Australian made honey extractors : directions for their care and attention and the ordering of extractor parts /

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A sociocultural analysis of language learning: New forms of literacy practices in a language and culture awareness programme

This paper reports on a sociocultural study conducted in a Catholic primary school in the Australian outback and provides insights into how policy related to Languages Other Than English (LOTE) programmes is implemented in a specific location and interwoven within the literacy practices of children, parents and teachers. A case study that tracked a Year Four student's learning and development during a Language and Culture Awareness Programme is discussed within a discourse of cultural and linguistic practices. Significant aspects of the student's learning related to a phenomenon called multi-tiered scaffolding temporarily disrupted the established literacy practices in the school community. Implications of the research for second-language teaching and learning in Australian primary schools are elaborated.

Going global with assessment: what to do when the dominant culture's literacy drives assessment

This article explores how the dominant cultural literacy in a western context relies on a western template of knowledge that can inhibit internationalisation of the curricula unless it is identified, transformed, and broadened to become interculturally responsive. As Brian Street has said "literacies may be sites of negotiation and transform ation" (1994, p. 99). Drawing on the findings of an innovative website, Worldmarks , developed at Queensland University of Technology, as well as qualitative interviews with international students and staff, this article addresses the serious implications of assessment driven by the dominant culture's literacy. We identify how and why assessment driven by responsive cultural literacy enables all students to develop comprehensive intercultural communication skills and understandings as part of their lifelong learning in Australian universities.

Trade and culture history across the Vitiaz Strait, Papua New Guinea: The emerging post-Lapita coastal sequence

This paper, focusing principally on post-Lapita times, outlines the course and outcomes of work undertaken over the last two decades in the West New Britain-Vitiaz Strait-north New Guinea coastal region. It presents two principal arguments. The first is that major periods of movement and abandonment documented in the archaeological sequences of this region from about 3,500 years ago coincide with the record of volcanism in the Talasea-Cape Hoskins area. The second is that the post-Lapita sequences of this region differ significantly from the post-Lapita sequences emerging in the island arc reaching from Manus via New Ireland to southern and eastern island Melanesia, which show continuous occupation and pottery production.

Culture and children's cosmology

In this investigation, we examined children's knowledge of cosmology in relation to the shape of the earth and the day-night cycle. Using explicit questioning involving a choice of alternative answers and 3D models, we carried out a comparison of children aged 4-9 years living in Australia and England. Though Australia and England have a close cultural affinity, there are differences in children's early exposure to cosmological concepts. Australian children who have early instruction in this domain were nearly always significantly in advance of their English counterparts. In general, they most often produced responses compatible with a conception of a round earth on which people can live all over without falling off. We consider coherence and fragmentation in children's knowledge in terms of the timing of culturally transmitted information, and in relation to questioning methods used in previous research that may have underestimated children's competence.

Abstand, Ausbau, creativity and ludicity in Australian English

The social history of a language or variety, and its emergence, consolidation and stabiliza tion, allow us to combine the formal data of the language (principally its sound structure, grammar and lexis) with the external conditions in which they have evolved. The advance of Australian English in terms of its differentiation (Kloss's abstand) and elaboration of roles (Kloss's ausbau) pose problems of chronology, periodization, description and expla nation. This paper extends the conventional scope of abstand and ausbau to the analysis of the social history of Australian English. It argues that two factors are central to the emerging identification of Australian English: creativity, in the sense of morphological innovation, especially here in diminutives like reffo ('refugee') and pollie ('politician'); and in ludicity, defined as a deep-rooted playfulness with language. While these character istics are only part of the overall dynamics of the social history of Australian English, the evidence is sufficiently extensive to warrant further investigation. An earlier version of this paper was given at the Mitchell Symposium at Macquarie University on 26 April 2002 under the title ‘E pluribus plures? Diversity and integrity in Australian English’. I am grateful to members of the Symposium, and to two anonymous reviewers, for valuable comments and criticism

Rules of engagement: Cross-cultural glances in critical writing on recent French and Australian 'youth' films

This Article does not have an abstract.

Dynamic occupational therapy cognitive assessment for children: Perceived utility in Australian occupational therapy practice

Background and Aim: The Dynamic Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment for Children (DOTCA-Ch), recently developed in Israel, assesses the cognitive areas: orientation, spatial perception, praxis, visuomotor construction and thinking operations of 6- to 12-year-old children. The dynamic aspect, which incorporates mediation and prompting, has been presented as a valuable clinical feature of this new assessment. This study investigated the cultural suitability, dynamic nature and comprehensiveness of the DOTCA-Ch as a single cognitive assessment for occupational therapy practice in Australia. Methods: Twenty-three paediatric occupational therapists participated in three tutorial and video demonstrations, which were then followed by a group interview. Results and Conclusion: Thematic analysis of transcripts identified four main themes: appropriateness of assessment tasks, language, mediation and clinical utility. Within each theme, the participants raised both positive and negative features. This paper highlights occupational therapists' mixed views on the clinical utility of this assessment in Australia. Limitations of this study and areas for further research are suggested