Educational failure or success Aboriginal children's non-standard English utterances

Title
Educational failure or success Aboriginal children's non-standard English utterances
Publication Date
2013-01
Author(s)
Dixon, Sally
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2401-2957
Email: sdixon21@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:sdixon21
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Co
Place of publication
Netherlands
DOI
10.1075/aral.36.3.05dix
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/30107
Abstract
Within the Australian education system, Aboriginal students' use of non-standard English features is often viewed simplistically as evidence of non-attainment of literacy and oral-English milestones. One reason for this is the widespread use of assessment tools which fail to differentiate between native- English speakers and students who are learning English as a second language. In these assessments, non-standard English features are framed as 'mistakes' and low scores taken as evidence of 'poor' performance. This paper will contrast a mistake-oriented analysis with one that incorporates knowledge of the students' first language. It will clearly show that when consideration is given to the first language, a more nuanced picture of English proficiency emerges: one that is attuned to the specific second language learning pathway and thus far better placed to inform both assessment and classroom instruction.
Link
Citation
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 36(3), p. 302-315
ISSN
1833-7139
0155-0640
Start page
302
End page
315
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

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