Recommendations

One of the major issues identified by previous reports is school learners’low motivation to study a language because of the fear in competing against native speakers and the perceived negative impact of language study on tertiary entrance scores.It implies that one of the greatest challenges in maintaining a fair learning environment for genuine Chinese language school learners at Victorian schools is to make all learners highly encouraged，motivated and included in their studies.The greatest difficulty in achieving this is not that we cannot have clear criteria for identifying the students who are SL learners，rather，it is that our criteria have failed to differentiate between school learners and home learners amongst our SL students.It is a simple fact that students who have Chinese language speaking family member(s)，to different extent，do have their undeniable advantages in Chinese language studies and such a simple fact needs to be appropriately acknowledged and addressed.We would never be able to have a fair study environment for all our students with different language background otherwise.With all the administrative and financial resources that is available，it would be more productive to create a stream that cares for SL students of home learner，instead of LCS.With such a stream，on one hand，students who have Chinese language speaker(s)at home can have a more appropriate learning program that suits their language proficiency and therefore making real progress in their Chinese language studies.On the other hand，SL could be better defined and SL learners(with or without Chinese heritage)who have no pre-knowledge of Chinese language can feel less disadvantaged.One might argue that students’language background is a complex issue and cannot be easily defined and fixed.However，with sufficient class observation，I am sure that students’class teachers can be in a clear position in making their decision on students’language background and allocate students into more appropriate language program.It is difficult，but definitely achievable.