National Policy on Languages: A Community Language Perspective

Abstract

A brief historical review of language policies in Australia up to the publication of the Senate Standing Committee's Report on a National Language Policy in 1984 is given. The recommendations of the Report are discussed in the light of the ethno-cultural or core value significance that community languages have for many minority ethnic groups in Australia. Recent research findings on such languages are presented and their implications for a national language policy considered. It is postulated that the linguistic pluralism generated by the presence of community languages needs to be viewed in the context of a framework of values that includes English as the shared language for all Australians. From this perspective, it is argued that the stress that the Senate Committee Report places upon the centrality of English in Australia should be balanced by greater recognition of the linguistic rights of minorities and their implications for bilingual education. It is pointed out that both these aspects of language policy have been given prominence in recent statements and guidelines released by the Ministers of Education in Victoria and South Australia. The paper concludes by pointing to the growing interest in the teaching of languages other than English to all children in Australian schools.