Reconnecting with Students of Asian Language Learning in the Post - Covid Secondary Educational Milieu in Australia.

Teachers from K-12 and university are struggling with student disconnection since the return to the classroom following the Covid pandemic, evidenced in both academic and anecdotal sources.

Most secondary schools (Years 7-12) in Australia, offer a second language as a compulsory subject to students from Year 7 through 8 or 9, after which, it becomes an elective subject. Asian languages were introduced widely in the 1970s, in addition to the existing European languages. Currently, most schools offer two language options – a European and an Asian Language, with students choosing one, some after a semester taster of each, and some from the commencement of Year 7.

Language teaching in Australia already faced challenges due to the “monolingual myth,” essentially a hangover from the era of colonisation/invasion by Britain when English became the dominant language.  Already often resistant to learning a new language, students from English-only speaking backgrounds appear even more averse to language-learning in the post-covid environment, although almost twenty-five percent of the population of Australia speaks a language other than English at home. This is paralleled by a decline in focus, interest, and engagement in traditional learning methods across most subjects, and the rise in the effect of social media influencers on student-thinking and behavior.

In this presentation, I will address the apathy in the Asian language classroom, focusing on the Secondary School experience, and discussing strategies to improve outcomes.