By accident or design: the origins of the Victorian School of Languages

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By accident or design: the origins of the Victorian School of Languages

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/221758

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Title: By accident or design: the origins of the Victorian School of Languages
Author(s): Mascitelli, Bruno; Merlino, Frank
Abstract: In 1935, the then Minister of Public Instruction established the delivery of two 'foreign' languages under the title of a 'special' experiment' and taught at MacRobertson High School in Melbourne. This was the first step into what is known today as the Victorian School of Languages (VSL). It was at the time a small, seemingly unobtrusive development of the teaching of two new languages (Japanese and Italian) in Victoria which over time would be seen as a giant step in the area of the expansion of delivery of Languages Other Than English (LOTE) for the State of Victoria. The emergence of this 'special experiment' was a pioneering development in a period and a scenario in which languages other than English was neither welcomed nor expected. The country had only just emerged from the deepest depression of its history and its massive post war migration program was still to come. Despite jingoist tendencies and monolinguist pressures that were ever present in the inter-war period in Australia, none of these were strong enough to curb the language delivery of Japanese and Italian. This paper seeks to examine and explore the uncertain origins of the Victorian School of Languages and the oft repeated assertion that the VSL was an accidental development and not one that was either planned or projected.
Publication type: Journal article
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology
Source: Babel, Vol. 46, no. 2/3 (2011)
Publication year: 2011
FOR Code(s): 200303 English as a Second Language; 200322 Comparative Language Studies; 200399 Language Studies not elsewhere classified
Keyword(s): Australia; Foreign languages; Language delivery; Languages Other Than English; LOTE; State of Victoria; Victoria; Victorian School of Languages; VSL
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISSN: 0521-9744
Publisher URL: http://afmlta.asn.au/babel-journal/
Peer reviewed