It “bendy dis one”: recognising and building upon Australian Aboriginal students’ linguistic repertoires as educational resources

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

There is a considerable body of research documenting the languages First Nations children bring to school. However, despite language being a key factor impacting on educational outcomes, there is little research focussing on the students’ language use within schools outside specific learning contexts. Therefore, in this study we sought to explore the language resources used by Australian Aboriginal children at school, particularly those underexamined cohorts living in regional and remote locations. We examined how they used language in the classroom and in the playground, and with different audiences (e.g. peers vs teachers). Naturalistic language data were collected in seven schools located in different settings within Western Australia. 230 children and their teachers were recorded. The data show these students draw on their full linguistic repertoire when at school – moving between lighter or heavier varieties of Australian Aboriginal English (AAE), their traditional languages (e.g. Martu and Kija), SAE, as well as Kriol (an Australian creole) in some remote locations. We also found they adjusted their language choices according to the audience and content of their discussions and they utilised processes of translanguaging as part of these school interactions.