So much going on in sociolinguistics in Sydney this spring! All these events are free but require RSVP in the next few days so Sydneysiders make sure you are not…
Gunbalanya School in West Arnhem Land (Source: abc.net.au) Last week, the results of the 2012 National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) were published. As has been the case…
"Wir neuen Deutschen" and "Growing up Lebanese Muslim in Australia" A little while ago, my daughter, who attends Year 5 in an Australian public school, received a “Resilience Award” for…
Michael Clyne, Australia's Language Potential. UNSW Press, 2005. ***Update 03/10: Program and all details now available at https://www.languageonthemove.com/linguistic-diversity-social-inclusion**** ***Update 25/09: RSVPs are now open. Attendance is free but you have…
Postnatal depression (Source: rcpsych.ac.uk) Last week I was interviewed for a publication intended to showcase the achievements of women in research. When the interviewer, Meryl Hancock, asked me about the…
Plaque commemorating the work of migrants in the construction of the Mundaring Weir In response to my blog post about the disparity between educational qualifications and employment outcomes faced by…
Average employment outcomes of the tertiary-educated (Source: Colic-Peisker 2011, p. 647) The labour market integration of migrants presents a persistent conundrum. The Australian story – as that of other migrant…
Dr Butorac (middle) and her supervisors, Prof Piller and Dr Takahashi The Language-on-the-Move team is delighted that the 2012 Michael Clyne Prize has been awarded to one of our supervision group, Dr…
Pakistani flour mill workers recovering from a near-fatal lung infection due to poor occupational health and safety conditions, West Ham Hospital, 1960s (Source: Qureshi 2012, p. 7) To be transnational…
Pompei Restaurant, Karachi (Source: fcpakistan.com) A few days ago I had an Alice-in-Wonderland experience. Having lived all my life in Karachi, I had until then never heard of the Pompei…
Saul Tello Jr., Orestimba High Valedictorian 2012 (Source: CBS Sacramento) When US high schools make international headlines, it’s usually because of a school shooting. But Orestimba High in Newman, a…
WSB TV report: Apple discriminates against Persian-speaking customers I’ve just found an e-mail from Apple in my spam folder with a ‘personal’ invitation to attend one of their new store…
I’m chatting in English to a medical student from Germany who is visiting Sydney, Australia, and we’ve already talked about how I lived in Germany for a while and speak…
Memorial to Yiman leader Bilba at Wallumbilla (Source: Goodbye Bussamarai) On October 27, 1857, a group of Aboriginal Australians, members of a group known as Yiman carried out a massacre:…
Inside Story has a must-read article about language testing for citizenship in Australia today Citizenship for beginners The Howard government made it harder for some nationalities to become citizens, and…