Empowering Asian Language Speakers Symposium

Hosted by The University of Queensland School of Languages and Cultures and supported by the Asian Studies Association of Australia.

The “Empowering Asian Language Speakers Symposium” organised by School of Languages and Cultures (facilitated by Dr Kayoko Hashimoto) turned out to be a great success in 2023. 80 people, from 12 universities, attended the symposium on the day (50 in person and 30 online), which not only serves as a wonderful PD session for Asian language teachers, but also provides a platform for school teachers, university academics and community members to interact with each other. Such a bridge to link up the three cohorts and to potentially help increase numbers of Asian language learners is just what we need. Following the symposium, a book contract has been secured with Palgrave Macmillan. Currently Dr Kayoko Hashimoto is working on the chapters for the book to be published in 2024. Fortunately, with the support of the Campbell Bequest funds, the “Empowering Asian Language Speakers Symposium” has been made an annual event now and onwards. This year’s theme is 'Asian Language teaching and Teacher Training in Australia'.

This symposium aims to advance our understanding of the status and challenges of Asian language teaching in Australian context. It is proposed to highlight the strategic importance of Asian languages and contribute to linguistic diversity and multiculturism in the Australian society. Currently, there are not enough students studying languages in high school. A shortage of qualified language teachers is cited as a reason, but the relationship between teaching qualifications, university studies, and learner profiles is hardly acknowledged as an issue that contributes to the problem. Many universities don't offer programs suitable for language skills and cultural knowledge of heritage speakers.

The symposium will bring researchers, policy makers, practitioners, and community members of six major Asian languages in Australia —Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese – to share their experiences and insights into possible solutions to the problem.

This symposium will:

• evaluate the current system for becoming qualified language teachers;
• address PD needs and training opportunities for teachers of Asian languages;
• address problems surrounding opportunities for anyone in Australia, particularly those with Asian language background, within the education system for language learning; and
• propose a change to increase the number of qualified teachers in Australian schools.

In order to encourage PhD students to attend the symposium, we offer three travel scholarships ($3000) to student presenters who live outside Greater Brisbane. Each successful applicant will receive $1000 for travel and accommodation. Please apply by writing a 200-word statement explaining why you should receive the scholarship along with a proof of registration.

Call for Individual or collaborated Papers and Panel Discussion Sessions have now closed