RUMACCC Projects 2006
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- Community Languages in Early 21st Century Australia
- Address in some Western European Languages
- Raising Children in more than one language / Raising Deaf Children in more than one language
- Victorian government LOTE reports
- Federal Government reports
- Other reports
- Joint seminar; RUMACCC and CERC
- Thesis completions
Community Languages in Early 21st Century Australia
Researchers: Michael Clyne, Sue Fernandez, Judy Hajdu, Tibor Endrody and Anusha Premarajah.
Expected completion date: 2005
Funding: ARC Discovery funding
This project encompasses several sub-projects, all of which have made significant progress during the past year. The research relating to community languages resources in the media, libraries, public services and education has concluded, resulting in two forthcoming journal articles. The Hungarian sub-project has been completed and an article is to appear in ITL – Review of Applied Linguistics, with the final focus group for the Tamil sub-project completed in October 2005. Researchers in the Hungarian and Tamil studies are Michael Clyne and Sue Fernandez, with additional research assistance from Tibor Endrody and Judy Hajdu for Hungarian, and Anusha Premarajah for Tamil. Ingrid Seebus is currently conducting new Dutch interviews with Dutch-English bilinguals who completed similar interviews in 1971 and again in 1986.
The project has also produced a book, Australia’s Language Potential, published by UNSW Press in September 2005, with a book launch held at the joint national ALAA and ALS conference. Further publications resulting from the project have appeared in 2006 or are still in press, including Tiles in a Multilingual Mosaic: Macedonian, Somali and Filipino in Melbourne (Pacific Linguistics, Canberra 2006)..
Address in some Western European Languages
Researchers: Leo Kretzenbacher, Catrin Norrby, Jane Warren, and Michael Clyne.
Expected duration: 2004-2006
Funding: ARC Discovery grant
This project concerns changes in the address systems (pronouns, first names/titles/surnames, letter heads) in three languages, French, German and Swedish and to what extent the existing address paradigms reflect sociopolitical change. Address is an integral part of interpersonal communication as it both reflects and influences social relations and hierarchies. The study of address systems thus has significance for linguistics and others researching social structures and social change.
Within the domain of address, the project focuses on such issues as regional, national, social, generational and gender variation, language contact, and political factors. A range of data collection techniques are being used in the project, including: participant observation, focus groups, social network interviews, an internet survey of companies on address in the workplace and language specific chat groups on address forms. The researchers are Leo Kretzenbacher, Catrin Norrby, Jane Warren, and Michael Clyne. The local RAs are Doris Schupbach, Jo-anne Hughson and Leo Conroy and there are in-country RAs in Göteborg, Leipzig, Mannheim, Toulouse, Paris, Va(a)sa, and Vienna. The project has progressed well throughout 2005. Data is still being processed and analysed Several journal publications based on the first wave of data received have been or are in the process of being published. A further article is currently being considered by an international journal.
The Address project has also received a book contract from Cambridge University Press. As part of an agreement with Cambridge University Press (CUP), data on English address usage was collected in 2006 to complement the data for the other three languages. In-country researchers were contracted to conduct focus groups in London and Newcastle in England, and Tralee in Ireland on address form usage in English.
In terms of publications, the Address Project has been very prolific in 2006. A special issue of the Australian Review of Applied Linguistics co-edited by Catrin Norrby and Jane Warren entitled Address in World Perspective has just been published – with contributions from most RUMACCC scholars involved in address research. An article on address also appeared in Journal of Sociolinguistics June 2006 issue. A further article is currently being considered by an international journal. In addition, a chapter drawing on the French data has been submitted for a volume on address in French edited by Bert Peeters.
A special workshop on address was held at the International Sociolinguistics conference in Limerick, Ireland in July 2006, convened by Jane Warren. Several RUMACCC staff members were able to present at the conference, namely: Prof. Michael Clyne, Dr. Jane Warren, Dr. Leo Kretzenbacher and Dr. Jo-anne Hughson. Regrettably, Dr. Catrin Norrby was unable to attend the conference although she was instrumental in organizing the Address workshop. Prof. Clyne presented her paper for her. One of RUMACCC’s overseas research assistants, Heidi Nyblom, also presented a paper at the workshop.
Work also began on the 2nd phase of research, this time focussing on address in intercultural communication in Europe. A first paper was presented at the Australian Linguistic Society conference in July 2006. A further paper presentation is expected in 2007 and research in this area will continue to expand in the same year.
Raising Children in more than one language / Raising Deaf Children in more than one language
Presenters: Michael Clyne, Robert Debski and Susanne Döpke / Meredith Bartlett, Sandra Leanne
Completion date: ongoing
Funding: Victorian Multicultural Commission
Three seminars were held this year for parents, medical personnel, teachers and social workers. Funding and support has been provided by Community Languages Australia, the Victorian Multicultural Commission and Deaf Access Victoria. Speakers at the Raising Children in more than one language seminars were Susanne Döpke, Robert Debski and Michael Clyne. Raising Deaf Children in more than one language seminars, presented by Meredith Bartlett and Sandra Leane, were held in Melbourne and Adelaide this year.
The Growing Up with English Plus video is now available through the University of Melbourne ‘e-showcase’ website and bookshop and a DVD version has also recently been created.
Victorian Government LOTE reports
Researcher: Yvette Slaughter
Completion date: 2005
Funding: Department of Education and Training tender
In 2006, the Department of Education and Training (DE&T) contracted RUMACCC to produce the report Languages Other Than English in Government Schools, 2005. The report presents a comprehensive overview of language study in Victorian government schools and is now available at http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/lem/lote/lotedata.htm. Work was also completed on improving the web-based data collection process for the 2006 LOTE report. The data have now been successfully collected and the report Languages Other Than English in Government Schools, 2006 will be completed in 2007.
RUMACCC was also contracted by DE&T to write the report English as a Second Language in Victorian Government Schools, 2005.
Federal Government Reports
Researcher: Yvette Slaughter, John Hajek and Jo-anne Hughson
Completion date: 2006-7
Funding: Department of Education and Training tender
RUMACCC has recently been contacted by the federal body, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) to undertake national data collection and report writing for the study of languages across all education systems in Australia (primary and secondary levels). Work will begin on the 2005 and 2006 reports in the New Year.
Other Reports
Susanne Döpke completed two reports for the Free Kindergarten Association Victoria (Multicultural Resource Centre): (1) Understanding bilingualism and language disorder; and (2) Is bilingualism detrimental for children with autism? Paper commissioned by the Free Kindergarten Association Victoria (Multicultural Resource Centre).
Joint seminar; RUMACCC and CERC
In September RUMACCC and the Contemporary European Research Centre (CERC) joined forces in sponsorship of a one-day workshop entitled European Multilingualism and Multiculturalism Today. Five speakers from different areas within the School of Languages and Linguistics gave presentations, as well as two of RUMACCC’s visiting scholars, Prof. Guus Extra of Tilburg University in the Netherlands and Dr. Claudia Riehl from the University of Cologne. A broad range of topics were discussed at the workshop ranging from language testing to ‘Ethnic Drag’. The workshop was very well attended, attracting even government representatives (from the Department of Immigration), and extremely well received. Publication of selected papers is envisaged and there are plans to continue with more collaborative work between RUMACCC and CERC next year.
Thesis completion
Brigitte Lambert completed her PhD thesis this year, working under the supervision of Prof. Michael Clyne. Students continuing PhDs are Meredith Bartlett, Ingrid Seebus, Yvette Slaughter and Sue Fernandez (co-supervision with Faculty of Education).