Access to languages other than English in Australian universities: an educational pipeline of privilege

ABSTRACT

This article explores factors contributing to unequal patterns of access to languages other than English (LOTE) in Australian universities. A critical analysis of qualitative and quantitative data generated through interviews, surveys and document analysis reveals that underrepresentation in LOTE courses in Australian universities is attributable to: (a) unequal access to LOTE learning areas at the school level; (b) low tertiary entrance scores that do not grant access to elite universities that offer broad LOTE course options; (c) differential prior international learning experiences that inform dispositions towards intercultural competence, including proficiency in LOTE; and (d) limited provision of LOTE courses in regional university campuses. We conclude that access to foreign language courses in Australian universities is not equitable, and in the context of globalisation opportunities, this poses a risk of reproducing social disadvantage alongside other structural factors such as socio-economic status and regional background.

KEYWORDS:

• Australia
• language learning
• globalisation
• higher education
• inequality
• policy

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the contributions of other members of the research team who worked on the project from which this paper is derived. These are Dr Aspa Baroutsis, Beni Cakitaki, Jenna Tellefson, Michael Luckman, Giovanna Szalkowicz and Matt Brett. We are also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Tebeje Molla http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6848-3091

Andrew Harvey http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7988-2469

Sam Sellar https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2840-5021

Notes

1 uCube can be found at http://highereducationstatistics.education.gov.au/.

2 See http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum/Learning-areas/Learning-languages/Why-study-a-language.

3 At the end of Key Stage 4 (age 16, or Year 11), students take school leaving examinations called General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). After completing GCSEs, based on their scores, students can take A Level (Advanced Level) examinations (Key Stage 5). An A level qualification is one of the main routes into HE, and consists of AS (Advanced Subsidiary) and A2 (Advanced Year Two) level courses and examinations, which are taken in Year 12 and Year 13 respectively.

4 Here we use the advantaged/disadvantaged school category following Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA), which uses parental occupation and education, proportion of indigenous students and geographical location.

5 See http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/generalcapabilities/overview/introduction.

6 In recent years, the trend of decline in foreign language courses in Australian universities seems to be changing. At the time of writing (April 2018), the University Languages Portal Australia (ULPA) lists over 40 foreign languages offered at beginner-level in Australian universities. See https://www.ulpa.edu.au/what-languages-can-i-study/.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training (DET).