No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Language Instruction in Torres Strait Islander Schools: Some Preliminary Considerations for School-based Curriculum Development
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 July 2015
Extract
The purpose of this paper is to help the practitioner in multilingual environments by making him or her aware of the need to establish a sound operational base from which to work before agonizing over the practicalities of the implementation stage. In essence, the paper seeks to show teachers that much of what is successful today in terms of school-based curriculum development is, in fact, grounded in theory: theory that is readily understood and useful to educators working in a variety of contexts.
Today, in the Torres Strait, the schooling process appears to be widening the educational gap between white Queenslanders and their Islander counterparts„* Teachers as curriculum developers, along with parliamentary heads and state education department dignitaries, must realize that problems of this kind can be grappled with initially only from within the geographical context. In other words, the problems of the oppressed must be solved by the oppressed who, first of all, need to understand their position and then transform it. But if problem transformation is going to take place from the inside, as has been suggested already, then it must include an examination of the role of the school for, according to Raskin.
- Type
- Across Australia …… From Teacher to Teacher
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982
References
1. Eighty-seven of the one hundred Islanders interviewed by the writer agreed with this. The remainder said they were uncertain.Google Scholar
3.Orr, K. and Williamson, A., 1973: Education in the Torres Strait: Perspectives for Development. The Research School for Pacific Studies, Canberra. (pp.16–25)Google Scholar
5.Mr Clark is a life-long resident of Thursday Island. He is actively involved in P & C work and is considered by the writer to be in a position to comment on the language of instruction issue.Google Scholar
7.Orr, G., 1979: Language instruction in Torres Strait Island primary schools: a case study in the initiation and promulgation of cultural democracy. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. The Florida State University. (p.74)Google Scholar
10.Bani, E. and Klokeid, T., 1972: Kala Lagau Langgus-Yarav Yagar: The Western Torres Strait Language. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.Google Scholar
13.The extent of such transfer does not appear in any case to be very great. In 1976 for instance, there were only two Eastern Islanders teaching outside their language area, and one Western Islander teaching outside his.Google Scholar
15. In terms of language parameters alone, the assimilationist ideology postulates that:Google Scholar
1.1ethnicity and ethnic languages are fleeting and temporary within an increasingly modernized world;Google Scholar
2.1the school in all situations should take a position of benign neutrality in matters related to ethnic attachments and ethnic languages;Google Scholar
2.2ethnicity and ethnic languages are to be promoted by religious agencies or non-state schools; andGoogle Scholar
As a practical outgrowth (4.1) of these components, assimilationist supporters argue that the language of instruction in schools must be the one normally used within the common or mainstream culture.Google Scholar
Alternatively, the major language postulates of cultural-pluralism are:Google Scholar
1.2ethnicity and ethnic languages are dependent for survival on a high level of commitment by group members;Google Scholar
1.3ethnic languages provide the individual with a sense of identity and psychological support;Google Scholar
2.1public institutions such as the school should actively promote ethnic languages in terms of policy and curricula;Google Scholar
2.2educational goals should include a desire to help ethnic students function more successfully in their own environment; andGoogle Scholar
As a practical outgrowth (4.1) of the above listed ideological components, cultural-pluralist supporters argue that the language of instruction in schools should normally be that used by the ethnic group.Google Scholar
16.Lambert, W., 1972: Bilingual Education for Children: The St Lambert Experiment. Newberry House, Mass. (p.23)Google Scholar
17.Banks, J, 1974: Curricula models for an open society. In Delmo, Delia-Dora and House, J. (Eds): Education for an Oven Society. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Washington. (pp.43–63)Google Scholar
19.Gordon, M.: Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion and National Origins. Oxford University Press, New York. (p.84)Google Scholar
20.Popper, K., 1966: The Open Society and Its Enemies. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, (p.13)Google Scholar
21.Banks, J., 1971: Teaching Social Studies to the Culturally Different. Addison-Wesley, New York. (p.103)Google Scholar
22.Sizemore, B., 1972: Is there a case for separate schools? Phi Delta Kappan. LIII January. (p.281)Google Scholar
23.Harris, J., 1971: The Vernacular in Education: Abstracts and. Bibliography. Summer Institute of Linguistics, Santa Ana.Google Scholar
Osman, H., 1972: Reading progress for the culturally disadvantaged. In Brickman, W. and Lehrer, S. (F.ds) : Education and the Many Faces of the Disadvantaged. John Wiley. (p.265)Google Scholar
O’Brien, P. and Briggs, D., 1975: Schools and teachers for cultural pluralism. Education and Cultural Diversity : Third Annual Conference of the Australian and. International Comparative Education Society. Adelaide. (p.21)Google Scholar
Dishman, R., 1978: Cultural-pluralism and bureaucratic neutrality in the British Carribean. Ethnicity, V, September. (pp.274–297)Google Scholar
Environmental Conditions of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. A release prepared by the Senate Select Committee, Canberra. August 1976.Google Scholar
24.Feinberg, W., 1975:Reason and Rhetoric: The Intellectual Foundations of Twentieth Century Liberal Education Policy. John Wiley and Sons. New York. (pp.56–133)Google Scholar
25. See reference 23.Google Scholar
26.Aitken, D., 1977: Don’s party needs an ideology to tie up the loose ends. The National Times, July 11–16. (p.49)Google Scholar
27.Colson, E., 1967: Assimilation of an American Indian Group. Beyond the Frontier: Social Process and Cultural Change. The Natural History Press. New York. (p.211)Google Scholar