Celebrating Indigenous Australian children’s languages: Diversity, competence, and support

1. Celebrating Indigenous Australian children’s languages: Diversity, competence, and support Professor Sharynne McLeod and Sarah Verdon Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia

2. Acknowledgments • Laura Bennetts Kneebone, Deborah Kikkawa, and Fiona Skelton - Footprints in Time, Department of Social Services • Knowledge and insights from the Wiradjuri people • This paper was supported by Australian Research Council Future Fellowship FT0990588

3. Article 13 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states: “Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalise, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons.” United Nations. (2008). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Geneva, Switzerland: Author. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf

4. Preservation of Indigenous Australian languages is important • Cultural beliefs, practices, and identity are transmitted through language • Australia has been identified as the continent where the most rapid decline in languages is occurring (Nettle & Romaine, 2000) • Intergenerational transmission of Indigenous Australian languages is endangered Nettle, N., & Romaine, S. (2000). Vanishing voices: The extinction of the world’s languages. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

5. Aims • To describe the types of languages spoken by Indigenous Australian children • To describe the speech and language competence of Indigenous Australian children • To describe the language environment of Indigenous Australian children

6. Footprints in Time • Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children is supported by Indigenous Australians and funded and managed by the Australian government • Indigenous interviewers in eleven sites across Australia conduct face-to-face interviews with children, their carers, and teachers each year • Commenced in 2008 with five annual waves of data available

7. Where are Footprints families?

8. Participants • Participants from the Child cohort • 692 3- to 5-year-old children and primary caregivers (wave 1) • 570 5- to 7-year-old children and primary caregivers (wave 3) • The largest groups were • Wiradjuri, Arrernte, Yorta Yorta, and Gamilaraay (from wave 1 report) • Information was provided by the parent who knew each child the best (FaHCSIA, 2009, 2012)

9. Number of languages spoken by children The children spoke between 1 and 8 languages

10. Number of languages spoken by children compared with their parents (P1) If P1 spoke an Indigenous language then 83.0% of children also spoke an Indigenous language

11. Impact of location on languages spoken • Children who spoke an Indigenous language were more likely to live in moderate to extreme isolation • Children who spoke English, or a foreign or sign language lived in less-isolated places

12. Activities undertaken in an Indigenous language

13. Language support at 3 to 5 years Aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, teachers and others also were involved in these activities

14. Language support at 5 to 7 years Aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, teachers and others also were involved in these activities

15. Passing on Indigenous languages to the next generation • Almost a third of parents identified “speaking languages” as one of the five most important aspects of Indigenous culture that they wanted to pass on to their children • Almost all parents indicated that they would like their child to learn an Indigenous language at school in some capacity

16. Summary • Footprints in Time is the largest study of Indigenous children in the world • Many Indigenous children are multilingual with some speaking up to 8 languages • A quarter of children spoke an Indigenous language • Indigenous Australian children have rich cultural and linguistic traditions and their speech and language competence is promoted through family and community experiences. • Almost all parents wanted their children to learn an Indigenous language at school in some capacity

17. More information • The full version of this paper has been published: • McLeod, S., Verdon, S., & Bennetts Kneebone, L. (2014). Celebrating Indigenous Australian children’s speech and language competence. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(2), 118-131. • Email • smcleod@csu.edu.au • sverdon@csu.edu.au

18. References Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA, 2009). Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children: Key summary report from wave 1. Canberra, Australia: Author. Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA, 2012). Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children: Key summary report from wave 3. Canberra, Australia: Author. Nettle, N., & Romaine, S. (2000). Vanishing voices: The extinction of the world’s languages. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. United Nations. (2008). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Geneva, Switzerland: Author. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf