Australian Review of Applied Linguistics - Online First

This study investigated a comprehensive profile of 55 1.5- and second-generation Koreans living in Australia in terms of cultural adaptation (i.e., sociocultural adjustment and psychological well-being), acculturation strategies and individual background. In particular, through a survey, this study focused on the relationships among the variables (i.e., acculturation strategies, cultural adaptation, and individual background) and the factors that influence cultural adaptation. Overall, the participants showed a high level of adjustment to Australian society and good mental health. Their preferred acculturation strategy was integration, and they maintained Korean as their heritage language quite well. Self-rated Korean language proficiency was identified as an influencing factor for sociocultural adjustment and psychological well-being, indicating the importance of heritage language maintenance and education for 1.5- and second-generation Koreans. English language proficiency or majority language proficiency was a contributing factor for sociocultural adjustment, while marginalization had a negative effect on mental health. Implications and suggestions for improving the sociocultural adjustment of 1.5- and second-generation Koreans in Australia while maintaining good mental health are discussed.

This study explores how Korean-English bilinguals perceive and negotiate linguistic variety in English amid increasing globalisation and transnational intercultural connectivity. Despite growing acknowledgement of World Englishes, tensions persist between native-speaker norms and localised variations, especially in South Korea where American English remains the privileged standard. Through semi-structured interviews and reflective writing with seven Korean bilingual university students, this research examines their attitudes toward English varieties, accent preferences, and perceptions of Korean-English and Konglish. We characterise the findings as ‘reflexive linguistic pragmatism.’ Participants balance communicative effectiveness based on native English speakers’ norms with localised cultural expression, viewing English as both a global communication tool and a resource for identity performance. Their perspectives are shaped by transnational experiences and digital connectivity, which foster acceptance of linguistic diversity. Moreover, while distinguishing between Korean-English as globally legitimate and Konglish as erroneous yet locally meaningful cultural practice, participants demonstrate agency in navigating competing language ideologies. These findings suggest the continuing need for English language teaching practices in Korea and beyond to acknowledge the evolving role of English as a flexible communicative and identity expressive resource amid learners’ increasing transnational connectivity.

Editing an academic journal in applied linguistics (AL) or English language teaching (ELT) is a complex process that involves much decision-making. Most editors are full-time academics with competing priorities, and therefore more resources are needed, particularly for aspiring and emerging editors, on editorial decision-making and editors’ challenges and experiences. In 2021, I took on the role of editing the English Australia Journal, entailing a steep learning curve. To help me process and better understand issues that I encountered along the way, I began to keep a diary, which, at the end of my four-year tenure, comprised 117 entries with each one containing 70–115 words. Underpinned by a theoretical framework comprising autoethnography and life capital, the aim of this study is to analyse the diary data thematically to gain insights into my lived experiences as a journal editor. Findings show that I encountered five challenges (submissions, workload, review process, forthcoming journal issue, personal struggles) with nine mitigating factors (sense of purpose + meaning, editorial team, pipeline of manuscripts, flexible schedule, manuscript solicitation, reviewer recruitment, dealing with weaker submissions, communication, improvements to copy-editing process) helping me deal with these challenges. The paper concludes with a discussion about ‘uncontrollable’ and ‘controllable’ challenges, as well as the existence of a reciprocal relationship between challenges, mitigating factors, and life capital. This relationship highlights the importance of AL and/or ELT journal editors’ agency in drawing on their life capital to navigate editorial responsibilities, while challenges and mitigating factors also contribute to the extension of one’s own life capital.

This study investigates contemporary Australian attitudes toward a range of L1 and L2 English accents, building on prior research showing that standardised varieties are typically rated higher on status traits and non-standardised varieties are rated higher on solidarity. 138 Australian-born listeners rated audio stimuli from 12 male speakers representing 12 English L1 and L2 accents on seven attributes related to status, solidarity, and clarity. Results revealed a clear evaluative hierarchy: British RP was rated highest overall, General Australian was viewed positively across dimensions, while Broad Australian and L2 accents were rated more negatively. Contrary to past findings, Broad Australian did not show a solidarity advantage, suggesting sociolinguistic shifts in which General Australian now functions as both a status and solidarity norm. The persistence of negative evaluations for L2 English speakers underscores enduring accent-based biases in Australian society, with implications for equity in an increasingly multilingual context.

The failure of the Australian higher education sector to enable comparable participation, retention and completion rates of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students relative to their non-Indigenous counterparts is well documented. Although the prevailing narrative about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students in mainstream higher education is largely one of deficit, the Graduate Certificate in Wiradjuri Language, Culture and Heritage (GCWLCH) since 2014 demonstrates an alternative of high student engagement and high completion rates. In this paper we present the work conducted to create and deliver the culturally embedded and place-based language course, which was developed with, and is overseen by, Wiradyuri Elders and the GCWLCH Governance Committee (of which the first four authors are members) and offered through Charles Sturt University (CSU). The GCWLCH is framed by Wiradyuri knowledges and systems and a worldview where language and learning pedagogies are intimately connected with and to Country (place), ancestors, people, lore, and culture. This innovative, culturally centred, and self-determined approach to language learning has generated numerous success stories in terms of student retention and engagement. We report findings on the high rates of student access, progress, completions, and positive evaluations of the GCWLCH, and anecdotal evidence of how the course has led to transformative outcomes and empowering experiences among Wiradyuri students. In conclusion, the findings presented in this paper on Wiradyuri language reclamation and education demonstrate the profound implications for asserting sovereignty and exercising self-determination in a Wiradyuri nation building approach, for sustaining and centring Wiradyuri ways of culture, identity, and social and emotional wellbeing.

The Gumbaynggirr Daari Research Project provides an empirical investigation of community-driven educational initiatives in two NSW schools that aim to serve revitalisation goals while meeting mainstream educational requirements. This project was developed in partnership with the NSW Aboriginal Languages Trust (ALT), Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School (GGFS), Kulai Preschool (Kulai), and Western Sydney University (WSU). The study employed Indigenous Knowledge Research (IKR) methodologies, featuring adult and child yarning sessions to explore how the revitalisation of Gumbaynggirr language and culture contributes to the emergence and ongoing development of culturally responsive educational contexts at Kulai and GGFS.

This multi-generational case study approach captured perspectives from Elders, community members, teachers and students, providing a viewpoint rarely found in current Australian language revitalisation research. Four broad themes encapsulated by the term ‘Gumbaynggirr Daari’ (Gumbaynggirr Strong) — ‘Gumbaynggirr language,’ ‘cultural literacy,’ ‘wellbeing,’ and ‘identity’ — underpinned the study. Sub-themes emerging from the data demonstrate that language revitalisation operates as a dynamic, interconnected process arising from the specific histories and aspirations of the local language community. This research contributes significant empirical evidence illuminating the historical trajectory and current expressions of First Nations language reclamation, offering insights for other First Nations communities developing similar culturally responsive educational approaches.

The hundreds of articles published in the Australian Review of Applied Linguistics since its inception in 1977, as noted by Curnow and Kohler in their longitudinal study (2017), constitute a key resource for examining the nature of research in applied linguistics in Australia and its mutations over time. This study updates the findings of Curnow and Kohler, firstly by adding to the data analysis the articles that have appeared in ARAL since 2016, when John Benjamins became the journal’s publisher, and secondly by including a discussion of the data derived from a selected number of congresses of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA) over the decades since the association’s first gathering in 1976. The aim is threefold: to highlight the fields of interest that have remained a feature of applied linguistics research in Australia during ALAA’s history; to identify any changes of emphasis the data reveal over time; and to contextualize these shifts within the evolving intellectual, institutional, and societal contexts in which applied linguistics research in Australia is undertaken.

This paper outlines the changing functions of language testing and assessment from the era of the White Australia policy to the present day. Key contributors to the academic and professional status of the field are identified along with influential tests and assessment frameworks emerging from particular policy contexts. Attention is drawn to the expanding scope of the discipline, which now encompasses diverse domains of language use and demonstrates a growing social consciousness. Australian accomplishments in language testing and assessment are now recognized both locally and internationally as central to the field of applied linguistics and as playing a critical contribution to fairness and equity in the broader educational and political context.

Building on the work of McNamara and Lo Bianco (McNamara, 2001; McNamara & Lo Bianco, 2001), this article interrogates further the institutional and intellectual factors that led to the establishment of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA), which was officially constituted in 1976 at a conference organized at the University of Newcastle. It aims to show that, while both ALAA and the tradition of applied linguistics it fostered in Australia had certain distinctive features, the creation of the association was also reflective of a wider set of circumstances and imperatives. In order to illustrate this, the discussion looks firstly at the broader international context before considering the factors that contributed at the more local level to the formation of ALAA. In so doing, it seeks to provide an enhanced appreciation of the generic and specific influences at play in ALAA’s origin story, and of their relative importance. More generally, the study presented here contributes to the growing body of work in “Applied Linguistic Historiography,” the importance of which was advocated by Richard Smith (2016).