Using Facebook as a Conduit to Communicate: Translanguaging Online

As part of the ‘Bridging the Language Gap’ project undertaken with 86 State and Catholic schools across Queensland, the language competencies of Indigenous students have been found to be ‘invisible’ in several key and self-reinforcing ways in school system data. A proliferation of inaccurate, illogical and incomplete data exists about students’ home languages and their status as English as an Additional Language/Dialect (EAL/D) learners in schools. This is strongly suggestive of the fact that ‘language’ is not perceived by school systems as a significant operative variable in student performance, not even in the current education climate of data-driven improvement. Moreover, the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), the annual standardised testing regime, does not collect relevant information on students’ language repertoires and levels of proficiency in Standard Australian English (SAE). Indigenous students who are over-represented in NAPLAN under-performance data are targeted through ‘Closing the Gap’ for interventions to raise their literacy and numeracy achievements (in SAE). However, Indigenous students who are EAL/D learners cannot be disaggregated by system data from their counterparts already fluent in SAE. Reasons behind such profound language invisibility are discussed, as well as the implications for social inclusion of Indigenous students in education.

The continuously refined definition of translanguaging potentially leads to classroom translanguaging practices whose benefits in EFL contexts are still debatable. Regarding translanguaging as a multilingual speakers’ strategy to draw linguistic features from their full repertoire to convey meaning, this study examined multilingual English teachers’ translanguaging practices in English classrooms and the comprehensibility of these practices. The teachers’ translanguaging practices were described based on qualitative data analysis of classroom observations and V-SRIs involving two teachers from an English department at a university in Indonesia. The comprehensibility of the teachers’ translanguaging practices was measured using a comprehensibility rating scale filled out by ten students who also noted down their responses to open-ended questions exploring factors contributing to their comprehension. The results showed that one teacher practiced translanguaging by drawing linguistic features from English and Indonesian, while the other drew from Javanese in their language repertoire. Three dominant translanguaging strategies were identified: alternating drawing in sustained speech, alternating drawing in minimal speech, and fluid drawing in sustained speech. The comprehensibility rating indicated that the teachers’ translanguaging in the first strategy was more intelligible than in the second strategy, while in the third strategy it was the least intelligible. Students’ judgments of the teachers’ capability in using English, confusion regarding the contexts of the topics discussed, and (un)supportive learning environments contributed to the comprehensibility of the teachers’ translanguaging practices. Hence, teachers’ awareness of their translanguaging practices and their effect on students’ comprehension of the material is urged.

The continuously refined definition of translanguaging potentially leads to classroom translanguaging practices whose benefits in EFL contexts are still debatable. Regarding translanguaging as a multilingual speakers’ strategy to draw linguistic features from their full repertoire to convey meaning, this study examined multilingual English teachers’ translanguaging practices in English classrooms and the comprehensibility of these practices. The teachers’ translanguaging practices were described based on qualitative data analysis of classroom observations and V-SRIs involving two teachers from an English department at a university in Indonesia. The comprehensibility of the teachers’ translanguaging practices was measured using a comprehensibility rating scale filled out by ten students who also noted down their responses to open-ended questions exploring factors contributing to their comprehension. The results showed that one teacher practiced translanguaging by drawing linguistic features from English and Indonesian, while the other drew from Javanese in their language repertoire. Three dominant translanguaging strategies were identified: alternating drawing in sustained speech, alternating drawing in minimal speech, and fluid drawing in sustained speech. The comprehensibility rating indicated that the teachers’ translanguaging in the first strategy was more intelligible than in the second strategy, while in the third strategy it was the least intelligible. Students’ judgments of the teachers’ capability in using English, confusion regarding the contexts of the topics discussed, and (un)supportive learning environments contributed to the comprehensibility of the teachers’ translanguaging practices. Hence, teachers’ awareness of their translanguaging practices and their effect on students’ comprehension of the material is urged.

This thesis is a study of students’ experiences as learners of Standard Australian English (SAE) as an additional language or dialect in early years classrooms in an Australian Aboriginal community. It takes as its starting point reports that English‐lexified varieties spoken in many Aboriginal communities are not explicitly recognised as systematically different from SAE within the formal education system. That is, that the status and needs of Aboriginal students as learners of SAE may be ‘invisible’ in classroom interactions which make up a large part of these children’s educational experiences (Angelo & Hudson 2018; Dixon & Angelo 2014; McIntosh, O’Hanlon & Angelo 2012; Sellwood & Angelo 2013). These issues were explored through two research questions and five sub‐questions: 1) How are students choosing between variants in their linguistic repertoires as they talk during class time at school, a. Do students choose variants associated with SAE or the community variety according to interlocutor, topic of talk or the type of activity they are engaged in?; b. Are there changes in students’ rate of use of SAE and non‐SAE variants in their speech in the classroom over three years? 2) To what extent, and how, do teachers present SAE (as an additional language/dialect) as a learning focus for students in lessons, a. What are the norms and expectations for students’ ways of speaking in the classroom, as revealed through teachers, teacher aides and students’ practices?; b. Is SAE (AL/D) presented as a learning focus in literacy lessons, and how?; c. Is SAE (AL/D) presented as the main content to be learned in any lessons, and how? Data for the study was collected over three years, following two cohorts of students in the first four years of school, in an Aboriginal community in Queensland. Usual classroom lessons were audio and video recorded with the aim of capturing as closely as possible what would have been happening if researchers had not been present. Research Question 1 was investigated through two complementary approaches, providing qualitative and quantitative analysis. Variationist sociolinguistic methods were used to consider how linguistic and social factors influenced students’ choices between linguistic variants associated with the community variety and SAE, and the effect of change over time. Variation in absence and presence of the verb ‘be’ in the children’s classroom talk was taken as a case study for the focus of this analysis. Results showed that literacy task related topics of talk strongly favoured presence of the verb ‘be’. However, contrary to expectation, ‘be’ presence in the children’s classroom talk was not favoured with SAE‐speaking teacher addressees. The analysis did not show the expected increase in rate of ‘be’ presence with an increased length of time at school. Research Question 1 was additionally explored using a Conversation Analysis (CA) approach. CA analysis of classroom interactions showed ways in which students oriented to the social meanings of different ways of talking. In literacy tasks, children’s self‐talk showed how they navigated between variants in their linguistic repertoires, and children demonstrated in their interactions with peers and teachers that they associated certain words with particular ways of talking in the community. Research Question 2 was explored through analysis of classroom interactions from a CA perspective. Analysis revealed little explicit orientation from teachers to students being speakers of the community variety, or learners of SAE, with students being instead treated to a considerable extent as already speakers of SAE. Lessons ostensibly targeted at explicitly teaching linguistic forms were found to focus on topic‐specific applications of SAE words to academic tasks. The context where teachers attended most to non‐SAE aspects of students’ speech was in interactions centred on reading and writing tasks. However, in these interactions, there was evidence that students were treated primarily as learners of literacy, rather than learners of SAE. Both of the methodological approaches, CA and variationist sociolinguistics, drew on naturally occurring classroom data to provide insight into young Aboriginal students’ linguistic experiences encountering SAE as the medium of instruction at school. These analyses contribute new material to previous observations regarding the level of acknowledgement of Aboriginal SAE as an additional language or dialect learners at school (Dixon & Angelo 2014; McIntosh, O’Hanlon & Angelo 2012; Sellwood & Angelo 2013), providing insight into the visibility of these students’ existing linguistic knowledge and SAE learning needs in everyday classroom interactions central to their education.

This article discusses the views of J. Assman on the essence of cultural memory and the identity formed on its basis. Identity can be viewed as the result of reflection on the unconscious self-image. J. Assman established a connection between personal and collective identity. Individual consciousness can be defined as sociogenic, not only because it arises in the process of socialization, but also because it creates a community and is the bearer of a collective self-image. J. Assman highlights the difference between individual and personal identity. Both aspects of self-identity are sociogenic and culturally determined, they arise in the mind, formed by the language, values and norms of a particular culture. Identity is a product of social construction and therefore always acts as a cultural identity. The difference between a collective identity and a different one is that the second one is symbolic. Collective identities belong to the realm of the social imagination. Collective identity also exists only to the extent that individuals recognize it as their own. Societies need the past for their self-determination. Awareness and recognition of belonging to a particular culture is a cultural identity. Personal identity is achieved through communication and interaction with other people, through living with them in a common symbolic world of meaning. Culture becomes the second nature of man, man adapts to the symbolic world of meanings. Culture creates a space suitable for human existence and is a prerequisite for the formation of personal and individual identity. The semantic horizons shared by people become a symbolic expression of we-identity. Of great importance is speech and the general system of symbols – the main means of forming groups. The complex of community transmitted in symbols is a cultural formation – something through which a collective identity is created and preserved in the change of generations. The sense of community is generated by the circulation of common meaning.

This study investigated teachers’ practice and perceptions of translanguaging in junior high school classrooms in Ghana, focusing on how teachers negotiate language use. In this study, the awareness, understanding, and application of translanguaging by teachers were explored through qualitative interviews. The results show that although most participants were unfamiliar with the term ‘‘translanguaging,’’ the practice is a common strategy to enhance students’ comprehension and participation in classrooms. Teachers use translanguaging as a pedagogical approach to fill in linguistic gaps and to support plurilingual students. In contrast to the language policy that makes English the sole medium of instruction at the junior high school level, Ghanaian teachers in some public junior high schools continue practicing translanguaging, mostly through tacit approval of their circuit supervisors and school heads. The findings underline the need for rethinking language policies to reflect the realities of bilingual classrooms and recommend that intentionally incorporating translanguaging into formal educational frameworks at the junior high level could foster more inclusive and effective teaching and learning in the classrooms. This research contributes to extant literature advocating for the recognition and legitimisation of translanguaging in multilingual educational contexts, emphasising its role in improving teaching and learning outcomes in Ghanaian classrooms.

The case for Condren: Aboriginal English, pragmatics and the law

This study considers a multilingual and culturally diverse post-Soviet country – Kazakhstan, where most of the population is bilingual or multilingual. In order to reverse the pre-colonial Russification, in the post-colonial period, the country has raised the status of Kazakh as the national language. However, Russian is kept as the language for inter-ethnic and regional communication, and English is adopted as the language of international communication. This small-scale study uses the concept of lifestyle diglossia (Saxena, 2014) to understand and explain the macro- & micro-level language practices in ‘regulated spaces’ and ‘unregulated spaces’ (Sebba, 2009) through the following research questions: (1) What are the attitudes of the participants towards the languages in their language repertoire?; (2) What are their patterns of language use in different domains at macro-level?; and (3) What are their patterns of language use in digital communication at micro-level? The participants in the study were 19 family members of master’s students at Graduate School of Education. The participants were divided into three groups by age: Teenagers (10-19), Younger Adults (20-39), and Middle-aged Adults (40-59). Questionnaires conducted among the participants were consisted of eleven questions, that were employed to elicit macro-level data on language repertoire, language attitudes and language use in three different domains, such as family, friendship, and education. The micro-level language use data in different contexts of digital communication (viz., WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram) were collected over a period of three weeks during the course Multilingual Society in the Spring’21. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted to elicit participants’ attitudes towards languages in their repertoires and their language choices in the social networks. The results of the study revealed a high competence in the Kazakh language use and a positive attitude towards it were on the rise among the youngest participants, notably by teenagers. However, mainly the Russian language was favoured and accepted as the most prestigious language among the younger adults and middle-aged participants. Although the respondents’ English language competence varies, the attitude towards learning it as a foreign language was positive among all three age groups. Moreover, the micro-analysis of digital communication revealed multi-modal code-switching among these languages. Besides, code-mixing, borrowings, neologisms, abbreviations, emoticons, and shortenings were mainly used by the respondents in their digital communication in all age groups. Based on the study results, the decision tree was drawn to depict language choice depending on the formal/informal settings, intimate/non-intimate topics, serious/non-serious issues and characterized the equal usage of all languages for different purposes.

"[Peter] Phelps was reacting to the news that the battle to 'save' Avalon from a Baywatch film crew invasion had been won after the Queensland Government clinched an in-principle deal with the producers of the world's most watched television show."-- Austin 5; italics added for emphasis The violent reaction of the Sydney residents of Avalon came as somewhat of a surprise to Baywatch producers and even the Australian Government, with Prime Minister John Howard reportedly commenting that the area would have benefitted from the increase in tourism and the creation of two hundred jobs. Avalon residents thought otherwise, and in the media, particularly the Sydney media, negative invasion metaphors ran rife. This disenchantment with American television culture may be considered a turning point in Australia's cultural identity analogous to an earlier example of cultural policing in the 1960s, when a new wave of nationalism saw the rejection of British and American English as the 'prestigous' varieties of English in the Australian media. It appears that parts of Australian society are again policing and promoting Australian culture through the negative, violent portrayal of American culture. Earlier this century, there was a certain repugnance associated with the Australian accent, with cultural commentators looking towards England for a standardised form of Australian English. "If we must follow a dialect of English in Australia, why not follow one of the charming ones? Why follow the ugliest that exists?" (Smith 1926; reported in Mitchell 63) "The attempt to create a distinct Australian accent is mischievous. For I make bold to say at present one does not exist. There is not, and should not be, any difference in standard English as spoken here, in the Motherland, or elsewhere in the Empire." (ABC Weekly 1942; reported in Mitchell 64-5) The linguistic manifestation of the Australian cultural cringe was complicated after World War II with the addition of American English to the 'prestigious' varieties. This attitude was exemplified in Australian radio announcers who adopted either American or British accents depending on whether the listeners were a commercial or ABC audience. The shift to an American accent for popular radio perhaps reflected the overwhelming acceptance of the American allies who had, at that stage, begun threatening England's cultural dominance. There was a clear association between America's own cultural dominance and the concepts of modernity and popular culture that were distinctly not British. The adoption of this form of English helped to perpetuate the attractiveness of the American ideology of freedom, equality, affluence and happiness (Horne 103) and to begin filtering out the hierarchical cultural snobbery associated with the British accent. In the sixties, the allure of American English became less tantalising and arguably only remained in some lexical items or words. Australian English came back into vogue during this time with writers such as Donald Horne (The Lucky Country), initiating a new wave of nationalism by pointing out the strengths of this country. Through the work of such social commentators, the Australian accent came to positively reflect the Australian ideological construction of mateship and egalitarianism. The Australian accent replaced the American accent, becoming the 'prestigious' form of English through the promotion of this form of nationalism. Even today, the battle to maintain an unadulterated form of Australian English resistant to outside influences is evident in the opinion columns. "As an Australian and proud of it, you get sick and tired of these characters [from American television programmes] mouthing 'guys, zerotouched, heist, ketchup and fries'." (Jefferies 8) However whilst the struggle to maintain a distinctive Australian accent has been successful, the attractiveness of American culture in general continues as portrayed in other cultural forms, especially television. Except for some concerns over Australian content regulations and some highbrow cultural commentary, Australians seem to be happily lapping up their nightly television doses of American culture -- that is, until Baywatch proposed that they move their filming location to the very middle-class Sydney suburb of Avalon. The residents of Avalon took this move as an act of war, and so the metaphors began flying. " .. the battle to 'save' Avalon from a Baywatch film crew invasion." (Austin 5) "Baywatch versus Avalon." (Carroll 16) "'Here they come, we surrender' [Avalon to Baywatch]" (Nicholson 18) "'Get that leaky old tub off this beach' [Baywatch to Howard]" (Nicholson 18) "'They took over the showers and toilets'" (Who Weekly 16) "They [Avalon residents] torpedoed plans .." (Lateline) The language that the media adopted in reporting the Baywatch filming proposal metaphorically constructed this event as an invasion, with the Baywatch producers as a hostile force willing to impinge upon the freedom and identity of the suburb of Avalon, which was alternatively portrayed as either a passive victim -- "'we surrender'" (Nicholson 18) -- or a virulent group armed to counterattack the Baywatch scurge -- "they torpedoed" (Who Weekly 16). Baywatch and Avalon were posed as enemies, as in "Baywatch versus Avalon" (Carroll 16), with both sides' attributes exaggerated to produce maximum difference -- the Avalon residents were described as snobby and middle class, and Baywatch became the epitome of American television trash. Yet it may be argued that this media construction of an invasion has wider, more significant cultural implications. Metonymically, the residents of Avalon seem to be representative of Australian culture, with Baywatch becoming the manifestation of American culture in its entirety. Thus, according to the media, the 'coming' of Baywatch was nothing short of a cultural invasion, an American impingement on Australian culture. The smugness of cultural commentators could be felt as the violent protests from Avalon residents perhaps marked the start of another wave of disillusionment with American culture, this time transmitted through such popular media as television. The 'popular' culture cringe that Australia seems to be suffering from in television content may be meeting its challenge. Avalon residents have made a stand against the cultural imperialism of American culture, similar to the 60s resistance to the invasion of Americanisms in Australian English. It will be interesting to examine the result of the Baywatch/Avalon incident, if indeed any lasting effects will be observed. It may be that Avalon's protest against Baywatch, which represents the struggle against American cultural invasion, will prove ineffectual. This is a likely outcome considering the Gold Coast's willingness to embrace this television show and its entourage before the decision to move to Hawaii. Indeed, the Gold Coast Mayor enthusiastically described the Gold Coast as Australia's answer to Hollywood. Yet an alternative result may be a positive re-examination and reappraisal of Australian television and its linked cultural identity similar to that which occured in the 1960s with Australian English. References Austin, Keith. "Sun, Sea Sound ... So Long." Sydney Morning Herald: The Guide 1 Mar. 1999: 5. Carroll, Nick. "Baywatch Link" Sydney Morning Herald 1 Mar. 1999: 16. "Drowning Out Baywatch." Who Weekly 8 Feb. 1999: 16. Horne, Donald. The Lucky Country: Australia in the Sixties. Australia: Penguin, 1966. Jefferys, Bob. "US Infiltration." Sydney Morning Herald: The Guide 1 Mar. 1999: 8. Lateline. Nine Network. QTQ9, Brisbane. 8 Mar. 1999. Mitchell, A. G. The Pronunciation of English in Australia. Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1947. Nicholson. "Ulysees: An Irregular Soapie." Cartoon. The Weekend Australian 27-8 Feb. 1999: 18. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Felicity Meakins. "Shooting Baywatch: Resisting Cultural Invasion." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.2 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9903/bay.php>. Chicago style: Felicity Meakins, "Shooting Baywatch: Resisting Cultural Invasion," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 2 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9903/bay.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Felicity Meakins. (1999) Shooting Baywatch: resisting cultural invasion. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(2). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9903/bay.php> ([your date of access]).

In this study, we explore how Aboriginal multilingual speakers use technology-enhanced environments, specifically Facebook, for their translanguaging practices. Using data collected from Facebook posts written by seven Aboriginal youth over a period of 18 months, we investigate how the participants move between Aboriginal English (AE) and Standard Australian English (SAE) creatively and strategically to express humour and group membership, and to identify as an Aboriginal person. We also observe how these practices have the potential to enhance rather than detract from their development of SAE. The findings of the study have important implications for teaching bilingual and bidialectal speakers in general and AE speakers in particular, highlighting the importance of creating a translanguaging space to enable them to maximize their knowledge and understanding of different subject matter and develop competencies in their various linguistic codes.

Aims and objectives: As some Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) studies claimed that native speaking (NS) students outperform language minority (LMi) students, far-reaching inferences have been drawn by policymakers. However, previous PISA assessments were not appropriate because they only included a dichotomous home language variable. The main objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of how students’ language background and use are related to academic achievement. Design: The PISA data from 2012 provides a unique opportunity to fill this research lacuna as it includes a more elaborated questionnaire on language background and use. Data and analysis: Multivariate three-level analyses are conducted on PISA 2012 data from 18 countries, covering about 5,000 schools and 120,000 students. Findings: The results show that there is an achievement gap between LMi and NS students for both reading and math. After controlling for students and school characteristics, the LMi–NS achievement gap narrows, but remains significant. This holds true for most countries. However, language use per se is not the cause of underachievement: LMi students who more often speak a minority language with their parents do not achieve less. In some countries, speaking a minority language more often with parents is actually positively related to math and reading achievement. Nevertheless, speaking the instruction language in the school context is positively associated with math and reading achievement. Originality and significance: This study revealed that the relation between language use and academic achievement is more complex than it was conceptualized in most previous PISA studies. Scholars need to go beyond the dichotomous approach to achieve a better understanding of language use. Our results show that linguistic diversity could function as an asset for academic performance, at least if a good balance between focus on minority languages at home and instruction language at school can be found.

Background: The focus on translanguaging practices in multilingual classrooms can be seen, by and large, as responding to risks of violence entailed in diverse contexts of language use, including the teaching and learning of mathematics. However, the practice of translanguaging alone cannot counteract the hegemonic authority of our relation to language curricula being present through interactions among teachers, students, and researchers, as well as material resources. Purpose: Drawing on Bakhtin’s philosophy of language, we discuss dialogicality as a critical and democratic organizing principle for the pervasive polyphony that characterizes every utterance constituting heteroglossia. Dialogicality reconstitutes our relation to language through the “other” and the need to see any utterance as a nonteleological process among subjects and objects. As such, the aim is to explore how acts of dialogicality may address the potential risks of onto/epistemic violence in translanguaging practices. Focusing on either emergent or orchestrated translanguaging in three European states: Greece, Catalonia and Sweden, we discuss how dialogicality allows for alternative accounts of language use in complex classroom events. Method: Methodologically, we start by encountering the sociopolitical context of monolingual and monologic curricula in Europe, where the three cases we theorize take place, along with our considerations for dialogicality in the realm of translanguaging. Our theorizing-in-practice unfolds a double effort in reading. First, what can we read today as risks of onto/epistemic violence in each of these cases? And second, what is the potential of dialogic translanguaging across the cases and within the boundaries of state monolingual policy and monologic discursive culture of school mathematics? Findings: The present article contributes by discussing dialogicality as a relational onto/epistemology toward addressing translanguaging practices. Concerning the first question, our theorizing-in-practice shares evidence of the inevitable presence of onto/epistemic violence in every utterance. The limited scope of a crude mathematisation process through language appears continuously in mathematics classrooms, serving to place either the object or the subject into fixed narratives. Regarding the second question, our dialogical reading of translanguaging denotes the importance of the importance of minor responding(s) to such moments of violent risk. We understand them as “cracks” in the authoritative status of monolingual and monologic mathematics curricula; we argue that such minor, yet crucial, cracks are of great significance for creating acts of dialogicality from “below,” disrupting the hegemonic authority of an assumed neutral mathematical language. Conclusions/Recommendations: The risk of onto/epistemic violence is inevitable in any discursive and embodied encounter in multilingual mathematics classrooms, including the translanguaging practices. The study suggests that acts of dialogicality become minor responses to violence in ways that both counteract oppressive monologic discourse and open toward a relational onto/epistemology with mathematics, children, teachers, material resources, and researchers. Remembering how Bakhtin insisted that “language is never unitary” and “dialogue” is not a panacea, we emphasize the need for a continuous focus on creating acts of dialogicality with language and discourse.

Sharing this article, the act of writing and then having it read, legitimises the point of it – that is, we (and we speak on behalf of each other here) managed to negotiate western academic expectations and norms from a just-as-legitimate-but-not-always-heard female Buginese perspective written in Standard Australian English (not my first choice-of-language and I speak on behalf of myself). At times we transgressed roles, guiding and following each other through different academic, cultural, social, and linguistic domains until we stumbled upon ways of legitimating our entanglement of experiences, when we heard the similar, faint, drum beat across boundaries and journeys.This article is one storying of the results of this four year relationship between a Buginese PhD candidate and an Indigenous Australian supervisor – both in the writing of the article and the processes that we are writing about. This is our process of knowing and validating knowledge through sharing, collaboration and cultural exchange. Neither the successful PhD thesis nor this article draw from authoethnography but they are outcomes of a lived, research standpoint that fiercely fought to centre a Muslim-Buginese perspective as much as possible, due to the nature of a postgraduate program. In the effort to find a way to not privilege Western ways of knowing to the detriment of my standpoint and position, we had to find a way to at times privilege my way of knowing the world alongside a Western one. There had to be a beat that transgressed cultural and linguistic differences and that allowed for a legitimised dialogic, intersubjective dance.The PhD research focused on potential dialogue between Australian culture and Buginese culture in terms of feminism and its resulting cultural hybridity where some Australian feminist thoughts are applicable to Buginese culture but some are not. Therefore, the PhD study centred a Buginese standpoint while moving back and forth amongst Australian feminist discourses and the dominant expectations of a western academic process. The PhD research was part of a greater Indonesian tertiary movement to include, study, challenge and extend feminist literary programs and how this could be respectfully and culturally appropriately achieved. This article is written by both of us but the core knowledge comes from a Buginese standpoint, that is, the principal supervisor learned from the PhD candidate and then applied her understanding of Indigenous standpoint theory, Tuhiwahi Smith’s decolonising methodologies and Spivakian self-reflexivity to aid the candidate’s development of her dancing methodology. For this reason, the rest of this article is written from the first-person perspective of Dr Abbas.The PhD study was a literary analysis on five stories from Helen Garner’s Postcards from Surfers (1985). My work translated these five stories from English into Indonesian and discussed some challenges that occurred in the process of translation. By using Edward Said’s work on contrapuntal reading and Robert Warrior’s metaphor of the subaltern dancing, I, the embodied learner and the cultural translator, moved back and forth between Buginese culture and Australian culture to consider how Australian women and men are represented and how mainstream Australian society engages with, or challenges, discourses of patriarchy and power. This movement back and forth was theorised as ‘dancing’. Ultimately, another dance was performed at the end of the thesis waltz between the work which centred my Buginese standpoint and academia as a Western tertiary institution.I have been dancing with Australian feminism for over four years. My use of the word ‘dancing’ signified my challenge to articulate and engage with Australian culture, literature, and feminism by viewing it from a Buginese perspective as opposed to a ‘Non-Western’ perspective. As a Buginese woman and scholar, I centred my specific cultural standpoints instead of accepting them generally and therefore dismissed the altering label of ‘Non-Western’. Juxtaposing Australian feminism with Buginese culture was not easy. However, as my research progressed I saw interesting cultural differences between Australian and Buginese cultures that could result in a hybridized way of engaging feminist issues. At times, my cultural standpoint took the lead in directing the research or the point, at other times a Western beat was more prominent, for example, using the English language to voice my work.The Buginese, also known as the Bugis, along with the Makassar, the Mandar, and the Toraja, are one of the four main ethnic groups of the province of South Sulawesi in Indonesia. The population of the Buginese in South Sulawesi spreads into major states (Bone, Wajo, Soppeng, and Sidenreng) and some minor states (Pare-Pare, Suppa, and Sinjai). Like other ethnic groups living in other islands of Indonesia such as the Javanese, the Sundanese, the Minang, the Batak, the Balinese, and the Ambonese, the Buginese have their own culture and traditions. The Buginese, especially those who live in the villages, are still bounded strictly by ade’ (custom) or pangadereng (customary law). This concept of ade’ provides living guidelines for Buginese and consists of five components including ade’, bicara, rapang, wari’, and sara’. Pelras clarifies that pangadereng is ‘adat-hood’, a corpus of interlinked ruling principles which, besides ade’ (custom), includes also bicara (jurisprudence), rapang (models of good behaviour which ensure the proper functioning of society), wari’ (rules of descent and hierarchy) and sara’ (Islamic law and institution, derived from the Arabic shari’a) (190). So, pangadereng is an overall norm which includes advice on how Buginese should behave towards fellow human beings and social institutions on a reciprocal basis. In addition, the Buginese together with Makassarese, mind what is called siri’ (honour and shame), that is the sense of honour and shame. In the life of the Buginese-Makassar people, the most basic element is siri’. For them, no other value merits to be more detected and preserved. Siri’ is their life, their self-respect and their dignity. This is why, in order to uphold and to defend it when it has been stained or they consider it has been stained by somebody, the Bugis-Makassar people are ready to sacrifice everything, including their most precious life, for the sake of its restoration. So goes the saying.... ‘When one’s honour is at stake, without any afterthought one fights’ (Pelras 206).Buginese is one of Indonesia’s ethnic groups where men and women are intended to perform equal roles in society, especially those who live in the Buginese states of South Sulawesi where they are still bound strictly by ade’ (custom) or pangadereng (customary law). These two basic concepts are guidelines for daily life, both in the family and the work place. Buginese also praise what is called siri’, a sense of honour and shame. It is because of this sense of honour and shame that we have a saying, siri’ emmi ri onroang ri lino (people live only for siri’) which means one lives only for honour and prestige. Siri’ had to remain a guiding principle in my theoretical and methodological approach to my PhD research. It is also a guiding principle in the resulting pedagogical praxis that this work has established for my course in Australian culture and literature at Hasanuddin University. I was not prepared to compromise my own ethical and cultural identity and position yet will admit, at times, I felt pressured to do so if I was going to be seen to be performing legitimate scholarly work. Novera argues that:Little research has focused specifically on the adjustment of Indonesian students in Australia. Hasanah (1997) and Philips (1994) note that Indonesian students encounter difficulties in fulfilling certain Western academic requirements, particularly in relation to critical thinking. These studies do not explore the broad range of academic and social problems. Yet this is a fruitful area for research, not just because of the importance of Indonesian students to Australia, and the importance of the Australia-Indonesia relationship to both neighbouring nations, but also because adjustment problems are magnified by cultural differences. There are clear differences between Indonesian and Australian cultures, so that a study of Indonesian students in Australia might also be of broader academic interest […]Studies of international student adjustment discuss a range of problems, including the pressures created by new role and behavioural expectations, language difficulties, financial problems, social difficulties, homesickness, difficulties in dealing with university and other authorities, academic difficulties, and lack of assertiveness inside and outside the classroom. (467)While both my supervisor and I would agree that I faced all of these obstacles during my PhD candidature, this article is focusing solely on the battle to present my methodology, a dialogic encounter between Buginese feminism and mainstream Australian culture using Helen Garner’s short stories, to a Western process and have it be “legitimised”. Endang writes that short stories are becoming more popular in the industrial era in Indonesia and they have become vehicles for writers to articulate the realities of social life such as poverty, marginalization, and unfairness (141-144). In addition, Noor states that the short story has become a new literary form particularly effective for assisting writers in their goal to help the marginalized because its shortness can function as a weapon to directly “scoop up” the targeted issues and “knock them out at a blow” (Endang 144-145). Indeed, Helen Garner uses short stories in a way similar to that described by Endang: as a defiant act towards the government and current circumstances (145). My study of Helen Garner’s short stories explored the way her stories engage with and res

In culturally and linguistically diverse school settings, English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) specialist teachers play a critical role in fostering equitable, socially just, and responsive learning environments. In Australia, EAL/D learners are students whose first language is not Standard Australian English (SAE) and who require targeted support to develop proficiency in SAE. This paper reports on a study examining EAL/D teachers’ reported pedagogical practices that nurture multilingual students’ plurilingual repertoires as acts of social justice. Framed through pedagogical judgement—encompassing action, reasoning, and responsibility—the study explored how teachers leveraged students’ cultural and linguistic resources as learning assets. Data were generated through in-depth semi-structured interviews with five EAL/D specialist teachers working with newly arrived Ezidi refugee-background students in a regional town in New South Wales. Findings indicate that teachers enacted inclusive, plurilingual practices grounded in strong pedagogical reasoning and a moral commitment to equity. Despite recognising persistent monolingual and deficit discourses, teachers actively challenged these narratives by affirming students’ linguistic and cultural identities.

Multicompetent EFL writers’ use of language repertoire during the composing process across languages: A case study