(Fincham and Fellner, 2015)

Name: Majid Gholamitehrani Student ID: S00203007

Assignment 3

Indigenous literacies and Aboriginal English

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Introduction
Studying Indigenous literacies and Aboriginal English are topics which have become necessary in
the present day Australian social and educational reality; these studies should have come to light
even earlier than they have and play an important role in the future of the society as we demand
equal rights and attempt to compensate for the plights of this previously abandoned community.

Bourke points out the fact that “Despite initiatives which have been introduced by Commonwealth
and /Territory government in 20 years to improve participation in, and outcomes from, education
among Indigenous students, they continue to be the most disadvantaged students group in
Australia, with consistently lower levels of academic achievement than among non-Indigenous
students” (Bourke, Rigby, & Burden, 2000, p.1).

There have been many studies, observations and attempts at understanding the root cause of this
social and educational dilemma.

Wendy Hanlen explains this concept with a simple example “If we accept conceptually that
Western ways of knowing are square and that Indigenous ways of knowing are circular then this
produces difficulties for Indigenous students when they enter formal school education and for
teachers who may realise that their teaching strategies, good intentions and programs are often not
producing successful literacy and educational results (Hanlen, 2009, p. 41, 2002a, Hanlen, 2007).

It is imperative for teachers to be aware of such differences, understand what causes these gaps, it’s
impact on these children and to be familiar with alternative teaching methods, strategies and
practical solutions for Indigenous student’s literacy outcomes to improve and match those of their
non –Indigenous peers.

Hanlen argues that “Teaching literacy to Aboriginal students requires a holistic approach in both
teaching and learning (Hanlen, 2010, p.1), while Nakata suggests for us to start to “understand the
educational needs of Aboriginal students living at the interface of two cultures, their own and the
Western culture, from their perspectives” (Nakata, 2000, p.41).

This assignment aims to address three fundamental issues faced today at schools, namely the
Aboriginal English (AE), poor school attendance and the health issues of the Aboriginal students
affecting their learning and literacy levels, furthermore we will discuss and evaluate the strategies
and potential solutions to these problems.

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  Aboriginal English(AE)

The phrase Aboriginal English can be best described by Dr. Diane Eades as “the name given to
dialects of English which are spoken by Aboriginal people and which differ from Standard English
in systematic ways”.

The reason this concept has been identified and the phrase coined is that it is widely believed
amongst researches that the home language has a major impact on Aboriginal student’s literacy
competency at school. Eades elaborates further, suggesting that “If we are going to understand the
language skills which Aboriginal children bring to school, as well as their English language needs,
then we need to understand how AE differs from SE (Eades, 2014, p.79, p.82)

This concept is further explained by Christie “The world view of a group of people underlies every
aspect of their life. Their religion, their language, their social system, even the way they go about
their life (Christie 1985, p. 8). And by Hanlen who says “The world view of Aboriginal students is
also “influenced by their traditional cultures and languages and their home language” (Hanlen,
2010, p.3).

Studies on AE and SE reveal differences in areas such as “phonology (or accent and
pronunciation), morpho- syntax (or grammar), lexico-semantics (or words and their meaning), and
pragmatics (or the way that language is used in sociocultural contexts)” (Eades, 2014, p. 82).
Eades explains further with a pronunciation example where in AE a pupil would say ‘We ad a
bight’ which s/he means ‘We had a fight’ but an SE speaker will easily interpret it as saying ‘We
had a bite’ (Eades, 2014, p. 83).

Hanlen explains that despite Aboriginal students having been born in Australia and
engaged with social media as well as communicating with non-Aboriginal students at school
they “do not generally speak Standard Australian English (SAE) and their families may
have little or no literacy competency as a direct result of the past failures of the education
system to address their linguistic, cultural, social and demographic needs in teaching and
learning” (Hanlen 2010, Fletcher, 1989, p. 2).

However we need to remember that “Aboriginal English plays an important role in the
maintenance and assertion of Aboriginal identity” (Eades, 2014, p. 81). As a teacher, Hanlen
argues it is essential to “value, respect and occasionally allow the use of AE and Indigenous
protocols in classroom for specific activities especially in the childhood period” (Hanlen 2009,
p.45). Meanwhile Hanlen believes that “ it is vitally important for Indigenous students to be
empowered in SAE and western protocols so that they can compete equitably in educational and
employment opportunities but not at the expense of their first dialect”(Hanlen, 2009, p.45).

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Teachers can overcome the issues brought about by differences in Aboriginal English (AE)
at the classroom by understanding two fundamental differences between Aboriginal and
non –Aboriginal world view and language. Christie emphasizes that “world view and
language of students are both crucial in education, especially in formal education, which is
heavily dependent upon language for its success” (Christie, 1985, p. 40).

Hanlen tries to tackle the AE issue with the following two practical solutions for teachers:

• “Make a contrast analysis of work samples, conversations and interactions between Indigenous
students with each other, their non-Indigenous peers and with the teachers themselves by writing
down each instance where the teacher perceives that the language and protocols used are different
to SAE and Western protocols.” (Hanlen, 2009, p. 45) This is essentially a list of different
scenarios and examples where the teacher observes differences between AE and SAE that is
spoken by the pupils, this list will then be tackled one at time.

• “It is important to stress that there are different ways of saying or doing this, don’t forget to say
why we do it this way in the classroom and remember that this is never at the expense of their first
language. For example, sometimes we can say ‘butfly’ (AE) and sometimes we can say ‘butterfly’
but in the classroom we always say ‘butterfly’ because that is the language of the classroom”.
(Hanlen, 2009, p. 45) This is essentially acknowledgement of the different ways existing so that it
is spoken about matter of fact, and also that one is not inferior to the other, just that this is the way
it needs to be here in the classroom, like any other rules that are set and must be obeyed.

 School Attendance

Studies and statistics on school attendance have shown that “absenteeism among Indigenous
students is markedly higher than among non- Indigenous students” (Bourke, Rigby, & Burden,
2000, p. 1).

Bourke draws our attention to an important fact regarding these findings where “the reasons for
non-attendance among Indigenous students, tended to ignore, or pay only scant attention to,
‘school based ‘factors such as poor teacher/student relationship, bilingualism, schooling process
and to invoke deficit explanations which attributed the blame for poor school attendance to
individual, family or cultural factors” (Bourke, Rigby, & Burden, 2000, p. 3).

When tackling a problem, all possible reasons and factors must be taken into account, so that the
blame is not put on one party and the other factors affecting the results are not studied or known.
Bourke suggests that not only ‘school based ‘factors must be looked at but also he argues “many of
recent writers acknowledge that out of school factors, such as mobility, family stability, and
support for student and peer pressure, play an important role in relation to attendance.” (Bourke,
Rigby, & Burden, 2000, p. 19).

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  Poor health
One of the factors that impact significantly on Aboriginal student’s literacy competence is
summarized by Healy as “poor health, particularly poor hearing, sight, and oral health, and
malnutrition caused by economic poverty and subsequent impoverished lifestyle” (Healy, 2007, p.
71).

Poor hearing for instance can be tackled firstly by teachers being taught of its tendency to exist
amongst Aboriginal students and that they must have training in recognizing signs of it.

Hanlen summarises a few key factors for when teachers suspect Aboriginal students are suffering
from hearing loss, or are diagnosed with Otitis Media, to aid their learning. (Hanlen, 2010, p. 3)

They can collaborate with family, community, the AEO and other community workers to
encourage treatment and develop a support plan for students’ learning.

They can try to ensure students can clearly see the faces of all speakers so they can use visual cues
to help with hearing.

Teachers should aim to develop and maintain routines in classroom activities so students know
what is expected of them, even if they have difficulty hearing instructions.

 Conclusion
Indigenous literacy competence is achievable when the real factors behind a lack of it are identified
and have become a regular part of teacher training. Eades emphasizes on an important fact
where “Respecting, valuing and understanding Aboriginal ways of using English is a significant
step in respecting, valuing and understanding the identity and self-esteem of these children.
English teaching aims not to correct or replace the children’s AE, but to show them how it differs
from SE and teach them fluency in mainstream uses of SE.” (Eades,2014, p. 90, p. 91).

Besides understanding the Aboriginal cultural, and language differences, paying attention to
known health tendencies of this demographic and their more disadvantaged economic background
is key to increase quality of Indigenous literacy in the long run.

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 References

 Christie, M. G. (1985). Aboriginal perspectives on experience and learning: The role of

language in aboriginal education. Australia: Hyperion Books.

 Eades, D. (2014). Aboriginal ways of using English. United States: Not Avail.

 Healy, A. (Ed.). (2007). Multiliteracies and diversity in education: New Pedagogies for
expanding landscapes. Australia: OUP Australia and New Zealand.

 Hanlen, W. (2009). Future directions in literacy conference and certificate in primary

literacy education. Retrieved from
http://sydney.edu.au/education_social_work/professional_learning/resources/papers/FD
L_2009_Proceedings.pdf

 Hanlen, W. (2010). Aboriginal students: Cultural insights for teaching literacy.

Improving Outcomes for Aboriginal Students [Internet] pp, 1-5.

 Bourke, C., Rigby, K., & Burden, J. (2000). Better practice in school attendance:
Improving the school attendance of Indigenous students. Canberra: Department of
Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

 Nakata, M. (2001) ‘Cross-Cultural consideration’ in The Australian newspaper,

February 21, 2001, P. 41.