Contents
0 Introduction 5
1 Historical Overview 8
1.1 History of immigration 8
1.2 Phases of policies towards community languages 10
1.3 The German-speaking community 12
1.4 The Greek-speaking community 16
1.5 The Italian-speaking community 19
1.6 The Dutch-speaking community 22
2 Language Maintenance and Language Shift 26
2.1 Language shift in the first generation 26
2.2 Ranking of community languages 30
2.3 Language shift in the second generation 32
2.4 Factors influencing language maintenance and language shift 33
2.4.1 Marriage 33
2.4.2 Gender 38
2.4.3 Numerical strength and location of migrant groups 41
2.4.4 Cultural and linguistic distance 42
2.4.5 Attitudes 43
2.4.6 Core values 45
2.4.7 Psychological factors 47
3 Language Policies and Politics 49
3.1 LOTEs in Education 49
3.1.1 LOTEs in Australian schools 49
3.1.2 The first initiatives 51
3.1.3 The Galbally Report 52
3.1.4 Working towards a National Language Policy 54
3.1.5 National Policy on Languages 56
3.1.6 Australian Language and Literacy Policy 57
3.1.7 National Languages and Studies in Australian Schools (NALSAS) 58
3.1.8 National Statement for Languages Education 59
3.2 LOTEs in the media 60
3.2.1 Radio 60
3.2.2 TV 63
3.2.3 Print media 67
3.3 Interpreting and translation services 69
4 English Language Proficiency 74
4.1 Factors influencing English language proficiency 74
4.2 Differences between different speech communities 76
4.3 Differences between men and women 77
4.4 Language proficiency of school students 79
4.5 Language proficiency and employment 85
4.6 Language proficiency of university students 89
4.7 English language education for immigrants 94
5 Conclusion 100
6 References 102
7 List of Figures 114
8 List of Tables 115