Zane Goebel

My research has informed public discussions about matters impacting on the teaching of Indonesian and Australia-Indonesia relations. My contribution to language teaching was via a string of papers published between 2001 and 2004. These papers focused on the importance of drawing on empirical sociolinguistic work when designing language learning curriculum. The most widely-known and cited are papers in the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and one co-authored with Paul Black and published in Babel which is journal of the Australian Federation of Modern Language teachers. Evidence of uptake of this work, in the areas of classroom pedagogy, and new ways of thinking about language models in foreign language classroom can be found in articles, edited books and thesis by Deborah Cole, Deryn Mansell, Brian Meadows, Kathy Mills, Anne-Marie Morgan, Kristoff Schoeman, and Indrawati Zirfirdaus. From October 2018 until January 2020 I was president of the Indonesian language and culture association for Queensland (Balai Bahasa dan Budaya Indonesia – QLD), which was tasked with supporting and promoting the study of Indonesia and Indonesian in Queensland. My impact also includes my widely read discussion “Indonesia and Australia you’d better watch your language” about the importance of encouraging deep understanding of what causes misunderstanding between Australians and Indonesians. Over 6000 people read my 2015 article in The Conversation. I have also been interviewed on SBS television and radio (in 2015 and three times in 2012) about language and Australia-Indonesia relations, and about Indonesia Language Teaching in Australia