Monash University APG5043: Aboriginal Classroom Discourse Analysis

This assignment analyzes the challenges in Aboriginal classrooms, focusing on the disconnect between teachers and students due to language barriers and cultural differences. The paper references the reading material which highlights the issue of Aboriginal children not speaking Standard Australi...Read More

While the process of teaching and learning is a key building stone to modern societies, it
becomes less relevant when its objectives are not fully achieved. From the reading, there exists a
problem in the education system of the aboriginals. As outlined in the reading, the aboriginal
children hardly speak Standard Australian English at their homes. As a result, they have little or
no knowledge at all about Standard English. The classroom presented is characterized by
whispers and murmurs from the learners. The inaudibility in the responses implies that the
learners have no confidence in the answers that they give. The author strongly recommends that
the instructors in Aboriginal classrooms should have adequate knowledge of the culture to ensure
that the learning process occurs. Learning best occurs when the learners are made to relate the
content presented with their daily experiences.
Clearly, the teacher in the hypothetical classroom presented in the reading is unable to
link with the learners simply due to lack of common shared experiences. While the teacher uses
Standard Australian English as the means of instruction, the learners remain unable to respond
appropriately to the issues raised. Although some of them try to give responses, they all come out
to be irrelevant in the given context. The author feels that if the instructor from a specific
Aboriginal class does not understand the culture of the learners, an assistant should be recruited.
This will help the students gain maximally from any learning session. Alternatively, the teacher
should try as much as possible to understand the learners’ and strive to meet them accordingly.
The teacher in the case study obviously notices that she and the learners are not on the same
track. Instead of changing the approach, she continues to use the original one which has already
proved not to be workable in the class. The author points out that the teacher is partially
responsible for the failure of the lesson even though much of the blame ought to be taken by
teacher trainers for their inability to shape teachers to fit in all cultural contexts.

The reading provides crucial insights to both teachers and parents of the current world on
the centrality of creating favourable curriculums for the children. The created curriculums should
put into considerations the cultural needs of the learners as they are key to their education. In my
opinion, all schools should not be made to go through similar programs as not everything in the
curriculum work for every society. The educational stakeholders should invest in tailoring
favourable curriculums that suit the needs of specific societies