Attitudes of Primary School Australian Aboriginal Children to their Linguistic Codes

Abstract

This study examined the attitudes of 114 Nyungar Aboriginal school children toward Aboriginal English (AE) and Standard Australian English (SAE), and the attitudes they attributed to their teachers and peers. Students were generally positive about using AE at home and in the playground but negative about using SAE in those contexts. Students did not feel positive about using either AE or SAE in the classroom. Ethnolinguistic Identity Theory is used to explain the significant differences found in attitudes to the two linguistic codes of students, as well as the attitudes students perceived their teachers and peers to have.