Supporting the diverse language background of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

Abstract

The language we speak and how we communicate involves more than just the sounds we make, the words we use, and how we put the words together. How we communicate involves creating and sharing our meanings in unique and complex ways. Quite often the meanings we share cannot be translated easily from one language to another. This is because of the way cultural understandings that underpin language differ from one cultural group to another. Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (TSI) students speak Aboriginal English (AE) – a dialect of English, a creole, or a traditional Indigenous language as their home language. This is important, not only for day-to-day communication, but also as a way to maintain cultural self-identity. However, it must be recognised that there is considerable variability amongst all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the form of their languages and how they use them. This is because they are strongly related to, and shaped by, their particular environmental and cultural contexts. There are important implications for students’ learning and for the way that teachers teach based on the language background of students. Furthermore, it is vital that all educators understand the consequence of language variation in the current environment of national curricular and testing regimes.