ERIC Number: EJ1018276
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0155-0640
EISSN: N/A
Educational Failure or Success: Aboriginal Children's Non-Standard English Utterances
Dixon, Sally
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, v36 n3 p302-315 2013
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.
Descriptors: Academic Failure, Indigenous Populations, Foreign Countries, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Nonstandard Dialects, Literacy, Oral Language, Native Language, Scores, Language Proficiency, Longitudinal Studies, Computational Linguistics, Error Analysis (Language), Teaching Methods, Evaluation Methods, Grammar, Children, Video Technology, Academic Achievement, Discourse Analysis
Applied Linguistics Association of Australia. e-mail: info@alaa.org.au; Web site: http://www.alaa.org.au/page/aral_journal.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A