Abstract
The opportunity to receive credit toward a high school diploma for heritage language study has been shown to act as a major factor in motivating students to enroll in heritage language (HL) classes. Such courses can allow students to develop higher-order literacy skills in the heritage language and help prepare them to use the HL in work contexts. But the heterogeneity of the HL student body creates a number of challenges for equitable assessment.
In this chapter, I explore these issues through the lens of the Victorian Certificate of Education, where students may choose from 41 different languages on offer. Most languages in Victoria are only offered at one level only, and I show how this system has encouraged highly proficient recent migrants to enroll in these subjects, sometimes to the detriment of second-generation migrants. I also explore what is taught and assessed in these courses and the degree to which it matches the interests and needs of HL learners. I conclude with recommendations for educators looking to develop their own high-stakes courses for heritage language learners.
References
Archer, L., Francis, B., & Mau, A. (2009). “Boring and stressful” or “ideal” learning spaces? Pupils’ constructions of teaching and learning in Chinese supplementary schools. Research Papers in Education, 24(4), 477–497. doi:10.1080/02671520802584111.
Baldwin, J. (2010). From ancient to modern – A chronicle of year 12 languages in Victoria. Languages Victoria: Journal of the Modern Language Teachers’ Association of Victora, 14(2), 11–14.
Beykont, Z. F. (2012). Why didn’t they teach us any of this before?’: Youth appraisal of Turkish provision in Victoria. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 35(2), 156–169.
Clyne, M. (1997). Managing language diversity and second language programmes in Australia. Current Issues in Language and Society, 4, 94–119.
Clyne, M., & Kipp, S. (1997). Trends and changes in home language use and shift in Australia, 1986–1996. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 18(6), 451–473. doi:10.1080/01434639708666334.
Clyne, M., Fernandez, S., Chen, I., & Summo-O’Connell, R. (1997). Background speakers: Diversity and its management in LOTE programs. Canberra: Language Australia.
Cummins, J. (2005). A proposal for action: Strategies for recognizing heritage language competence as a learning resource within the mainstream classroom. Modern Language Journal, 89, 585–592.
Cummins, J. (2008). Teaching for transfer: Challenging the two solitudes assumption in bilingual education. In N. H. Hornberger (Ed.), Encyclopedia of language and education (2nd ed., pp. 1528–1538). New York: Springer.
Department of Education and Training [Victoria]. (2015a). Language provision in Victorian Government Schools, 2014. Melbourne: Department of Education and Training. Retrieved from http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/languages/2014_Languages_Report.pdf.
Department of Education and Training [Victoria]. (2015b). Summary statistics for Victorian schools. Retrieved from www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/…/brochureJuly.docx
Ducar, C. M. (2008). Student voices: The missing link in the Spanish heritage language debate. Foreign Language Annals, 41(3), 415–433.
Elder, C. (2000). Outing the native speaker: The problem of diverse learner backgrounds in “foreign” language classrooms – An Australian case study. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 13(1), 86–108. doi:10.1080/07908310008666591.
Elder, C., Kim, H., & Knoch, U. (2012). Documenting the diversity of learner achievements in Asian languages using common measures. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 251–270.
Gibbons, J. (1994). Depth or breadth? Some issues in LOTE teaching. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 17, 1–22.
Gorter, D., & Yağmur, K. (2008). Immigrant minority languages in Europe: Cross-national and cross-linguistic perspectives. In G. Extra & D. Gorter (Eds.), Multilingual Europe: Facts and policies (pp. 315–336). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Helmer, K. (2007). Year one at “city” high school: An ethnographic study of heritage language learners at an innovative charter school (PhD Thesis). Unversity of Arizona.
Ingold, C. W., Rivers, W., Tesser, C. C., & Ashby, E. (2002). Report on the NFLC/AATSP survey of Spanish language programs for native speakers. Hispania, 85, 324–329.
Jacks, T. (2016). School dumps cut-throat VCE ranking. The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/school-dumps-cutthroat-vce-ranking-20160226-gn4gk0.html
Jaffe, A. (2011). Critical perspectives on language-in-education policy: The Corsican example. In T. L. McCarty (Ed.), Ethnography and language policy (pp. 205–229). New York: Routledge.
Karami, H. (2013). The quest for fairness in language testing. Educational Research and Evaluation, 19(2–3), 158–169. doi:10.1080/13803611.2013.767618.
Knight, P. T. (2002). Summative assessment in higher education: Practices in disarray. Studies in Higher Education, 27(3), 275–286. doi:10.1080/03075070220000662.
Liu, N., Musica, A., Koscak, S., Vinogradova, P., & López, J. (2011). Challenges and needs of community-based heritage language programs and how they are addressed (p. 18). Washington, DC: Centre for Applied Linguistics.
Lytra, V., & Martin, P. (2010). Sites of multilingualism: Complementary schools in Britain today. Trentham: Stoke-on-Trent.
Mau, A., Francis, B., & Archer, L. (2009). Mapping politics and pedagogy: Understanding the population and practices of Chinese complementary schools in England. Ethnography and Education, 4(1), 17–36. doi:10.1080/17457820802703473.
McNamara, T., & Ryan, K. (2011). Fairness versus justice in language testing: The place of English literacy in the Australian citizenship test. Language Assessment Quarterly, 8(2), 161–178. doi:10.1080/15434303.2011.565438.
Orton, J. (2008). Chinese language education in Australian schools. Melbourne: The University of Melbourne.
Ozolins, U. (2004). Language policy and its rationales. Current Issues in Language Planning, 5, 361–375. doi:10.1080/14664200408668263.
Papademetre, L., & Routoulas, S. (2001). Social, political, educational, linguistic and cultural (dis-)incentives for languages education in Australia. Journal of Multilingualism and Multicultural Development, 22, 134–151. doi:10.1080/01434630108666429.
Scarino, A. (2012). A rationale for acknowledging the diversity of learner achievements in learning particular languages in school education in Australia. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 35(3), 231–250.
Scarino, A. (2014). The place of heritage languages in language education in Australia: A conceptual challenge. In P. P. Trifonas & T. Aravossitas (Eds.), Rethinking heritage language education (pp. 66–88). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scarino, A., Elder, C., Iwashita, N., Kim, S. H. O., Kohler, M., & Scrimgeour, A. (2011). Student achievement in Asian languages education. In Part 1: Project report. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Education/Employment and Workplace Relations.
Scrimgeour, A. (2012). Understanding the nature of performance: The influence of learner background on school-age learner achievement in Chinese. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 34, 312–338.
Shohamy, E. (1997). Testing methods, testing consequences: Are they ethical? Are they fair? Language Testing, 14(3), 340–349. doi:10.1177/026553229701400310.
Spolsky, B. (1995). Measured words: The development of objective language testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tamis, A. M. (1993). Unlocking Australia’s language potential: Profiles of 9 key languages in Australia. Vol. 8 – Modern Greek. Canberra: National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2001a). Satifactory completion: All VCE units (Indonesian First Language sub-section). Retrieved from http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/statistics/2001/statinfo2001.aspx
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2001b). Satifactory completion: All VCE units (Japanese First Language sub-section). Retrieved from http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/statistics/2001/statinfo2001.aspx
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2013). VCE Languages – Second Language Assessment Handbook 2005–2018. Retrieved from www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/documents/vce/lotefl-handbook.doc
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2014a). VCE unit completion outcomes 2014: Indonesian First Language. Retrieved from http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/statistics/2014/statssect2.aspx
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2014b). VCE unit completion outcomes 2014: Japanese First Language. Retrieved from http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/statistics/2014/statssect2.aspx
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2014c). Victorian Certificate of Education Chin Hakha Study Design. Melbourne: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Retrieved from http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/studies/lote/chinhakha/chinhakhaindex.aspx.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2016). List of VCE studies. Retrieved March 1, 2016, from http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/studies/index.aspx
Wang, S. (2015). Obtaining recognition for heritage language ability through credit by proficiency and the seal of biliteracy. Presented at the Community-Based Heritage Language Conference, Washington, DC.
Willoughby, L. (2006). Heritage LOTES at VCE level: Student perspectives on current programs. Monash University Linguistics Papers, 5(1), 3–15.
Willoughby, L. (2007). “Don”t be so loud-and speak English’: School language policies towards Chinese international students. In H. Marriott, T. Moore, & R. Spence-Brown (Eds.), Learning discourses and the discourses of learning (pp. 7.1–7.12). Melbourne: Monash University E-press.
Willoughby, L. (2014). Meeting the challenges of heritage language education: Lessons from one school community. Current Issues in Language Planning, 15(3), 265–281.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Willoughby, L. (2016). High Stakes Assessment of Heritage Languages: The Case of the Victorian Certificate of Education. In: Trifonas, P., Aravossitas, T. (eds) Handbook of Research and Practice in Heritage Language Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38893-9_40-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38893-9_40-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-38893-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-38893-9
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education