Promoting a respect for difference through language teaching

An emphasis on developing students’ moral and ethical characteris evident in the 2013 National Indonesian Curriculum. In this article, I lookat how respect for difference is reflected in the 2013 Indonesian NationalCurriculum, specifically referring to the second key competency area forsenior high school English language. I also draw reference from academicliterature that can be linked to this competency area of the English curriculum.Exploring theoretical links from the literature is useful to develop adeeper understanding of the importance of this key competency area. Discussionexplores the significance of respect for difference and the importantrole that English language teachers in Indonesia can play in promoting tolerance.By understanding how culture can be used as a divisive force, we canmore readily identify how teachers can develop a respect for difference intheir students to help overcome intolerant attitudes that can lead to discrimination.

Age at migration, language proficiency, and socioeconomic outcomes: evidence from Australia

This study estimates the causal effects of language proficiency on the economic and social integration of Australian immigrants. Identifying the effects of languages on socioeconomic outcomes is inherently difficult owing to the endogeneity of language skills. Using the phenomenon that younger children learn languages more easily than older children, we construct an instrumental variable for language proficiency. To achieve this, we consider the age at arrival of immigrants who came as children from Anglophone and non-Anglophone countries. We find a significant positive effect of English proficiency on wages and promotions among adults who immigrated to Australia as children. Higher levels of English proficiency are associated with increased risk-taking, more smoking, and more exercise for men, but have considerable health benefits for women. English language proficiency has a significant influence on partner choice and a number of social outcomes, as well as on children's outcomes, including their levels of academic achievement. The results are robust to alternative specifications, including accounting for between-sibling differences and alternative measures of English skills.

Is the frame broken? Seeking new metaphors for textual study in English

This article draws from a doctoral study of how female teachers design English curriculum around girls’ popular culture in a contemporary coeducational secondary setting and focuses on how English teachers contemplate the study of texts in the space of school-based curriculum planning. The article presents an argument for reflexivity around how we create both texts and identity through curriculum design; it advocates the pursuit of new metaphors for contemplating the study of text that might challenge models of education as delivery in a neoliberal imaginary, where curriculum design is depicted as the anonymous and rational articulation of aims and pedagogy to achieve outcomes.

Folktales as a medium of teaching English: two primary schools in Solo, Indonesia

 The findings of this case study research showed that the use of Indonesian folktales in English translation along with its illustrations for teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in two primary schools in Solo Indonesia seemed to be applicable in developing students’ EFL basic skills and students’ recognition of local cultural knowledge simultaneously.