Can VCE Chinese LCSServe the Purpose?

The ambitious goal of Federal government，to have 12 percent of Australian school graduates in the year 2020 to be fluent in an Asian language，roughly 8 000 school graduates to have speaking Chinese，is very challenging to achieve.Until 2007，a maximum of 500 school graduates were non-Chinese background second language (L2)learners，and the number is continuously sliding downwards(Orton，2016).At the meantime，to grow the number of L2 leaners studying Chinese in Year 11 and 12 and develop a large number of L2 school graduates with high level proficiency in Chinese are equally important to Australia’s national interest.Various language policies and scholarly studies(Orton，2008，2016，2017;Sturak and Naughten，2010;Mena Report，2017;Erebus Consulting Partners，2002:124)have clarified that the effort of growing the number of L2 Chinese leaner is to aid the fundamental purpose to cultivate a substantial number of young Australian students to achieve high proficiency in Chinese upon graduating from schools.Therefore，although it can be too early to give VCE Chinese LCS verdict after only two years of implementation，some collected figures are worth studying for the purpose of future modification.