Language Instruction in Torres Strait Islander Schools: Some Preliminary Considerations for School-based Curriculum Development
Abstract
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.
References
Eighty-seven of the one hundred Islanders interviewed by the writer agreed with this. The remainder said they were uncertain.
Raskin M., 1971: Being and Doing. Random House, New York. (p.xvi)
Orr K. and Williamson A., 1973: Education in the Torres Strait: Perspectives for Development. The Research School for Pacific Studies, Canberra. (pp.16–25)
Ibid., (p.26)
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.
Orr and Williamson , opoCit., (p. 21)
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 Unpublished doctoral dissertation.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)
Orr and Williamson , op.cit., (p. 21)
Ibid., (p.22)
Bani E. and Klokeid T., 1972: Kala Lagau Langgus-Yarav Yagar: The Western Torres Strait Language. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra .
Orr and Williamson , op.cit., (p. 23)
Orr , op.cit., (p.79 )
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.
Orr and Williamson , op.cit., (p. 25)
In terms of language parameters alone, the assimilationist ideology postulates that:
1ethnicity and ethnic languages are fleeting and temporary within an increasingly modernized world;
2strong attachments to ethnic languages are dysfunctional;
3ethnic languages are a force inimical to the goals of a democratic society ;
4ethnic languages promote divisions;
1the school in all situations should take a position of benign neutrality in matters related to ethnic attachments and ethnic languages;
2 ethnicity and ethnic languages are to be promoted by religious agencies or non-state schools; and
1language learning styles are universal across cultures.
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.
Alternatively, the major language postulates of cultural-pluralism are:
1ethnicity and ethnic languages are integral components of a multicultural society ;
2ethnicity and ethnic languages are dependent for survival on a high level of commitment by group members;
3ethnic languages provide the individual with a sense of identity and psychological support;
1public institutions such as the school should actively promote ethnic languages in terms of policy and curricula;
2 educational goals should include a desire to help ethnic students function more successfully in their own environment; and
1that learning styles are culture specific.
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.
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Ibid., (p.45)
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Environmental Conditions of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. A release prepared by the Senate Select Committee, Canberra. August 1976.
Feinberg W., 1975:Reason and Rhetoric: The Intellectual Foundations of Twentieth Century Liberal Education Policy. John Wiley and Sons. New York. (pp.56–133)
See reference 23.
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