Background
School languages education in Australia，particularly Chinese as a foreign language has progressed significantly owing to supportive policy imperatives or change of community perceptions over time.In the last three decades，a kaleidoscopic spin of arguments and counter arguments about the usefulness of a foreign language in the school curriculum has been observed.From the media debate in the 1990s you may find such extreme statements as:It’s not too late to demote LOTE[languages other than English].
Contrary to the negative sentiment，a positive argument often extended learning a LOTE or foreign language beyond the notion of multiculturalism and it is actually about creating jobs for ordinary Australian men and women，as trade accounts for 40 per cent of all the wealth this country generates each year.The former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd has been a strong advocate for languages education.In one of his numerous media presentations he singled out the Dutch as an exemplary case in which good language programs contributed to successful internationalized economy in the world.There is a clear link between language learning and the economic future of Australia，a central theme that features prominently in a government report，Asian languages and Australia’s economic future by an expert team led by Rudd in 1994.
The negative perceptions of learning a language other than English appear to have long been behind the Australia broad community.This has been in a large part due to a sustained effort by a succession of governments.Major policy reorientation highlighted a strong focus on Asian and particularly China literacy，which is reflected in a trade shift towards Asia and China—Australia’s largest trade partner.It is believed that this refocus is indispensable for Australia to build a secure and economically strong nation with an enhanced competitive edge for global jobs.Key policies during that period saw the 2005-2008 National Statement for Languages Education in Australian Schools(Ministerial Council on Education，Employment，Training and Youth Affairs)，the 2008-2011 National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program(NALSSP—$62.4 million)(Department of Education，Employment and Workplace Relations).
The New Colombo Plan(2013)aspires to have within a decade 40%of Australian secondary school students learning a foreign language as a subject.A year earlier，a white paper，Australia in the Asian Century(2012)prioritises the development of Asia capability and Asian literacy.The Australian Curriculum(2013)also views Asia literacy as a cross-curricular priority.A 2014 report commissioned by TEMAG(Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group)recommends that pre-service primary school teachers have a specialization in the select subjects of science，mathematics or language as an optional method.
Ambitious targets were set in these policy documents to increase the number of students(learning a foreign language)at advanced levels(at school exit level);develop quality language curriculum materials tailored for the Australian school context;and design or innovate effective pedagogy for optimal language learning outcomes at all levels across the school language curriculum.To help achieve these aims，substantial government funding has been allocated to support language teaching and learning.Large amounts of funding for teaching and research(e.g.，NALSSP)have also been provided to establish a national language and culture digital resource repository to support school language teaching and teacher professional development.
Student enrolments in languages programs appear to have increased considerably，and there has been a five-fold increase accumulatively over a period of five decades.Within a relative short period of time Chinese as a school language subject obtained one of the top five ranked positions with an enrolment number of over 170 000 students in different streams of offerings(Orton，2016).A look of some recent enrolment statistics has further affirmed this apparently phenomenal increase.Taking the State of New South Wales for example(HSC Language statistics according to BOSTES/NESA data 2009-2019)，there appeared to have a sizable increase of students(+36%increase with 178 students)enrolled in the Chinese Continuers program(for non-Chinese background speakers)at the HCSlevel in 2019.In the same year，a considerable decrease in enrolments(-21%)was recorded in the Chinese and Literature program(for Chinese background speakers).
This may have been partially caused by some underlining changes in curriculum/syllabus restructure and conditions of enrolments as reported by Orton(2016).The increase in non-background Australian student enrolments is a welcoming sign，yet the small percentage(just over 1 per cent)of students continuing their Chinese study toward the exit point(Year 12 HSC)is nowhere near the projected target figure of at least 12 per cent of Year 12 students，who will finish school speaking fluently one of the four priority languages(PAWG and COAG)by 2020(Productivity Agenda Working Group and Council of Australian Governments).
However，the increase is not evenly distributed across different demographic areas.The renewed enthusiasm and interest shown by students and schools in language learning or offering is more typical of individual students and schools in effluent and well-off areas(Black et al.，2018;Wright，Cruickshank，and Black，2018).Thus there arises an issue of different nature，which may in time unequally divide the society as argued by Black et al.(2018)and Wright et al.(2018).The increase，particularly Chinese，in the number of enrolments and schools taking or offering a language such as Chinese as a subject is not on par with the number of suitably qualified language teachers.
This resulted in an option of seeking out internationally to employ overseastrained Chinese language teachers and teacher aides，and domestically to internationalise the language curriculum(Wang，Moloney，and Li，2013).Obviously the motive behind this enthusiasm and intuitive to gain an economic advantage is much reflective of Rudd’s vision for an Asian literate Australia when the former Australia Prime Minister gave a plenary speech in Singapore in 2008:
“By investing in Asian languages and cultural education in Australia’s schools，my vision is for the next generation of Australians—businessmen and women，economists，accountants，lawyers，architects，artists，filmmakers and performers—to develop language skills which open their region to them.”
Research and pedagogical innovations on language learning have provided insights into second and foreign language research and teaching，but it remains a question if these context—and culture—specific findings are generalizable to language teaching and learning in a specific foreign language setting in Australia.There is a multitude of issues or factors that may impact the way how Australian school language curricular could be designed and implemented.Obviously this is beyond the scope of this article.However，in what follows，we will focus on how language teaching could be designed for enhanced learning by examining two questions in the rapidly changing landscape of teaching and learning Chinese in Australian schools:What kind of approach has been or should be adopted in curriculum design and classroom teaching?What could be done to create a more sustainable Chinese language program in Australia?
Answers to the two questions will be explored within the underpinnings of the pedagogical knowledgeframework and theorized from the perspective of research on teaching and learning English and/or Chinese as an international language.Before we proceed to outline related research and the theoretical base，it is worth examining some key issues arising from the teaching and learning of Chinese as a foreign language in the school context.