Abstract
Community languages and multiculturalism were embraced by Australia’s first national language policy, but with the rise of the new agenda in industry and economic development, both have been pushed aside and monolingual ideology is reasserting its dominance. In this chapter I examine the impact of language policies at different levels on the position of the Japanese language as a community language in Perth, Western Australia. I examine the views of family and community toward language maintenance and argue that monolingual ideology is blocking the effort to maintain language diversity in the family and the community. If the spirit of multiculturalism that recognises and values differences is conceived, understood, and practised first in the family and then in the community, it will offer a new way to language maintenance.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In WA, the assessment of the award course comprises classroom assessment and examination. The assessment for private candidates is 100 % examination. If a student wishes to take a subject not taught at school, this option is available. Although the course has not been introduced yet, one private school has allocated 1 hour per week to teach one student.
- 2.
Over 90 % of long-term temporary stay families in Australia from Japan send their children to local schools rather than the Japanese school so that their children have opportunities to learn Englis; parents’ attitude is quite different in Asian countries, where English is not the medium of education and the priority is the children’s re-adjustment to Japanese society and its education system (Mizukami 2007).
- 3.
They admit children with lesser linguistic skills and enrol them in a lower class: for example, a Year 5 child may be in a class of Year 2 according to the child’s literacy skills, if the child and parents are willing.
- 4.
Original comment in Japanese is Iya desu. ‘Yameteyo. Hazukashii. Umakunainoni’tte.
- 5.
Original wording reads Nihongo shaberenai nihonjintte nihonjinnjanai desuyone. (Oriyama 2010, p. 99).
References
Australia in the Asian Century Task Force. (2012). Australia in the Asian century: White paper. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Baldauf, R. B. (2005). Coordinating government and community support for community language teaching in Australia: Overview with special attention to New South Wales. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(2–3), 132–144.
Bettoni, C. (1981). Italians in North Queensland. Townsville: James Cook University Press.
Board of Studies New South Wales. (2010). Heritage Japanese stage 6 syllabus. Sydney: Board of Studies NSW. http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/heritage-japanese-st6-syl.pdf. Accessed 20 Jan 2013.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). The economics of linguistic exchanges. Social Science Information, 16(6), 645–668.
Bourdieu, P. (1992). Language and symbolic power. Cambridge: Polity.
Clyne, M. (1982). Multilingual Australia: Resources, needs, policies. Melbourne: River Seine Publications.
Clyne, M. (2001). Can the shift from immigrant languages be reversed in Australia? In J. A. Fishman (Ed.), Can threatened languages be saved? Reversing language shift, revisited: A 21st century perspective (pp. 364–406). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Clyne, M. (2008). A linguist’s vision for multicultural Australia. Eureka Street, 18(23), 14. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid9919#.UvjZ515OiJI. Accessed 27 Sept 2012.
Commonwealth Advisory Committee. (1970). The teaching of Asian languages and cultures in Australia. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Crawford, J. (1992). Hold your tongue: Bilingualism and the politics of ‘English only’. Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Cummins, J. (1995). Heritage language teaching in Canadian schools. In O. G. C. Baker (Ed.), Policy and practice in bilingual education: Extending the foundations (pp. 134–138). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
de Krester, A., & Spence-Brown, R. (2010). The current status of Japanese language education in Australian schools. Carlton: Education Series Australia.
Doerr, N. M., & Lee, K. (2009). Contesting heritage: Language, legitimacy, and schooling at a weekend Japanese-language school in the United States. Language and Education, 23(5), 425–441.
Edwards, J. (1994). Multilingualism. London: Routledge.
Fishman, J. A. (1970). Sociolinguistics: A brief introduction. Rowley: Newbury House.
Fishman, J. A. (1972). Domains and the relationship between micro- and macrosociolinguistics. In J. J. Gumperz & D. H. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication (pp. 435–453). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Fishman, J. A. (1990). What is reversing language shift (RLS) and how can it succeed? Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 11(1–2), 5–36.
Fishman, J. A. (1991). Reversing language shift: Theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languages. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Guardado, M. (2002). Loss and maintenance of first language skills: Case studies of Hispanic families in Vancouver. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 58(3), 340–363.
Hamano, T. (2011). Japanese women marriage migrants today: Negotiating gender, identity and community in search of a new lifestyle in Western Sydney. PhD Dissertation, University of Western Sydney, NSW. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/500387. Accessed 25 Nov 2012.
Han, H. (2011). Social inclusion through multilingual ideologies, policies and practices: A case study of a minority church. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14(4), 383–398.
Haugen, E. (1971). The ecology of language. The Linguistic Reporter, 13, 19–26.
Haugen, E. (1979). Bilingualism, language contact and immigrant languages in the United States. In J. A. Fishman (Ed.), Advances in the study of societal multilingualism (pp. 1–111). The Hague: Morton.
He, A. W. (2008). An identity-based model for the development of Chinese as a heritage language. In A. He & Y. Xiao (Eds.), Chinese as a heritage language: Fostering world citizenry (pp. 109–124). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Heller, M. (2007). Bilingualism as ideology and practice. In M. Heller (Ed.), Bilingualism: A social approach (pp. 1–22). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
id. (n. d.). The Australian community profile. http://profile.id.com.au/australia. Accessed 3 Dec 2012.
Ingram, D. E. (2000). Language policy and language education in Australia. Paper presented at Akita University, August 18, 2000. http://www.islpr.org/PDF/Language_Policy_Language_Education_Australia.pdf. Accessed 10 Nov 2013.
Kawakami, I. (2008). Children crossing borders and literacy education for the 21st century. Revised paper presented at The Malaysia International Conference on Foreign Languages, Malaysia, August 2007. http://gsjal.jp/kawakami/dat/0901.pdf. Accessed 28 Oct 2013.
Kawakami, I. (2010). Ido-suru kodomotachi kara mita nihongo no chikara to wa nanika. Waseda Nihiongo Kyoikugaku, 8, 129–135.
Kipp, S. J., Clyne, M., & Pauwels, A. (1995). Immigration and Australia’s language resources. Canberra: Australian Government Publication Service.
Kloss, H. 1966. German-American language maintenance efforts. In J. A. Fishman (Ed.), Language loyalty in the United States (pp. 206–252). The Hague: Mouton.
Kondo, K. (1997). Social-psychological factors affecting language maintenance: Interviews with Shin Nisei university students. Linguistics and Education, 9, 368–408.
Kondo-Brown, K. (2006). Introduction. In K. Kondo-Brown (Ed.), Heritage language development: Focus on East Asian immigrants (pp. 1–12). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Krashen, S. (2000). Bilingual education, the acquisition of English, and the retention and loss of Spanish. In A. Roca (Ed.), Research on Spanish in the US: Linguistic issues and challenges (pp. 432–444). Somerville: Cascadilla.
Li, G. (2006). The role of parents in heritage language maintenance and development: Case studies of Chinese immigrant children’s home practices. In K. Kondo-Brown (Ed.), Heritage language development: Focus on East Asian immigrants (pp. 15–29). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Liddicoat, A. J. (2002). Some future challenges for languages in Australia. Babel, 37(2), 29–31.
Liddicoat, A. J., Crozet, C., & Lo Bianco, J. (1999). Striving for the third place: Intercultural consequences and implications. In J. Lo Bianco, A. J. Liddicoat, & C. Crozet (Eds.), Striving for the third place: Intercultural competence through language education (pp. 181–190). Melbourne: Language Australia.
Lo Bianco, J. (1987). National policy on languages. Canberra: Australian Government publishing Service.
Lo Bianco, J. (1990). Making language policy: Australia’s experience. In R. B. Baldauf & A. Luke (Eds.), Language planning and education in Australasia and the South Pacific (pp. 1–22). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Lo Bianco, J. (2005). Asian languages in Australian schools: Policy options. Melbourne Asia Policy Papers, 7, 1–15. Melbourne: The University of Melbourne Press.
Mercurio, A., & Scarino, A. (2005). Heritage languages at upper secondary level in South Australia: A struggle for legitimacy. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(2–3), 145–159.
Mesthrie, R. (1999). Fifty ways to say ‘I do’: Tracing the origins of unstressed do in Cape Flats English. South African Journal of Linguistics, 17(1), 58–71.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. (2007). Annual report of statistics on Japanese nationals overseas. Tokyo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. (2012). Annual report of statistics on Japanese nationals overseas. Tokyo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
Mizukami, T. 2007. The sojourner community: Japanese migration and residency in Australia. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV.
Nagle, J. (2009). Multiculturalism’s double-bind: Creating inclusivity, cosmopolitanism and difference. Farnham: Ashgate.
Nederveen Pieterse, J. (2004). Globalization and culture: Global melange. Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield.
Nishimura-Parke, Y. (2012). Japanese as a heritage language course: A report from Sydney. Journal for Children Crossing Borders, 3, 129–34.
Oriyama, K. (2010). Heritage language maintenance and Japanese identity formation: What role can schooling and ethnic community contact play? Heritage Language Journal, 7(2), 76–111.
Otsuji, E., & Pennycook, A. (2011). Social inclusion and metrolingual practices. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14(4), 413–426.
Pauwels, A. (1984). The effect of exogamy on language maintenance in the Dutch-speaking community in Australia. ITL: Review of Applied Linguistics, 66, 1–24.
Pauwels, A. (2005). Maintaining the community language in Australia: Challenges and roles for families. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(2–3), 124–31.
Peyton, J. K., Ranard, D. A., & McGinnis, S. (2001). Charting a new course: Heritage language education in the United States. In J. K. Peyton, D. A. Ranard, & S. McGinnis (Eds.), Heritage languages in America: Preserving a national resource (pp. 3–26). McHenry: The Center for Applied Linguistics and Delta Systems.
Piller, I. (2012). Multilingualism and social exclusion. In M. Martin-Jones, A. Blackledge, & A. Creese (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of multilingualism (pp. 281–296). London: Routledge.
Piller, I., & Takahashi, K. (2011). Linguistic diversity and social inclusion. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14(4), 371–381.
Scarino, A. (2009). Assessing intercultural capability in learning languages: Some issues and considerations. Language Teaching, 42(1), 67–80.
Silver, H., & Miller, S. M. (2002). Social exclusion: The European approach to social disadvantage. Poverty and Race, 11(5), 1–2, 11–14.
Smolicz, J. J. (1981). Core values and cultural identity. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 4(1), 75–90.
Sone, S. (2009). Recent moves in the Japanese community towards multiculturalism. In D. Black & S. Sone (Eds.), An enduring friendship: Western Australia and Japan: Past, present, and future (pp. 266–277). Perth: The University of Western Australia Press.
Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spolsky, B. (2007). Towards a theory of language policy. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 22(1), 1–14.
Spolsky, B. (2012). Family language policy: The critical domain. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33(1), 3–11.
Takeda, A., & Matthews, J. M. (2009). Japanese women, marriage migration and cultural identity: Thinking through globalisation, diasporas and transnationalism. Paper presented at The Australian Sociological Association 2009 Annual Conference: The Future of Sociology, Canberra, Australia, December 2009. http://www.tasaconference2009.com/invitation.html. Accessed 30 Jan 2013.
Taylor, C. (2012). Interculturalism or multiculturalism. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 38(4–5), 413–423.
Tse, L. (2000). The effects of ethnic identity formation on bilingual maintenance and development: An analysis of Asian American narratives. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 3, 185–200.
Wiley, T. G. (2005). Discontinuities in heritage and community language education: Challenges for educational language policies. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(2–3), 222–229.
Zhang, D. (2010). Language maintenance and language shift among Chinese immigrant parents and their second-generation. Bilingual Research Journal: The Journal of the National Association for Bilingual Education, 33, 42–60.
Zhang, D., & Slaughter-Defoe, D. T. (2009). Language attitudes and heritage language maintenance among Chinese immigrant families in the USA. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 22(2), 77–93.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kawasaki, K. (2014). A Place for Second Generation Japanese Speaking Children in Perth: Can they Maintain Japanese as a Community Language?. In: Dunworth, K., Zhang, G. (eds) Critical Perspectives on Language Education. Multilingual Education, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06185-6_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06185-6_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-06184-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-06185-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)