Hayriye Avara, Bruno Mascitelli, Catherine Bryant

Çokkültürlü bir ortamda dil öğretimi: Viktorya diller okulunun özgün dil öğretmenleri topluluğunun görüşleri

Victoria Eyaleti, Avustralya’da en fazla etnik çeşitliliğe ve evde kullanılan en fazla ikinci dile sahiptir. Ayrıca okullarda dil öğrenimine katılan en yüksek öğrenci oranına sahiptir. Viktorya, aynı zamanda, ülkenin dil öğretimi alanında en büyük ve en eski devlet okulu olan Viktorya Diller Okulu’na da ev sahipliği yapmaktadır. Viktorya Diller Okulu (VSL), eyalet genelinde 40’ın üstünde merkezde yaklaşık 16.000 öğrenciye, 45’in üstünde farklı dilde eğitim vermektedir. Bu makale VSL'deki dil öğretmenlerinin şimdiye kadar ele alınmamış olan görüşlerini araştırmaktadır. Araştırma, 552'den fazla yanıtla, VSL personelinin (çoğunlukla öğretmenler) kapsamlı bir anonim anketine dayanmaktadır. Sonuçlar, hem öngörülebilir, hem de çeşitlidir. Bulgular, VSL'deki personelin, Avustralya'daki diğer herhangi bir kurumda karşılaşılmayan, kültürel ve dilsel çeşitlilik açısından çok zengin bir topluluğu temsil ettiği için, demografik olarak benzersiz bir grup olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu makale, dil öğretimini gururla “esas işi” olarak benimseyen, özel bir ortamda çalışan bu istisnai grubun görüşlerini sunmaktadır. Anket, personelin oldukça hevesli olduğunu ve okullarının Viktorya eyaletinde çokdilliliği ve çokkültürlülüğü beslemede oynadığı role güçlü bir şekilde inandığını ortaya koymuştur. Ancak, araştırma aynı zamanda, katılımcıların, Avustralya'da dil eğitimi alanındaki bazı güncel sorunlar hakkında derin endişelerini de ortaya çıkarmıştır. Bunlara ek olarak, şu anda bir müfredat alanı olarak ‘diller’ için en iyi tanımlama üzerinde bir görüş ayrılığı olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Bu makale, bu uzman kurumdaki personelin düşüncelerinin oldukça oturmuş olduğunu, bu nedenle Avustralya ve denizaşırı ülkelerdeki diğer eğitim ortamlarında dil eğitimi alanındaki profesyonellerin endişeleri için bir işaret olarak görülebileceğini savunmaktadır.

Teaching languages in a multicultural setting: Perspectives of a unique cohort of language teachers –at the Victorian School of Languages

Within Australia, the State of Victoria has the greatest ethnic diversity and the largest number of second languagesused at home. It also has the highest rates of students participating in language learning at school. It is also home tothe country’s largest and oldest government school for second language learning - the Victorian School of Languages(VSL) which teaches over 45 languages to approximately 16.000 students in 40 centres across the state. This paperdevelops a profile of the human capital of language teachers at the VSL and explores their views, which have untilnow been unexplored. It draws on an extensive anonymous survey of the VSL staff (mostly teachers) with over 552responses. The results are both predictable and yet diverse. The findings show that the staff at the VSL aredemographically a unique group, as they represent a rich gathering of cultural and linguistic diversity that is unlikelyto be matched in any other institution in Australia. This paper presents the views of this exceptional cohort whowork in a specialised environment that proudly holds the teaching of languages as its “core business”. The surveyrevealed that staff are highly enthusiastic and strongly believe in the role that their school is playing in nurturingmultilingualism and multiculturalism in the state of Victoria. But it also showed their deep concerns about a numberof current problems in the field of languages education in Australia. It also revealed that there is currently afragmentation of opinion on the best label for languages as a curriculum area. This paper argues that theconsiderations of the staff at this specialist institution are highly developed and can therefore be seen as a beaconfor the concerns of professionals in the field of languages education in other educational settings in Australia andoverseas.

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