ABSTRACT
The development of dominant language fluency is generally viewed as an important step in the economic and social adjustment of immigrants in the destination country. In Australia, immigration policy was historically based on an “assimilation model” whereby immigrants were expected to “embrace wholeheartedly the Australian way of life and deny and forget their origins” (Secretariat to the Committee to Advise on Australia’s Immigration Policies 1987, p. 14). Learning English was an integral part of the assimilation process. More recently, a “multiculturalism model,” fostered by the federal government, has placed greater emphasis on origin-language maintenance, though with immigrants still expected to adapt to a core of Australian institutions and values, English language fluency presumably retains a major role in the adjustment process. However, despite the substantial immigrant presence (over one-fifth of the Australian population was born overseas) and the emphasis on language skills in government policy, there is a paucity of research into the determinants and consequences of learning the English language among immigrants in Australia. In this way the Australian literature mirrors the slim literature for the other major immigrant-receiving countries (e.g., the United States, Canada, and Israel).
