ALS 2010 Annual Conference Programme - Australian Linguistic ...

Joint ALS/ALAA Colloquium
Convenor/Chair: Helen Moore (University of New South Wales)
helenmmoore@optusnet.com.au
Learning Standard Australian English: what do we mean?
This colloquium explores what might and should be understood in advocating for
support in Australian schools for speakers of non-standard English varieties who are
learning standard Australian English.
Part 1: Standard Australian English: the Correct Educational Goal?
Susan Butler (Macquarie Dictionary, University of Sydney)
I discuss what is meant by Standard Australian English by drawing from the Macquarie
Dictionary in regard to aspects of lexicon, usage and pronunciation. It
emerges that ‘standard’ is code for a prestige form of Australian English accepted
in certain social situations. I argue that, although it is good that Australian English is
accepted as a reality, as is also the goal of assisting students to gain competency
in it, the use of ‘standard’ creates unnecessary confusion in educational contexts.
Pam Peters (Macquarie University)
Standard Australian English (SAE) is often proposed as the target variety for English
language learners and speakers of other English varieties in Australia. This paper
raises some linguistic problems in making SAE the pedagogical target for these
learners, whose needs may differ according to their mother tongues and/or their
different varieties of “settler” and “indigenised” English.
Discussant: Jeff Siegal (University New England)
Part 2: Standard Australian English in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander
Educational Contexts
Ian Malcolm (Edith Cowan University)
Teaching and testing that recognise only standard English implicitly attribute this
variety to Aboriginal English speakers as their “language” – with negative consequences
for both learners and educators. The educational task assumes a
foundation that may not exist, confirming for many learners the impenetrability
of non-Indigenous ways of structuring knowledge and that schooling is irrelevant.
Jakelin Troy (University of Canberra)
In NSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students continue to experience educational
disadvantage because the varieties of Aboriginal English and other ’contact
languages’ they use are not formally recognised, let alone dealt with effectively.
I consider the development of NSW Pidgin and other contact language
and English varieties and their implications for NSW schools.