-making and future directions.

Embracing plurality through oral language

The transmission and dissemination of knowledge in Aboriginal societies for the most part occurs orally in an Aboriginal language or in Aboriginal English. However, whilst support is given to speaking skills in Indigenous communities, in our education system less emphasis is given to developing equivalent oral communicative competence in Standard Australian English (SAE). Instead the focus is given to the ongoing assessment of reading and writing skills and grammatical knowledge – this is in direct contrast to the existing language experience of Aboriginal students. Therefore, for Aboriginal students to participate in mainstream society, we suggest that there is a need to nurture oral language skills in SAE and provide learners with the experience to develop their code-switching ability to maintain continuity with their first language or dialect. Drawing on previous research that we and others have undertaken at several schools, this paper highlights the need for three fundamental changes to take place within language education: (1) school policies to change and explicitly accept and support Aboriginal English in code-switching situations; (2) familiarity among school staff about the major differences between Aboriginal English and SAE; and (3) tasks that focus on developing and practising the ‘when, why and how’ of code-switching.

A task-based needs analysis for Australian Aboriginal students: Going beyond the target situation to address cultural issues

Abstract While needs analyses underpin the design of second language analytic syllabi, the methodologies undertaken are rarely examined. This paper explores the value of multiple data sources and collection methods for developing a needs analysis model to enable vocational education and training teachers to address the needs of Australian Aboriginal students from remote communities who speak Australian English as an additional language (EAL). Adopting a task-based approach to needs analysis, data were gathered from educators, students, potential employers and Aboriginal community members using interviews, observation and document collection. The findings highlight the benefits of a needs analysis for triangulating multiple data sources and methods to identify the actual target tasks, including social workplace interactions as well as cultural issues. These findings have implications for all language needs analyses, particularly for EAL students from non-Western cultures.

Code-switching and Indigenous workplace learning: cross-cultural competence training or cultural assimilation?

For more than two decades, within numerous spheres of education, code-switching (CS)—moving competently between two languages or dialects—has been promoted as a useful, if not necessary, skill for Australian Indigenous students to develop. (The term ‘Indigenous’ in Australia usually refers to (mainland) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Since the participants in our study were all Aboriginal, the terms ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Aboriginal’ are used interchangeably.) Linguistically it enables them to maintain communicative links with their home communities and to navigate non-Indigenous language environments. In schools and training organisations the development of CS often focuses on the verbal aspects of language (for example, ‘What does that mean in your English?’ or ‘How do we say that in Standard Australian English?’), but CS also encompasses the nonverbal. In this chapter we consider the cultural nuances that underpin the development of competent CS and its associated behaviours: what training organisations often refer to as ‘soft skills’. In doing so, we examine the vexed question of whether the development of these soft skills constitutes competency in cross-cultural communication or whether it is another guise for assimilation.

Review of selected research in applied linguistics published in Australia (2008-2014)

This article reviews the significant and diverse range of research in applied linguistics published in Australia in the period 2008–2014. Whilst acknowledging that a great deal of research by Australian scholars has been published internationally during these seven years, this review is based on books, journal articles, and conference proceedings published in Australia. Many of these sources will be unfamiliar to an international audience, and the purpose of this article is to highlight this body of research and the themes emerging from it. The journals selected in this review include Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Australian Review of Applied Linguistics (ARAL), BABEL, English in Australia, English Australia, Papers in Language Testing and Assessment, Prospect: An Australian Journal of TESOL, TESOL in Context , and University of Sydney Papers in TESOL . Selected refereed proceedings are from key national conferences including: ALAA (Applied Linguistics Association of Australia), ACTA (Australian Council of TESOL Association), ASFLA (Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association), and ALS (Australian Linguistics Society). Our review of selected applied linguistics work revolves around the following themes: the responses to the needs of government planning and policy; the complexity of Australias multicultural, multilingual society; the concern for recognizing context and culture as key factors in language and language learning; social activism in supporting language pedagogy and literacy programmes at all levels of education; and acknowledgement of the unique place held by Indigenous languages and Aboriginal English in the national linguistic landscape.

Negative feedback on task repetition: ESL vs. EFL child settings

ABSTRACT Research on task repetition in second language (L2) learning has shown the benefits of this practice for subsequent L2 learning. However, as with much L2 research, most studies on task repetition have focused on adults and there is a dearth of research in this area involving young children. This study examines the effect of task repetition on two forms of negative feedback (NF), recasts and negotiation of meaning (NoM) strategies, available to children in an English as a second language (ESL) setting (Australia) and in an English as a foreign language (EFL) setting (Spain). Participants were 7–8 years old and worked in pairs on a spot-the-differences task at two testing times (time 1 [T1] and time [T2]). Differences were reported in the provision and use of NF from T1 to T2, and between the ESL and EFL group: feedback was provided and used significantly more at T2, and especially by the ESL group, but EFL learners made more errors and used different NoM strategies than ESL learners. The results are discussed in light of recent research on task repetition.

Theory, empiricism and practice: Commentary on TBLT in ARAL 2016

This commentary includes consideration of theory, opinion, empirical work, evaluative work and practice in a subset of papers that appeared in ARAL (2016) on task-based language teaching. Addressing the wider logic, theoretical underpinnings and instructional implications of TBLT is a serious applied linguistics challenge and one that the TBLT area is increasingly in a position to engage with in the search for evidence-based solutions to problems in designing, implementing and assessing the effects of TBLT. The contributors take a sometimes approving, occasionally critical and always forward looking perspective on the contributions of ARAL 2016 and the directions and challenges facing the field.

Review of Child Second Language Acquisition (SLA): Examining Theories and Research

ABSTRACT Within the field of second language acquisition (SLA), there has been much less research undertaken with children than with adults, yet the two cohorts are quite distinct in characteristics and in their learning processes. This article provides a review of child SLA research, particularly the research with a pedagogical focus. We describe a series of studies, including those informed by different theoretical perspectives (interactionist and sociocultural), in different instructional settings (i.e., second language, foreign language, immersion, and content and language integrated learning [CLIL] contexts) and using different research methodologies (longitudinal, case study, experimental, and naturalistic). We begin by highlighting the importance of age as a factor in SLA research, presenting studies that have focused on the differences existing between younger and older learners. We also consider interventions that can support language learning—including form-focused instruction and the use of tasks. We finish by presenting a proposed change in the way that research with children is conducted.

A second language task-based needs analysis for australian aboriginal learners: Accessing insider perspectives of the workplace and cultural domains

Syntactic priming in second language corpus data – testing an experimental paradigm in corpus data1. Review of the IRIS repository and Introduction to the volume: Methodological innovation and challenge. by Emma Marsden, Alison Mackey and Luke Plonsky 2. Indirect tests of implicit linguistic knowledge by John N. Williams and Albertyna Paciorek 3. Using the looking-while-listening procedure for second language research by Casey Lew-Williams 4. Self-paced Reading and L2 Grammatical Processing by Leah Roberts 5. Under the radar: Triangulating think-alouds and finger tracking to detect the unnoticed by Aline Godfroid and Le Anne Spino 6. New developments in the use of elicited imitation by Rosemary Erlam and Motoko Akakura 7. Structural priming in L2 speech production: Examining relationships among English L2 speakers production, cognitive abilities, and awareness by Kim McDonough, Paula Kielstra, Dustin Crowther and George Smith 8. Eliciting oral interaction data in EFL settings by Maria del Pilar Garcia Mayo and Eva Alcon Soler 9. Eliciting oral production of target forms in peer interaction: challenges and options by Jenefer Philp 10. Syntactic priming in second language corpus data - testing an experimental paradigm in corpus data by Anita Thomas 11. Interaction in synchronous computer-mediated communication: Advancing the research agenda by Nicole Ziegler 12. A Second Language Task-Based Needs Analysis for Australian Aboriginal Learners: Accessing Insider Perspectives of the Workplace and Cultural Domains by Ellen Grote and Rhonda Oliver 13. Insights from measurement of task-related motivation by Maimoonah K. Al Khalil