A common complaint from teachers of Aboriginal children in rural/remote schools goes something like this: “I teach them Standard English and they use it in the classroom and when they speak to me. But they don’t use it in the playground. They revert to Aboriginal English or the vernacular. So why waste time teaching Standard English?”

So, what is the problem? More importantly, is there a problem?

There is little doubt that the teaching of English is one of the most difficult areas in classroom work with Aboriginal children. And the frustration felt by teachers when they hear children speaking other than Standard English is, in one sense, understandable. However, in another more important sense, it reflects a lack of appreciation for the different ways that people use language, either varieties of the same language or different languages.

It is unfortunate that so many people, teachers included, still think in terms of Standard English being ‘right’ and anything else being ‘wrong’. There are many varieties of English. Standard English is one, Aboriginal English another. There is not, and never can be any justification fbr calling one ‘right’ and the other ‘wrong’. They certainly cannot be judged in this manner in linguistic or scientific terms. Standard English and Aboriginal English are different dialects of the same language, each having its own phonological and grammatical system and each being a separate and equal entity in its own right. There is no linguistic basis whatsoever for saying that one is better than the other.