Intercultural Understanding in Early Spanish Language Learning: A Policy Perspective from Queensland, Australia

Abstract

This chapter examines newly developed National Australian Curriculum (AC) and the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and their focus on ‘intercultural understanding’ (IU) as one of the key capabilities designed to develop young learners’ capacity to face the challenges of an increasingly multicultural and multilingual society. Drawing on a critical review of the extant literature, recent studies, and government and policy reports, as well as available guidelines and resources developed by local government authorities, this chapter examines policy and practice tensions, in particular the pervasive, enduring focus on English monolingualism as normalised social practice. Against the national educational landscape, it shines a spotlight on the state of Queensland, a largely under-researched educational context with respect to Spanish, a pluricentric, global language with a relatively short history in Australia but which, according to the latest census figures, is the fourth language other than English (after Mandarin, Vietnamese and Cantonese) to be spoken in Queensland homes (ABS, Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016 Census Data, https://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/D3310114.nsf/Home/2016%20Stories%20from%20the%202016%20Census, 2016). After exploring the historical and socioeconomic status of Spanish in the larger ecology of languages in Australia, and Queensland in particular, the chapter identifies key lines of convergence among relevant areas of the newly developed AC, the EYLF and emerging pedagogical trends in the teaching of Spanish. A case is made for the urgent need to conduct systematic research into the implementation of (Spanish) language learning curricula aimed at developing children’s IU in the early years of education. The chapter concludes with specific recommendations in relation to curriculum and personnel policy goals as per Kaplan and Baldauf’s language-in-education policy and planning framework (Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning. Routledge, New York, 2005).