Language Assessment in Indigenous Contexts in Australia and Canada

Abstract

Here we present a brief portrait of language assessment in Indigenous contexts in Australia and Canada – two countries who, despite their distance, share important similarities in terms of their historical mistreatment of Indigenous peoples and their languages. Fortunately, both countries are currently experiencing renewed and increasing interest in Indigenous language revitalization. An examination of public school curricular documents in Canada reveals increased attention to development of more Indigenously-informed and innovative assessment practices. In Australia, while there are community-based programs specifically tailored to language revitalization, formal language teaching contexts ..