Angela Scarino is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics in Justice and Society and Director of the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures at the University of South Australia. Her academic specialisations are languages education, particularly within a multilingual and intercultural orientation; second language assessment and second language teacher education.
Angela has led all the major languages curriculum policy developments Australia-wide, including the current National Curriculum for Languages for Australia. She has extensive international experience in advising and co-designing policies, curriculum, and assessment programs for Languages, including in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, France, and New Zealand.
Angela has been a Chief Investigator on a range of research projects, all of which are based on praxis – working collaboratively with practitioners to change and to be informed by change in practice. The teaching and learning of the Italian language and culture in Australia has been a constant dimension of her work. She has a particular interest in how the Italian language and culture in diaspora may be nurtured and promoted in a contemporary manner such that it is meaningful to children and young people.
Angela has published a range of books, reports, articles, and book chapters and is currently Co-editor of The Modern Language Journal. She has been the President of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations, the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia and the Association for Language Testing and Assessment of Australia and New Zealand and a long term chairperson of the Multicultural Education and Languages Committee, a committee that advises the Minister for Education in South Australia.