Everyday across Australia students with a non-English speaking background (NESB) are disadvantaged within a typical Australian classroom. It is often migrants and refugees who are identified as having English as their second language and are therefore expected to fall into a lower English and literacy bracket after Assessment. From this, the NESB students are supported accordingly. With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI) being native Australians, it can be assumed that students of this cultural background speak and have been taught Australian English regularly and at home with family members. However, this is not necessarily the case. ATSI students can be overlooked by their educator and academically expected to have the same outcomes
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Success in mainstream Australian culture heavily relies upon communication with a large emphasis on Literacy skills. The education system educates and assesses competency in these areas according to the English language. This means that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students arrive in school speaking one language and are being assessed on a language (Standard Australian English, SAE) that is not their native tongue.
Mceetya elucidates this fact, “Standard Australian English is not the native language of many Indigenous students. They arrive at school speaking their home language which could be Aboriginal English or a Creole..” (Mceetya, 2006, p. 17).
It is important that in the classroom we as teachers recognise Aboriginal English as an authentic language. Hawkins explains that Aboriginal English may be seen by others as an “imperfect attempt” to speak Standard English, however this is not the case. Hawkins further adds that although Aboriginal English may sound colloquial and at times incoherent to speakers of SAE, it is in fact an incredibly inventive adaptation of Standard English created by ATSI to communicate regionally across Australia. Therefore Aboriginal English “must be seen as different, not deficient.” (Hawkins, 1994, …show more content…
Students will express and describe what they hear and see with particular understanding and from their own interpretation of that word. For instance, if students in the same class are asked to draw or describe their ‘home’, a SAE student may articulate that home is a building with a roof, walls, a door and a fence and an ATSI student may describe their family, and country. Both see the world differently but neither are incorrect. Its is up to the teacher to pose the question correctly and to the school to ensure their teachers are equipped well
Success in mainstream Australian culture heavily relies upon communication with a large emphasis on Literacy skills. The education system educates and assesses competency in these areas according to the English language. This means that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students arrive in school speaking one language and are being assessed on a language (Standard Australian English, SAE) that is not their native tongue.
Mceetya elucidates this fact, “Standard Australian English is not the native language of many Indigenous students. They arrive at school speaking their home language which could be Aboriginal English or a Creole..” (Mceetya, 2006, p. 17).
It is important that in the classroom we as teachers recognise Aboriginal English as an authentic language. Hawkins explains that Aboriginal English may be seen by others as an “imperfect attempt” to speak Standard English, however this is not the case. Hawkins further adds that although Aboriginal English may sound colloquial and at times incoherent to speakers of SAE, it is in fact an incredibly inventive adaptation of Standard English created by ATSI to communicate regionally across Australia. Therefore Aboriginal English “must be seen as different, not deficient.” (Hawkins, 1994, …show more content…
Students will express and describe what they hear and see with particular understanding and from their own interpretation of that word. For instance, if students in the same class are asked to draw or describe their ‘home’, a SAE student may articulate that home is a building with a roof, walls, a door and a fence and an ATSI student may describe their family, and country. Both see the world differently but neither are incorrect. Its is up to the teacher to pose the question correctly and to the school to ensure their teachers are equipped well