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- Volume 34, Issue, 2011
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics - Volume 34, Issue 3, 2011
Volume 34, Issue 3, 2011
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The status and future of bilingual education for remote indigenous students in the Northern Territory
Author(s): Brian Devlinpp.: 260–279 (20)More LessThis article analyses the status and future of bilingual education programs using Indigenous languages and English in remote Northern Territory schools. It explains why this educational approach is so contested at present, resulting in an unresolved situation which can best be regarded as an uneasy compromise on the ground and a stalemate at higher levels of political decision making. If the bilingual education approach was better understood by the current NT Government, there would a strong impetus now to refine and effectively implement a model of schooling that is appropriate for students in remote areas. Instead, current politicians debunk the bilingual approach, thereby robbing schools and literacy plans of any momentum and distracting attention away from the work that needs to be done. Meanwhile, student attendance rates have fallen away to worryingly low levels (Dickson, 2010). The current regime may well resolve the impasse, but in the absence of any meaningful, open negotiation the future looks uncertain. It is too soon to judge the cost of this uncertainty, but it may well result in further alienation and the emergence of non-government alternatives.
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Rekindling warm embers
Author(s): Mary-Anne Galepp.: 280–296 (17)More LessThis paper reviews the teaching of Aboriginal languages in the tertiary sector of Australia, looking at the stronger languages taught in the university sector versus those languages under revival that tend to be taught in the TAFE sector. The paper summarises the status of courses offered state by state, and sets the scene with some historical background. The metaphor of ‘rekindling warm embers’ is used to describe revival programs, with a focus on the Ngarrindjeri experience in South Australia. The point is made that language teaching programs require the involvement and support of Elders, whether taught in the TAFE or university sector.
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Policy and Indigenous languages in Australia
Author(s): Graham R. McKaypp.: 297–319 (23)More LessThe use of Indigenous languages has been declining over the period of non-Aboriginal settlement in Australia as a result of repressive policies, both explicit and implicit. The National Policy on Languages (Lo Bianco, 1987) was the high point of language policy in Australia, given its national scope and status and its attempt to encompass all aspects of language use. Indigenous languages received significant recognition as an important social and cultural resource in this policy, but subsequent national policy developments moved via a focus on economic utility to an almost exclusive emphasis on English, exacerbated by a focus on national literacy standards. This is exemplified in the Northern Territory’s treatment of Indigenous bilingual education programs. Over recent years there have been hopeful signs in various states of policy developments supportive of Indigenous languages and in 2009 the Commonwealth Government introduced a new National Indigenous Languages Policy and a plan for a national curriculum in languages. Support for Indigenous languages remains fragmentary, however, and very much subservient to the dominant rhetoric about the need for English skills, while at the same time ignoring research that shows the importance of Indigenous and minority languages for social well-being and for developing English language skills.
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Naplan language assessments for Indigenous children in remote communities
Author(s): Gillian Wigglesworth, Jane Simpson and Deborah Loakespp.: 320–343 (24)More LessThe National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assessments are designed to assess literacy and numeracy of all Australian school children in years 3, 5, 7 and 9, and to act as diagnostics as to whether children are meeting intended educational outcomes. Tests began in May 2008, and have been run annually since then. Results of the 2008 tests indicated that Indigenous children in remote communities had the lowest test scores, and results were used to make a policy decision that effectively scrapped bilingual education in the Northern Territory.
In this paper, we evaluate the literacy component of the NAPLAN test for Year 3, and the language samples for each year level. Literacy components assess reading, writing and language conventions (grammar, spelling and punctuation), and we focus on the reading and language conventions components.
We argue that the NAPLAN tests need to be very carefully monitored for appropriateness for the assessment of children living in remote Indigenous communities. This is because tests are standardised on groups of English language speaking children. The content of some sample tests relies on cultural knowledge which Indigenous children cannot be expected to have. Spelling tests need to be monitored to ensure that they are testing spelling rather than grammatical knowledge. Finally, it is difficult to create language convention tests which are truly diagnostic because of the mixed test population of native English speakers, ESL learners and EFL learners in remote Indigenous communities.
Volumes & issues
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Volume 47 (2024)
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Volume 46 (2023)
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Volume 45 (2022)
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Volume 44 (2021)
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Volume 43 (2020)
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Volume 42 (2019)
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Volume 41 (2018)
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Volume 40 (2017)
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Volume 39 (2016)
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Volume 38 (2015)
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Volume 37 (2014)
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Volume 36 (2013)
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Volume 35 (2012)
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Volume 34 (2011)
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Volume 33 (2010)
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Volume 32 (2009)
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Volume 31 (2008)
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Volume 30 (2007)
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Volume 29 (2006)
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Volume 28 (2005)
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Volume 27 (2004)
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Volume 26 (2003)
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Volume 25 (2002)
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Volume 24 (2001)
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Volume 23 (2000)
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Volume 22 (1999)
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Volume 21 (1998)
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Volume 20 (1997)
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Volume 19 (1996)
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Volume 18 (1995)
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Volume 17 (1994)
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Volume 16 (1993)
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Volume 15 (1992)
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Volume 14 (1991)
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Volume 13 (1990)
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Volume 12 (1989)
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Volume 11 (1988)
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Volume 10 (1987)
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Volume 9 (1986)
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Volume 8 (1985)
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Volume 7 (1984)
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Volume 6 (1983)
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Volume 5 (1982)
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Volume 4 (1981)
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Volume 3 (1980)
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Volume 2 (1979)
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Volume 1 ([1978, 1977])
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Volume 1 ([1978, 1977])
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