Resumen de Assimilation or Pluralism? Changing Policies for Minority Languages Education in Australia

J. J. Smolicz, Margaret J. Secombe

• In spite of ‘globalisation’ and the homogenising trends which accompany it, the vitality of ethnic identity, anchored in linguistic and cultural core values, has become a world phenomenon, with minority languages encountering varying degrees of support or suppression. This paper examines the changing legislation and education policies towards minority languages in Australia. The country' semergence from an assimilationist past to embrace a more multicultural approach is analysed with special reference to young Cambodian-Australians' educational achievements that show the vital importance of school support for minority language literacy and students' subsequent professional advancement. The paper concludes by re-affirming the need for a supportive community milieu to be supplemented by school literacy programs in minority languages, in that either of these two factors on its own may be insufficient to ensure successful language maintenance and development.