Languages in the Primary School : Teachers Perspectives on Policy and Implementation

ISBN-13: 9783639118698 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 344 str.

Lesley Harbon

Opis

Australia stands alongside Canada, the United States of America and Great Britain with progress in developing primary school foreign language programs. Although the policy in each Australian State and Territory regarding the inclusion of languages study in the primary school curriculum varies, each State and Territory context continues to develop opportunities for teachers and students to teach and learn languages, beginning at some point between Grades 3 and 6. There remains contention, however, as to the optimum starting age for primary school languages programs, the suitability of teacher pedagogies, and effective policy for program implementation. This book reports chiefly through three teachers stories how primary school language teachers were translating policy into practice in Tasmania, Australia s southern-most state in the mid-late 1990s. The teachers stories, sitting within a general exploration of local, national and international policy provisions, shed light on how teachers own personal narratives shape the way policy is implemented, regardless of how policy is intended.

O autorze

Lesley Harbon, PhD: Senior Lecturer in Languages Education at
The University of Sydney. After a number of years teaching
Indonesian and German in primary and secondary schools, Lesley
became involved in language teacher education programs in 1996
and joined the Faculty of Education & Social Work at The
University of Sydney in 2002.