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Article published In:
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 41:3 (2018) ► pp.280–306

Classroom learners of Chinese in senior secondary school

The experience of systemic obstacles

| Monash University

This study looks at the Chinese-learning experiences of six classroom learners who continued to the end of secondary school in Victoria, Australia, through in-depth interviews. Various systemic deterrents to continued Chinese language study are identified by the participants, including: (1) the schooling journey, including transition between primary and high school and disruption from uninterested students in compulsory classes; (2) the curriculum and the learning demands dictated by the form of assessment; (3) the risk of poor assessment results prejudicing post-school study options, in particular because the cohort includes large numbers of home speaker learners. In Victoria, Australia, a large part of what schools provide is dictated by the metasystem of education and the assessments at which it aims. Thus the structural deterrents to Chinese classroom learner continuation identified are within the power of government agencies to change, in order to enable more of these students to continue.

Keywords: senior secondary school, Australia, Victoria (Australia), Chinese, classroom learners, systemic deterrents, assessment
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature overview
  • 3.Context: Victoria, Australia
    • 3.1The education system in Victoria
    • 3.2End-of-school assessment
    • 3.3Chinese language education
  • 4.Method and participants
  • 5.The student experience of obstacles to learning
    • 5.1The schooling journey: Primary school to high school
    • 5.2Curriculum: Oral/written balance
    • 5.3Method: Rote learning, memorization and cramming
    • 5.4The “wicked problem” of the learner cohort
      • 5.4.1Streaming learners of Chinese
      • 5.4.2The “home speaker advantage”
    • 5.5The risks and rewards of language learning
      • 5.5.1Attitudes and outcomes
      • 5.5.2ATAR maximization
      • 5.5.3The risk of wasting time and effort
      • 5.5.4Balancing the risk of low rewards: Bonuses and scaling
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 22 March 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.17087.key
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