Dr Isabel Tasker
Lecturer, School of Arts
Qualifications
BA Hons (York, UK); Grad Dip Chin (Liaoning and Nanjing); Cert Applied Language Studies (York St John); MA Area Studies (Far East) (London); Cert IV Instructional Multimedia (CMC, WA); Grad Cert Higher Education (UNE); PhD UNE.
Contact
| Email: | itasker@une.edu.au |
| Room: | E11 182 |
| Phone: | 02 6773 3504 (or +61 2 6773 3504 overseas) |
| Fax: | 02 6773 3735 |
Isabel Tasker has over three decades of experience teaching Mandarin in Europe and Australia in a variety of modes and contexts: full- and part-time, adult and community education, university campus-based, and by distance education and online. Her work has involved her in a wide range of curriculum development, assessment, evaluation and teacher-training initiatives. In 2008 she was awarded an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for outstanding contributions to student learning (in the area of Mandarin teaching).
Areas of Teaching
Beginners’ and intermediate Mandarin; Chinese grammar; translation; introduction to contemporary Chinese culture
Research interests
Chinese pedagogy, applied linguistics, distance education. Social, affective and conceptual aspects of learners’ experiences of long-term language learning. Curriculum development appropriate to new learning environments.
Selected Publications
Tasker, I. (2010). Intermediate distance learners of Chinese look back: A survey study. Chapter 8 in M. E. Everson & H. H. Shen (Eds.), Research among learners of Chinese as a foreign language. (Chinese Language Teachers Association Monograph Series: Vol. 4) (pp. 153-177). Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i, National Foreign Language Resource Center.
Tasker, I. (谭以诗) (2006). Learning Chinese entails a metamorphosis: the personal significance of Chinese language study for adult Australian distance learners and independent learners. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Chinese Language Teaching, Shanghai 2006, Shanghai, China.
Commonwealth of Australia (1999). Bridges to China - a 40-part interactive, Web-based, intermediate level course in Chinese language and culture. (Member of curriculum design team.)
Tasker, I. (1995) Bridging the Gap: Course materials for pre-China and in-China language study. in Kirkpatrick A, and Yong Zhong, (eds) The Hard Work-Entertainment Continuum: Teaching Asian Languages in Australia. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, Series S, no. 12, pp 99–118
Tasker, I. (1992) Computer Assisted Language Learning for Teachers of Chinese. In Louie, K (ed) New Developments in Chinese Language Teaching and Teacher Training. Melbourne: Key Centre for Asian Languages and Studies, with the Asialink Centre, pp 44 – 49.
Selected conference papers and presentations
Tasker, I (2012) Trajectories of long-term adult learners in the changing world of Chinese learning. Paper presented at the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA) 2012 conference, Curtin University, WA
Tasker, I (2012) Listening in Learning to Speak Chinese. Invited presentation at the Chinese Teacher Training Centre, University of Melbourne.
Tasker, I. (2010) Assessing the appropriacy of complexity theory as a lens through which to view learning journeys. Paper presented at the Faculty of the Professions 2010 Postgraduate Research Conference, University of New England
Invited speaker at: Beyond the Crisis: Revitalising Languages in Australian Universities. Australian Academy of the Humanities Colloquium for Tertiary Languages Teachers, Researchers and Planners, University of Melbourne, Feb 2009.
Invited participant at the National Forum on the Future of Chinese Language Education in Australian Schools, organised by the Asia Education Foundation. Melbourne, October 2008.
Learning contexts and beliefs of long-term distance learners of Chinese. Paper presented in a special colloquium on Learner and Teacher Beliefs at the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia conference, Melbourne, 2005
Learner experiences of Chinese distance learning: taking the long view. Invited presentation to Intellect Research Group, School of Languages, Open University, UK, August 2004
Attitudes and motivations of students learning Chinese. Paper presented at the Australian Tertiary Chinese Teachers Association conference, Melbourne University, July 2004.
Fostering reflection in language learning online, Paper presented at the “Language Learning is Everybody’s Business” conference, Flinders University, Adelaide, February 2002.
Designing Materials for On-line Distance Learners of Chinese. Paper presented at Ed-Media 1999, the AACE World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications, Seattle, USA