Language shift patterns amongst first-generation migrant communities in Australia: 2011–2021

The following important paper has just been published - and cited our work about children's language maintenance in Australia. Both papers show the unidirectional shift to English for migrant communities in Australia - but also that this is mediated by which community they belong to.

Hasnain, A., Hajek, J., & Karidakis, M. (2025). Language shift patterns amongst first-generation migrant communities in Australia: 2011–2021. Australian Journal of Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2025.2542188 

Here is their abstract:

In this study we provide a comprehensive overview of first-generation migrants? language shift (LS) to English in Australia, as recorded by the 2021 National Census, and supported by a comparison with the 2011 Census data. Our results reveal a previously unreported reduction in the overall rate of LS from 2011 to 2021. However, the apparent finding is also misleading, as most migrant cohorts under investigation still recorded an increased LS rate during the time period in question. Furthermore, close inspection of first-generation migrant cohorts by size, specific sociodemographic, and geographical characteristics (i.e. gender, age, level of education, duration, and place of residence) confirms earlier findings that neither LS, nor much of the factor patterning associated with it, are evenly distributed across or within migrant communities. Of the investigated factors, relative duration of residence in Australia seems to show the most reliable relationship with LS across cohorts. We otherwise argue that the identified LS heterogeneity is a result of complex and varying interactions between different factors, including community-specific language attitudes, practices, exogamy, and (pre-) migration experiences. Importantly, not only is LS not always unidirectional over time in favour of English, the rate of change in LS can also vary greatly between migrant communities.

Importantly, it only looked at data for children over 5 years of age. Our paper, that they cited looked at children under 5 years of age. The information we considered showed that language shift occurs just before entry to formal schooling around 5 years of age. So, this is a very important time to maintain home languages.

Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Winsler, A. (2014b). Language maintenance and loss in a population study of young Australian children. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29, 168–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.12.003 

Here is our abstract:

Information about children's cultural and linguistic diversity and language acquisition patterns is important for the development of sustainable educational practices. While there is some knowledge about language maintenance and loss in adults and older children, there is limited information about young children. The first three waves of data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), involving 4252 young children, were considered longitudinally over the first five years of life to identify patterns of language maintenance and loss among those who speak languages other than English. The most common languages other than English spoken by the children were Arabic, Vietnamese, Italian, Spanish, and Greek and 9.1% of all children were reported to use a language other than English at wave 1, 15.7% at wave 2, and 15.2% at wave 3. Overall, 91.5% of children maintained speaking a language other than English between wave 1 and wave 2, and 86.6% did so between wave 1 and wave 3. Children's patterns of language acquisition and loss over the first five years of life varied within and between language groups. For example, Arabic-speaking children tended to maintain Arabic throughout early childhood, whereas Italian-speaking children's use of Italian decreased over the first five years of life while use of English steadily increased. Environmental and personal factors such as parental language use, presence of a grandparent in the home, type of early childhood care, first- and second-generation immigrant status, and parental perception of support from the educational environment were related to language maintenance among non-English speaking children.

 

 

2025 ASHFoundation 5K Walk/Run

Today Prof Lynn Williams and I walked for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation Annual 5K Walk/Run (https://www.ashfoundation.org/). Lynn registered us for the event - and we enjoyed sharing the walk with our husbands, friends, and over 80 kangaroos! 

2025 ASHFoundation Virtual 5K Walk/Run - 14 September 2025

Registration is now open for the ASHFoundation’s 6th Annual Virtual 5K, taking place September 12–14, 2025. Walk, run, or roll from wherever you are—and on your own schedule—to support innovation in communication sciences and disorders. Participate as an individual or form a team. Every step you take helps fund research grants, scholarships, and new breakthroughs in speech, language, and hearing. Join a movement that’s making a difference across the country and around the world. 

Wattle

Sharynne  with Prof Lynn Williams

Invited presentation - ECR Grant Writing Program

Today I was an invited presenter at the CSU Early Career Researcher Grant Writing Program: Module 5.  I was invited by Dr Emmaline Lear to talk about Tips and Tricks on Research CVs. I received a nice email at the end of the presentation:

"Thank you for joining us today to share your wisdom, advice and tips on a writing a Research CV. While your presentation went beyond this, your creative messaging around working collaboratively for the benefit of others never ceases to be inspiring.!" 

Thanks for the opportunity!

Meeting PVC Michael Friend

This morning at Holly's PhD meeting she was able to meet Pro Vice Chancellor (PVC)-Research and Innovation (PVC-Performance and Governance) Michael Friend and explain her PhD to him with her 3 minute elevator pitch.

https://research.csu.edu.au/about/people/profiles-exec/pvc-research-and-innovation/michael-friend

Nation-building in the Global South

This week we have attended and presented at the Oceania and Indigenous Trans-national Methods and Practices Symposium focusing on Nation-building in the Global South. 

Nation-building in the Global South
An initiative of the Oceania and Global Indigenous Research Hub (Charles Sturt University)
 
September 11-12th, 2025
Orange, CSU Campus & Hybrid
 
The symposium brings together expert speakers on First Nations nation-building in the Global South. The program focuses on the important arms of nation-building in the areas of: Language; Inter-cultural and trans-national exchange; Education Governance; Energy and Water sovereignty; Human Rights; and Health and Wellbeing. Each of these arms requires innovative methodologies and data collection to support the diversity of sovereignties in the Global South.
 
The purpose of the symposium is to highlight existing activities of nation-building as well as new approaches with an emphasis on trans-national and inter-cultural methodologies and data collection. 

The 2-day symposium began with a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony by Uncle Dale Carr. 

Lynn Williams, Camilla Porsanger, Sharynne  McLeod and Uncle Dale Carr

During the first morning of the symposium were invited to present the following paper

Building the present and the future: Indigenous children’s speech, language and literacy
Sharynne McLeod, Jamie Newman, Christine Sweeney, Sarah Bartlett, Emily-Jane Woodhead, Carolyn Gregoric. 

Christine Sweeney from Orange Aboriginal Medical Services, Orange and I presented the paper.

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Camilla Porsanger, who is the Sami PhD student vising the Children's Voices centre.

 

Our first data have arrived for our research with Catholic Education Tasmania

Today was an exciting day that we have worked for >1 year to achieve. We received the first set of data from Catholic Education Tasmania from 561 4-to-5-year-old children. Hooray! Now we can begin to analyse the data to co-create new pathways to support children with speech sound disorders.

 

Electric car

It's been fun to drive CSU's new electric car to the Orange campus this week - in the rain!

 

Children Draw Health: Children's advisory group week 2

Each Wednesday in September our Children Draw Health Advisory Group are considering the 100+ drawings from 17 countries we have received in our research. This week we continued to consider themes and answers to these questions:

1. What makes you healthy? 
2. Who helps you be healthy? 
3. Where do you go to get healthy? 
4. What would your ideal healthcare setting look like? 

Photographs are shared with permission from the children and their parents 

Thinking in Action: Strengthening Clinical Reasoning to Deliver High-Impact, Individualized Interventions

Today our Children's Voices Centre Visiting Scholar - Professor Lynn Williams  - presented a whole day workshop titled "Thinking in Action: Strengthening Clinical Reasoning to Deliver High-Impact, Individualized Interventions".

We had 16 people attend in person in Bathurst, 65 people attend session 1 online, 96 people attend session 2 online, and 62 people attend session 3 online!   

9:30-11:30 | Session 1: Thinking in Action: Strengthening Clinical Reasoning to Deliver High-Impact, Individualized Interventions (2 hours)
11:30-12:00 | COFFEE BREAK
12:00-1:00 | Session 2: The Evolution of the Multiple Oppositions Approach: From Theory to Global Practice (1 hour)
1:00-2:00 | LUNCH (Own expense at CSU café or BYO) 
2:00-3:00 | Session 3: Thinking in Action (1 hour)

Professor A. Lynn Williams, PhD, CCC-SLP 
A. Lynn Williams is Professor in the Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at East Tennessee State University (ETSU), USA. She was founding Dean of ETSU’s College of Health Sciences, and 2021 President of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). An internationally recognized expert in speech sound disorders, she has led innovative interprofessional education initiatives and currently serves as Vice President of the National Academies of Practice, advancing collaboration to improve education, research, and patient care.

Sessions 1 and 3: 
Thinking in Action: Strengthening Clinical Reasoning to Deliver High-Impact, Individualized Interventions
Clinical reasoning is the bridge between research and real-world practice that allows clinicians to honour evidence-based interventions while adapting to each client’s needs. These interactive sessions will explore how clinical reasoning guides moment-to-moment decision-making during intervention, particularly in modifying teaching moments such as cues and feedback, and how clinicians may “tailor it, mix it, or wing it.” Using case examples, we will unpack the critical differences between tailoring, hybrid methods, and eclecticism, and their impact on treatment fidelity and outcomes. Attendees will gain practical strategies to strengthen their clinical reasoning skills, maintain intervention fidelity, and elevate confidence in delivering effective, individualized care.

Session 2: 
The Evolution of the Multiple Oppositions Approach: From Theory to Global Practice
First described in Williams (2000), the Multiple Oppositions approach offers a contrastive intervention for children with severe speech sound disorders. Grounded in systemic phonology, it targets multiple error sounds simultaneously to maximize change in a child’s speech system. This one-hour presentation will chart its development over 25 years from theoretical origins to adoption across languages. Participants will gain practical insights into applying the approach to improve intelligibility and participation for children.
Williams, A. L. (2000). Multiple oppositions: Theoretical foundations for an alternative contrastive intervention approach. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 9, 282–288. https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360.0904.282

Some of the online audience

Speech-language pathologists brought along their books for Lynn to sign

Thank you DVC-R for your support

I appreciate having monthly check-in meetings with the Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, Neena Mitter to discuss the wonderful progress of the Children's Voices Centre. 

 

Creative gifts for The Beehive and The Treehouse

Today we had "welcome home soup" at The Treehouse with the Children's Voices Centre staff, Prof Lynn Williams and Camilla Porsanger. Lynn had brought some special gifts from USA to decorate The Beehive, the room where she is working while visiting Charles Sturt University. Thank you Lynn we love the creativity of your friends and colleagues in the US!

Prof Lynn Williams, Prof Sharynne  McLeod, Camilla Porsanger, A/Prof Tamara Cumming, Lorraine Bennett

Sharing welcome home soup at The Treehouse

 

Continuiing to renovate and decoarate The Treehouse

The Children's Voices Centre moved into The Treehouse (Building 1451 on the Bathurst campus of Charles Sturt University) in June 2025. Over the past few months we have worked hard to renovate and decorate the building to become a welcoming space for children, families, professionals, and researchers.

Last week at The Treehouse we hosted our first research event for children:  the children's advisory panel for our  Children Draw Health. This week we hosted our first event for professionals: Professor Lynn Williams' workshops.

We have just received a new refrigerator, new AV equipment, new bathroom taps, and boxes of books to go into my office. The renovation continues.

The Beehive for visiting scholars

The Billabong includes Lorraine's office

We look forward to updating our kitchen

Lorraine found our new refrigerator

 

Multilingual Speech Assessment: Using an Implementation Science Framework to Explore Acceptability of the Speech Assessment of Children’s Home Language(s) (SACHL)

Congratulations Kate Margetson who has just had the following manuscript accepted for publication that was written during her postdoc It is the next step in the research about the Speech Assessment of Children’s Home Language(s) (SACHL)

Margetson, K. & McLeod, S. (2025). Multilingual speech assessment: Using an implementation science framework to explore acceptability of the Speech Assessment of Children’s Home Language(s) (SACHL). American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. 
 

Here is the abstract

Purpose: The Speech Assessment of Children’s Home Language(s) (SACHL) offers a new, evidence-based clinical protocol for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to assess speech in unfamiliar languages. This study used implementation science to investigate SLPs’ current multilingual speech assessment practices, determine the prospective acceptability of the SACHL, and compare current confidence to prospective confidence with the SACHL.
Method: The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) and Theoretical Framework of Acceptability (TFA) were used to explore innovation deliverers’ (SLPs’ and student SLPs) prospective acceptability of the innovation (SACHL). Attendees at in-person and online SACHL presentations were invited to participate. 360 participants commenced an online questionnaire exploring current practices, transcription skills, confidence and acceptability of the SACHL. Statistical tests compared attendees at different presentations, SLPs and students SLPs, and monolingual and multilingual participants. 
Results: The majority of participants indicated low current confidence in assessing multilingual children. Most SLPs assessed, transcribed, and analyzed multilingual children’s speech in English; but rarely or never applied these practices in children’s home language(s). The majority of participants rated the SACHL as being culturally responsive, well-designed, easy to understand, and that it would increase diagnostic accuracy. There were concerns around the time burden in using the SACHL. Most (87.45%) indicated they would like to use the SACHL in clinical practice, and there was a statistically significant improvement between current confidence and prospective confidence.
Conclusions: The SACHL was evaluated by SLPs and student SLPs to be an acceptable clinical protocol to assess children’s speech in unfamiliar languages.

A beautiful Spring day in Bathurst

Today was a beautiful Spring Saturday in Bathurst, so we showed Prof Lynn Williams, Camilla Porsanger and their families around. We met a very friendly possum and sampled Annie's Icecream.

Planning for Lucy to come back to CVC

This afternoon I met online with Lucy Rodgers (UK) to discuss her next grant application so that she can come back to the Children's Voices Centre. We really enjoyed Lucy's visit earlier this year, so look forward to her coming again.

 

Commissioning Indigenous artwork for the Children's Voices Centre

Meleisa Cox is a Wiradjuri artist and early childhood educator. I purchased two of her artworks in 2022 for my personal use (pictured here) and today had the privilege of discussing artwork for the Children's Voices Centre. Thank you Meleisa for your interest in CVC. 

Sharynne and Meleisa

Here is Meleisa's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MeleisaCox/

Interprofessional Leadership in Health and Higher Education

Today our visiting scholar, Professor A. Lynn Williams. presented a seminar titled "Interprofessional Leadership in Health and Higher Education": An interactive seminar for academic leaders and staff highlighting collaborative and distributed leadership approaches in health and higher education. The seminar was both online and face-to-face and we had attendees in Bathurst, across the CSU footprint, and in Fiji and Vietnam! 

Here is Prof Williams' bio:

Professor A. Lynn Williams, PhD, CCC-SLP is Professor in the Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at East Tennessee State University (ETSU), USA. She was founding Dean of ETSU’s College of Health Sciences, and 2021 President of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). An internationally recognized expert in speech sound disorders, she has led innovative interprofessional education initiatives and currently serves as Vice President of the National Academies of Practice, advancing collaboration to improve education, research, and patient care.