Indigenous Languages Education at Universities in Australia: Challenges and Recommendations

Indigenous people were sole habitants on the continent before the arrival of European settlers over 200 years ago. There were once over 250 languages in Australia with many of these having their own set of dialects. After more than 200 years of contact, many traditional indigenous languages and cultures have been lost (Kaplan & Baldauf 2003: 147). In 2014, The National Indigenous Language Survey Report 2 (NILS2) found that of over 250 Australian indigenous languages, there are around 120 languages still spoken, of which only 13 can be considered “strong” (“strong” means all the children can use their community languages). Australian indigenous languages have no official status (Amery 2007: 327). The indigenous languages educational policy originates from the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) and the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA). In Australia, many universities have recently made the effort to build up departments and research centers for the sake of indigenous language and culture maintenance, reclamation and revitalization. In the last 50 years, Aboriginal language courses have been offered at the tertiary level (Gale 2011). Although many universities offer courses related to Aboriginal languages and cultures, few universities teach particular Aboriginal language courses as subjects of study (Amery 2007). This paper sought to investigate indigenous languages education at universities in Australia, and proposed some recommendations for improving indigenous languages education on tertiary level in Australia.