The 2017 ANU Language Teaching Forum will kick-off with a presentation by Dr Yuko Kinoshita.

“Case study on the logistics of cross-institutional Japanese language studies: what actually happens and why it matters”

This paper investigates university language studies, looking at the impacts of replacing on-site arrangements with cross-institutional ones, and discusses the long-term implications of these changes. In 2013, University of Canberra (UC) closed all its Modern Languages programs and replaced them with cross-institutional studies arrangements with ANU. At that time, the nature and extent of any impacts on students’ learning were largely unknown. Three years on, however, we can objectively examine what happened when cross-institutional studies became the only choice for language studies. This paper thus numerically analyses the impacts, by closely examining the UC-ANU cross-institutional Japanese language study enrolments over the three and half years since its implementation, and other relevant data. The analyses reveal that Japanese language learners in the region have decreased substantially since the closure of the UC language programs; the number of UC students who newly commenced university Japanese language studies decreased to less than one tenth of the 2013 figure. Based on this finding, the second section of this paper discusses what the loss of language learners might mean. It argues for the societal benefits that tertiary foreign language studies can bring, and warns of the social costs of their demise.

The ANU Language Teaching Forum provides a discussion platform for language teachers and researchers across ANU colleges. It also welcomes language educators from outside the university such as secondary school teachers and teachers from community schools. Its main objective is to foster the exchange of research and new approaches in language education.

This forum is jointly coordinated by the College of Arts & Social Sciences (School of Literature, Languages & Linguistics and Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies) and the College of Asia & the Pacific (School of Culture, History & Language).