Bilingual Education vs English-only Approach at Australia’s Northern Territory Schools

Introduction

• Australia is a hotspot for language endangerment, with many Indigenous languages critically endangered.
• Northern Territory (NT) is linguistically diverse, with several strong Aboriginal languages.
• The "English-only" approach in NT schools poses linguistic challenges for Aboriginal children.
• This research evaluates the effectiveness of the "English-only" approach in NT schools.

Historical Overview: Bilingual to English-Only

• 1950: Robert Menzies proposed bilingual education in NT schools.
• Bilingual education aimed to develop native tongues before learning a second language.
• 1998: Attempt to discontinue NT bilingual education program.
• 2008: Policy stated "the first four hours of every school day should be taught in English”.
• Bilingual education programs in NT were stripped back by government intervention since 1998.
• Concerns raised that the Australian Government has broken the academic promise by shifting to English-only instruction.

Discussion

• 2008: Malcolm Brough advised NT schools to advocate an English-only approach to improve Aboriginal students' language proficiency results on NAPLAN.
• English-only approach: English is the only language instruction used for teaching and learning.
• Limitations of the English-only approach include:
  • Socio-cultural gap between teachers and students.
  • Dysfunctional discourse due to the approach hinders active participation of Indigenous students in the classroom interaction.

The Significance of Mother Tongue

• Successful bilingual education relies on literacy development and first language acquisition.
• Krashen: Giving children quality education in their primary language will provide them with knowledge to comprehend, and the literacy to transfer across languages.
• Empirical evidence supports the benefits of first language in bilingual education.
• Bilingualism has a positive impact on children’s linguistic and educational progress as they gain a deeper understanding on how language system is worked and then how to use it effectively.
• Mother tongue promotion at school will assist both short and long-term literacy development of Aboriginal students' second/additional language (English).
• Bilingual instruction employs a restrained but substantial positive impact on minority students' English academic attainment.
• UN Declaration on The Right of Indigenous Peoples (2010): Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational system and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning".

Transitional Bilingual Programs

• Goal: To enhance students' proficiency in English as a second or additional language. Home language is used for instructional assistance until learners have given an adequate level of English language skills and proficiency.
• Expectation: Students will be ready to move out to the English- only classroom after three years, but this is an unrealistic agenda.
• Transitional bilingual programs have increased academic achievement as well as improve children's' participation and attendance.

Translanguaging: Alternative Approach

• Translanguaging: "the process of making meaning shaping experiences, gaining understanding and knowledge through the use of two languages".
• This approach conveys a multilingual awareness, which is defined as a language awareness that develops and enhance learners' consciousness and sensitivity to the forms of functional languages
• This intermediation aids Aboriginal children to find a more appropriate mother-tongue version of their English phrases.

Conclusion

• The English-only approach is not proper for young Aboriginal learners, because the English language was scarcely exposed in multilingual societies like the Northern Territory.
• Factors like 'socio-cultural gap' were found to be influencing the ineffective English-only classroom in the NT.
• The 'transitional bilingual programs' and 'translanguaging approach' are seen clinically relevant to the needs of Aboriginal schools in NT since it gives Aboriginal students self-determination to incorporate their home language and culture into a school system.
• It is fundamental to provide sustainable transitional-bilingual programs for Indigenous inhabitants of Northern Territory (NT).