Using contrastive analysis to develop language awareness for speakers of an Indigenous contact language in an Australian classroom

In Australia, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children speak contact languages, dialects and creoles, formed from traditional languages and English. Upon entry to the schooling system, these students are required to learn standardized Australian English (SAE) to access curriculum content. In our experiences, dominant monolingual English-only teaching approaches did not meet the English as an additional language and/or dialect (EAL/D) learning needs of students who speak Indigenous contact languages, and we decided to undertake a classroom-based critical participatory action research (CPAR) study to investigate why learning SAE is so difficult in these contexts. To do this, we explored some language differences between an Indigenous contact language and SAE using contrastive analysis with students in years 1, 3 and 5. With a focus on grammatical differences, our sociolinguistic discourse analysis of student responses over three lessons showed they were highly engaged with the learning and were mostly able to notice the language differences but sometimes found it difficult to separate and switch between the two languages, despite their explicit knowledge of the grammatical rules. To make sense of this, we turn to Schmidt’s Noticing Theory and theories of second dialect acquisition that propose acquiring two closely related languages may present a greater challenge for the learner. Using this to guide our future practice, we conclude that contrastive analysis is useful to develop learners’ language awareness but must form part of an ongoing program for teaching language differences supported by partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous practitioners with sufficient opportunity for students to engage with oral language practice. To do this, teachers require a high level of language awareness and knowledge about language learning.