Literacy for All: quality language education for few

Abstract

With a focus on educational provision the area of English as a second language (ESL), this paper takes stock of developments in the last 10 years since the inception of the Australian Literacy for All policy in 1998. A review of the issue is timely, not least because of the recent window of opportunity afforded by the first change of government at the federal level for more than a decade. More than this political imperative, though, is a consideration of what contemporary research now reveals about the nature of second language development itself, and the implications this raises for the teaching and learning of English to students from language backgrounds other than English. As such, the broader discussion is applicable to students in a range of international contexts. A related aim of the paper, however, is also to demonstrate that the intensely political nature of ‘literacy’ renders any discussion of the subject – in whatever the context may be – inseparable from a broader consideration of politics in relation to how and what to teach, and the further implications this raises for the provision and positioning of ESL within education systems.

Keywords:

• ESL
• curriculum
• pedagogy
• literacy
• language policy and planning
• Australia

Notes

1. In contrast to the National Policy on Languages, for example, the move to Australia's Language in 1991 was already an early sign of a reductionist view of languages and literacy in relation to the Australian mainstream; in particular, the ‘naming’ of English as Australia's official language, and the positioning (and valuing) of certain languages ‘other than English’ according to economic merit.

2. Prior to 2008, state governments administered their own tests which were then moderated at the federal level for comparisons across systems. In New South Wales, these tests were known as the Basic Skills Test (BST) and English Language and Literacy Assessment (ELLA). From 2008, state-based testing has been replaced by the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), a standardised test taken by all students across all states.