DOCUMENT RESUME ED 471 603 CE 084 173 AUTHOR Lo Bianco, Joseph, Ed.; Wickert, Rosie, Ed. TITLE Australian Policy Activism in Language and Literacy. INSTITUTION Language Australia, Melbourne (Victoria). ISBN ISBN-1-876768-31-2 PUB DATE 2001-00-00 NOTE 401p. AVAILABLE FROM Language Australia, GPO Box 372F, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia (RPP 491; $49.50 Australian). Fax: 613 9612 2601; Web site: http://languageaustralia.com.au/ . PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) Reports Research (143) EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01/PC17 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Activism; Adult Basic Education; Adult Educators; *Adult Literacy; Bilingual Education; Community Programs; Cultural Pluralism; Culturally Relevant Education; Developed Nations; Elementary Secondary Education; English (Second Language); Foreign Countries; Government Role; Hearing Impairments; Immigrants; Indigenous Populations; Language Maintenance; *Language Minorities; *Language Planning; Language Role; Literacy Education; National Programs; Needs Assessment; *Policy Formation; *Public Policy; Social Capital IDENTIFIERS *Australia ABSTRACT This book presents the dynamics of language and literacy policy activism in Australia. The introduction is "Activists and Policy" (LoBianco, Wickert). Part 1, "From Policy to Anti-Policy" (LoBianco), sets a frame and overarching context of the pattern of Australian language and literacy policy. Part 2 contains accounts of how policy activists learned to become more effective in influence and text production, including "Australia's Language" (Brock); "Politics, Activism, and Processes of Policy Production" (Wickert); and "Although It Wasn't Broken, It Certainly Was Fixed" (Moore). Part 3 explores different approaches to understanding how policy problems and solutions are constituted in particular kinds of ways with an intention to generate desired solutions. Included are "Advocating the Sustainability of Linguistic Diversity" (Singh); "Cost of Literacy for Some" (Taylor); and "(E)merging Discourses at Work" (Castleton). Part 4 concerns what happens in different contexts as an application of the wider principles. The papers are "Melody Changes but the Dance Goes on" (McHugh et al.); "Sleight of Hand" (Falk); "National Literacy Benchmarks and the Outstreaming of English as a Second Language (ESL) Learners" (McKay); "Open for Business" (Kell); "Inventiveness and Regression" (Ozolins); "Deafness and Sign Language in Government Policy Documents 1983-90" (Power); "Imprisoned by a Landmark Narrative?" (Childs); "Ideologies, Languages, Policies" (Scarino, Papdemetre); and "Reconciled to What?" (Nicholls). Part 5 is "Sing Out That Song" (Frawley), a paper that explores the concept of print literacy as being socially and culturally driven and its positioning as a variable social technology in the context of an Aboriginal community. Appendixes include abbreviations and 620 references. (YLB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the on final document. MENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research end Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND CENTER (ERIC) DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS -.4.Thisdocument has been reproduced as BEEN GRANTED BY received from the person or organization originating it. 0 Minor chinges have been made to ) i improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES official OERI position or policy. INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) BEST COPY AVAILABLE Australian Policy Activism in Language and Literacy Editors Joseph Lo Bianco and Rosie Wickert published by Language Australia Ltd. LANGUAGE A UST P A LIA Australian Policy Activism in Language & Literacy Joseph Lo Bianco and Rosie Wickert (Editors) National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Australian policy activism in language and literacy. Lo Bianco, Joseph. & Wickert, Rosie. Bibliography. ISBN 1 876768 31 2. 1. Language policy Australia. 2. Language planning Australia. 3. Literacy programs Australia.I. Lo Bianco, Joseph. II. Wickert, Rosie 306.44994 Cover design by Gabrielle Markus ©Copyright 2001 Language Australia Ltd. No parts may be reproduced by any process except with the written permission of the publisher or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act. Published by Language Australia Ltd. The National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia For further information contact: Language Australia Ltd. GPO Box 372F Melbourne VIC 3001 Australia The views expressed in this publication are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Language Australia Ltd. Contents Preface Acknowledgments vii List of contributors ix Introduction: Activists and policy politics 1 Joseph Lo Bianco and Rosie Wickert PART 1Openings 11 1 From policy to anti-policy: How fear of language rights took policy-making out of community hands 13 Joseph Lo Bianco Part 2Processes, politics and the effects of policy text production 45 2 Australia's language 47 Paul Brock 3 Politics, activism and processes of policy production: Adult literacy in Australia 75 Rosie Wickert 4 Although it wasn't broken, it certainly was fixed: Interventions in the Australian Adult Migrant English Program 1991-1996 93 Helen Moore Part 3Policy positions 121 5 Advocating the sustainability of linguistic diversity 123 Michael Singh 6 The cost of literacy for some 149 Anthea Taylor 7 (E)merging discourses at work: Bringing togethernew and old ways to account for workplace literacy policy 163 Geraldine Castleton AUSTRALIAN POLICY ACTIVISM IN LANGUAGE AND LITERACY Part 4Policy and the contexts of practice 179 8 The melody changes but the dance goes on - tracking adult literacy education in Western Australia from learning for life' to lifelong learning': Policy impacts on practice 1973-1999 181 Margaret McHugh, Jennifer Nevard and Anthea Taylor 9 Sleight of hand: Job myths, literacy and social capital 203 Ian Falk 10National literacy benchmarks and the outstreaming of ESL learners 221 Penny McKay 11Open for business: The market, the state and adult literacy in Australia up to and beyond 2000 239 Peter Kell 12Inventiveness and regression: Interpreting/translating and the vicissitudes of Australian language policy 255 Uldis Ozolins 13Deafness and sign language in government policy documents 1983-1990 279 Des Power 14Imprisoned by a landmark narrative? Student/teacher ratios and the making of policy 293 Merilyn Childs 15Ideologies, languages, policies: Australia's ambivalent relationship with learning to communicate in 'other' languages 305 Angela Scarino and Leo Papademetre 16Reconciled to what? Reconciliation and the Northern Territory's bilingual education program, 1973-1998 325 Christine Nicholls Part 5 New openings 343 17Sing out that song: The textual activities of social technologies in an Aboriginal community 345 Jack Frawley Abbreviations 361 References 365 6 iv AUSTRALIAN POLICY ACTIVISM IN LANGUAGE AND LITERACY Preface Language policy development in Australia boasts a long history of strategic alliances. The success of these alliances can be measured by Australia's internationally renowned and respected, as well as envied, suite of national policies and practices concerned with issues of language and literacy. The 13 years between the election of the Hawke Labor government and the Howard Coalition government's re-election in 1996 spans a critical time for public policy concerned with such matters. While in Britain and the United States conservative governments restricted the scope and reach of education public policy and discouraged moves towards language pluralism and public policies for adult literacy and language, Australia enthusiastically,if not altogether unproblematically, embraced government intervention in these fields. More than 15 major public policies, position statements and significant programs directing public resources towards language and literacy goals were released during this period. The achievement of policy commitments such as these provided a focus for language policy advocates, but this network has weakened alongside a loss of government confidence inspecialist expertise and advice. The fluxof the contemporary moment, along with the election of a more conservative federal administration, has unsettled the stability and efficacy of the alliances of activists concerned with issues of languages and literacy, particularly as they concern adult populations. It is timely, then, to capture some accounts of many of those most deeply engaged in Australia's distinctive practice of language and literacy policy-making. The genesis of this publication was a forum designed to provide a focused opportunity to bring together a significant number of people actively interested in language and literacy policy and its effects. This forum, held in early 1999, was a joint initiative of the Language, Discourse and Policy Research Group which comprises members of the Centre for Language and Literacy at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and Professor Joseph Lo Bianco, the Chief Executive of Language Australia and an adjunct professor at UTS, as well as Professor Bill Green of the University of New England. The UTS Language, Discourse and Policy Research Group brings together a cohesive group of people whose work is rapidly consolidatinga distinctive profile both across Australia and internationally. This distinctiveness is achieved by breadth of focus, from primary school to higher education and beyond, and the multidisciplinary