Language in public discourse in Australia

Abstract

Australia can be characterised as a multilingual country with a monolingual 'habitus' (Ellis, Gogolin and Clyne 2010). On one hand there are major achievements which reflect a valuing of linguistic diversity: an inclusive ESL system in schools; a professional adult migrant ESL sector; a national broadcasting service in some 20 languages; the availability of telephone interpreting and community information in immigrant languages. On the other hand we see evidence of profound misunderstanding of language and languages in public policy: the opposition to bilingual education for Indigenous children, the lack of concern as generations of bilingual children shift to English monolingualism; hostility to new ways of teaching about language in schools; the under-resourcing of language teaching. This paper will look at some recent approaches to characterising the conflicted nature of public discourse about language: constructions of monolingualism; approaches to multilingual awareness in education; alternative thinking about multiple languages and multilingual speakers, such as translanguaging and metrolingualism. How can educational linguists work with language and knowledge about language to achieve social justice?