A community development approach using free online tools for language revival in Australia

Abstract

Australia is a ‘hotspot’ of Indigenous language endangerment, but has a growing number of language revival projects. We describe one such project which is using a community development approach for the revival of the Gamilaraay language in north-eastern New South Wales. As a result of colonisation there are now no fluent speakers of Gamilaraay and most use is restricted to formulaic phrases. However, there is community support for its revival, with courses being taught from pre-school to tertiary level. There is a lack of resources to support the revival, which this project seeks to address. A combination of free online tools is being used to develop digital-assisted language learning resources, through a partnership between academic researchers and Gamilaraay community members. We discuss issues relating to the context of the project and the pedagogies used in assessing whether this project is meeting the goals of an increase in Gamilaraay spoken in homes, schools, and the community, and conclude with the broader implications for language revival. Show more