Code-switching and Indigenous workplace learning: cross-cultural competence training or cultural assimilation?

For more than two decades, within numerous spheres of education, code-switching (CS) - moving competently between two languages or dialects - has been promoted as a useful, if not necessary, skill for Australian Indigenous students to develop. (The term "Indigenous" in Australia usually re...

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Main Authors: Grote, E., Oliver, Rhonda, Rochecouste, J.
Other Authors: Dunworth, K.
Format: Book Chapter
Published: Springer 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/36634
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author Grote, E.
Oliver, Rhonda
Rochecouste, J.
author2 Dunworth, K.
author_facet Dunworth, K.
Grote, E.
Oliver, Rhonda
Rochecouste, J.
author_sort Grote, E.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description For more than two decades, within numerous spheres of education, code-switching (CS) - moving competently between two languages or dialects - has been promoted as a useful, if not necessary, skill for Australian Indigenous students to develop. (The term "Indigenous" in Australia usually refers to (mainland) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Since the participants in our study were all Aboriginal, the terms "Indigenous" and "Aboriginal" are used interchangeably.) Linguistically in enables them to maintain communicative links with their home communities and to navigate non-Indigenous language environments. In schools and training organisations the development of CS often focuses on the verbal aspects of language (for example: "what does that mean in your English"? or "How do we say that in Standard Australian English"?), but CS also encompasses the nonverbal. In this chapter we consider the cultural nuances that underpin the development of competent CS and its associated behaviours: what training organisations often refer to as 'soft skills'. In doing so, we examine the vexed question of whether the development of these soft skills constitutes competency in cross-cultural communication or whether it is another guise for assimilation.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-366342023-02-27T07:34:31Z Code-switching and Indigenous workplace learning: cross-cultural competence training or cultural assimilation? Grote, E. Oliver, Rhonda Rochecouste, J. Dunworth, K. Zhang, G. Vocational and training education Needs analysis Indigenous learners task-based language teaching cross-cultural communication code-switching linguistic assimilation second language learners For more than two decades, within numerous spheres of education, code-switching (CS) - moving competently between two languages or dialects - has been promoted as a useful, if not necessary, skill for Australian Indigenous students to develop. (The term "Indigenous" in Australia usually refers to (mainland) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Since the participants in our study were all Aboriginal, the terms "Indigenous" and "Aboriginal" are used interchangeably.) Linguistically in enables them to maintain communicative links with their home communities and to navigate non-Indigenous language environments. In schools and training organisations the development of CS often focuses on the verbal aspects of language (for example: "what does that mean in your English"? or "How do we say that in Standard Australian English"?), but CS also encompasses the nonverbal. In this chapter we consider the cultural nuances that underpin the development of competent CS and its associated behaviours: what training organisations often refer to as 'soft skills'. In doing so, we examine the vexed question of whether the development of these soft skills constitutes competency in cross-cultural communication or whether it is another guise for assimilation. 2014 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/36634 10.1007/978-3-319-06185-6_6 Springer restricted
spellingShingle Vocational and training education
Needs analysis
Indigenous learners
task-based language teaching
cross-cultural communication
code-switching
linguistic assimilation
second language learners
Grote, E.
Oliver, Rhonda
Rochecouste, J.
Code-switching and Indigenous workplace learning: cross-cultural competence training or cultural assimilation?
title Code-switching and Indigenous workplace learning: cross-cultural competence training or cultural assimilation?
title_full Code-switching and Indigenous workplace learning: cross-cultural competence training or cultural assimilation?
title_fullStr Code-switching and Indigenous workplace learning: cross-cultural competence training or cultural assimilation?
title_full_unstemmed Code-switching and Indigenous workplace learning: cross-cultural competence training or cultural assimilation?
title_short Code-switching and Indigenous workplace learning: cross-cultural competence training or cultural assimilation?
title_sort code-switching and indigenous workplace learning: cross-cultural competence training or cultural assimilation?
topic Vocational and training education
Needs analysis
Indigenous learners
task-based language teaching
cross-cultural communication
code-switching
linguistic assimilation
second language learners
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/36634